This is my first RN job offer so I had no idea I would be drug tested when I went in that day to sign paperwork (I would not have drank at all had I have known this). I thought they would give me a 3 day heads up and send me to a lab corp. So my employment at this nursing home is contingent upon me passing a drug and background check.
The night before I drank about 10 or 11 beers, I probably went to sleep around 1am and the drug test was around 11am the next day.
Is this going to show up in the urine drug test? I'm a small person (5'8, 130 llbs) so I don't know if it had metabolized out of my system yet. I did feel a little buzzed that morning.
I'm freaking out, will they report me to the BON if alcohol shows up?
I wish they would've told me that I'd be taking a drug test when I went in to sign paperwork
I just want to know if it's standard or not to test for ETOH.
I think I screwed myself im so worried. It took me forever to find this job. Would they report it to the Board or just withdraw their offer? I can't have a ding on my license, i'll never get hired again
I think you're freaking out unnecessarily. They won't report it to the board or withdraw their offer - because as someone else said, the level of ETOH in your system by morning would be about the same as it would be if you had a mimosa at breakfast.
I'm not judging you here, so please don't take this next statement that way - but if you're worried about keeping a job, you should probably think twice before going in, even to sign paperwork, buzzed.
lol wow , hey to each his own , but if they do ask you dont say 10-11 beer and you friends house , say two or three glasses of whine with close friends , sounds better, ohh and dont worry about the people calling you a addict they dont no you or your and tolerance , and just cause your a nurse doesnt mean you can dx people
So much wrong with this post, grammatically and content wise.
Can't tell you how many addicts say "You don't know me, I can handle it!"
I don't know if most drug screens test for alcohol or not, but if I were an employer and you tested positive for alcohol at 1100, I would not hire you. It would show very poor judgement and I would not want you anywhere near my facility.
You had to be at least hung over, and you say you were buzzed? What kind of judgement was that? What does that say about your priorities? I don't care if alcohol is legal, it is not legal, moral or ethical to come to work buzzed.
Even if you slide by on this, and you probably will, I hope you at least learned something from it. Don't endanger your potential patients by your poor judgement. If you want to drink yourself to death, by all means you are free to do so, but stay away from any of my loved ones who may be sick. You are putting your license at risk, lives at risk and leave your co-workers in a bind if they smell ETOH on you or you tell them you are still buzzed from your wild partying the night before.
Yes, I am an old school nurse, but what you did showed horrible judgement.
Since it's clear this was a urine drug screen ... there is no urine test which establishes a current level of ETOH. There are tests which indicate the presence of metabolites of ETOH, that may be detectable in urine up to 5 days after consumption but all they indicate is just that -- that you have consumed ETOH within the last 5 days.
For this reason, a urine test for an adult aged 21 or older would serve no purpose in terms of making employment decisions.
Having said that, for my current job, when I went to employee health for the pre-employment physical and drug test, they also administered a breathalyzer test. The employee health RN doing my screening said to me, "You'd be surprised at the people who blow greater than 0.08 at 10am when they know they're coming in here to be tested ... then again, you're an ER nurse, so I guess you wouldn't be surprised ..."
OP, if you also had blood drawn, then you may have cause for concern if the lab tests included plasma or whole blood ETOH.
For your future reference -- an average sized adult metabolizes ETOH at a rate of about 0.02 - 0.03 per hour. Live and learn.
I don't mean to sound **^@*y, and I don't have time to read through all 6 pages of responses right now, so forgive me if this has been said already.
What were you thinking drinking a case of beer the night before a job interview?!
Alcohol is not illegal, you can do what you want on your time off. They would fire your butt on the spot if you tested positive WHILE working and report you to the BON.
However, showing up to a JOB INTERVIEW hungover and still possibly "buzzed" is quite possibly the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard.
What were you thinking? Seriously?
Save that for your time off when you have nothing else going on, not something like a job interview less than 12 hours later.
I'm not judging you drinking beer, don't think that. I'm judging your brilliant choice to party right before a job interview.
I will own judgmental. I definately judge that behavior. It's ridiculous to drink that much in a week, much less one night.
Any person consuming 10-11 beers on any single occasion has way bigger problems than a single work related substance screen. This is serious alcohol abuse IMO. Next time someone administers the CAGE questionnaire to you, you now have to answer YES to at least one question.
I had to explain elevated liver enzymes in my pre emp screening cbc. even though I didn't drink.... didn't even know about it. didn't have insurance. (i quit my previous job for this one)
gigglymo
122 Posts
I think you're freaking out unnecessarily. They won't report it to the board or withdraw their offer - because as someone else said, the level of ETOH in your system by morning would be about the same as it would be if you had a mimosa at breakfast.
I'm not judging you here, so please don't take this next statement that way - but if you're worried about keeping a job, you should probably think twice before going in, even to sign paperwork, buzzed.