Pre employment alcohol test

Nurses General Nursing

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Okay so I have my first job offer as a Nurse at a local hospital. I had a few drinks Saturday night and went back Tuesday for a drug and alcohol test. I don't do drugs and i don't drink often. I would never drink the night before work or anything like that. Is this going to show up positive? Is this test just to see if you're showing up drunk or if you've had a drink in the last week? Any experience with this would help!!! They obviously can't not hire someone because they've drank within the last 80 hours?

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Alcohol can usually no longer be detected after 12. What kind of test did they do? Breath or mouth swab you will be fine.

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12 hours** sorry

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They did a urine and blood sample. Ive seen some tests can detect alcohol metabolites for 80 hours but this wouldn't make sense to me. I don't have a drinking problem and this wouldn't affect my patient care 3 days later.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, ER.

dude youll be fine.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, ER.

its tuesday lol

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Thanks I guess I just needed some reassurance!! Kind of caught me off guard to hear drug and alcohol screen.

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The hospital system that my school (RN transition program) does their clinicals at required this test. I had a couple of glasses of wine the evening before I scheduled the blood test and it was negative. The urine drug test that my MD ordered for the program also checked for alcohol and was also negative. You'll be fine.

Just be glad it's your employer that's requesting these tests and not your school. I had to go through my PCP and I guess after requesting 1 two step TB test, one repeat TB test, 2 urine drug screens, and a blood alcohol test all within 11 months made him a bit suspicious (called in and requested the tests stating they were for nursing school but who knows if that last part was in the message). I got a drug screen report testing for over 700 different drugs. I tested positive for caffeine and sudafed (had a cold). The interpretation from the doc read "acceptable drug screen".:facepalm:

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It's sooo easy to get paranoid with testing. What , exactly was the ETOH screening for? You CAN ask.

There is now testing for nicotine, was that included in your drug panel?

Some facilities will not hire based on your BMI. Sorry, if I added to your worries, best to be prepared.

Best of luck with your hiring process, let us know how it turns out.

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Congrats on your first job, OP!

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Specializes in Pedi.

Dude, chill. Your liver metabolizes one drink/hr. I drink the night before work all the time. I drank last night and tonight and work Mon-Fri. I also drank the night before I took my last pre-employment UDS. I have honestly never heard of an employer screening for alcohol on these tests.

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Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.

Woah, two questions: Since when is it legal to not hire someone based on their BMI (because the majority of people I work with wouldn't make the cut -- not being cruel at all, just the reality of it) and why in the world are they testing for alcohol if you know about it ahead of time? I wouldn't be bothered if I were to be tested for alcohol just don't understand the point if they are telling you days in advance.

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