Workplace Drug Test

[lexca]

Hello! New young nurse here! I passed my boards and recieved my license recently. I am not a druggie! I'm about to start applying for jobs and I'm super excited about the future. However, the thought of having to cut off chunks of my hair for drug tests is giving me anxiety attacks. I went through chemo the first year of nursing school and decided to shave my head during. After my treatment was over, I made sure my hair grew strong and consistently. I have a short cute pixie cut now.

Question is, what kind of drug test did you take for your RN/LPN position? Should I even be worrying about my hair? Do they really cut off chunks?? I've heard hair testing is more expensive, so few facilities do it. Please let me know and thank you for your response(s)!

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

If you, your daughter or any person seeking an opportunity for whatever is okay with giving up a sample of their hair for a drug test I really don't care.

Heck, if the end result was something I was so motivated for, I would likely do so too.

At the end of the day, I feel that an entity requiring me to willingly give them a piece of my hair (the sample size is not the issue) repugnant. It is granting them rights and permissions that I am not comfortable with.

Will they be asking for next?

I hate peeing on demand. I'd rather give a hair sample.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Also, if you think you are going to be subjected to the violation of your Constitutional rights, wear your hair as short as possible. Shave your armpits ad pubic hair because if the hair on your head is too short for the snoops to get a good sample, they might try to get their sample from those areas.

I'll pass on having a crew cut instead of my shoulder length hair just to avoid a drug test. Obviously YMMV.

[Ruas61, BSN, RN]

I used to work in the oil refinery business and everyone, from the receptionist in the corporate office to the oil field ditch-digger, was drug tested annually and plus we were all subjected to random tests. Why? Because a simple error could result in significant, widespread death and disaster. Plenty of Federal construction contracts have similar requirements. Object to drug testing? Go to another industry.

I never said I objected to drug testing as a job requirement.

I have participated in them pre and post-employment.

Never been issue. Never had a problem.

I just find it repulsive that an employer wants HAIR.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I have worked in healthcare for 13 years, including the military. No one has ever requested my hair - only urine in a cup. I think that is pretty standard as hair tests are likely to be more expensive, and we all know healthcare systems don't like to spend a ton of money if they don't have to.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Hair testing is way more expensive than urine testing so I don't think very many employers utilize it as a pre-employment drug screen. If you run into one that does I don't think they take hair from anyplace where it's loss would be obvious. Best of luck on your job hunt and Congrats on being a survivor, that alone is reason to celebrate!

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Most drug screens are urine. If they want to follow up on certain results and/or get more detail on exactly what drugs are involved, they can do further testing with urine or blood.

I've never heard of a pre-employment drug screen involving hair though. And even so, chunks of hair are not needed for a hair test :)

[djh123]

I've only heard of hair testing re: crime - like checking DNA - but I could easily be ignorant about it re: nursing.

But for a funny comment re: drug testing, a year or two ago at my LTC/rehab facility, there was a young woman sitting in a guest chair by the receptionist's desk & the front door, and the receptionist told me later that either she or someone else told the woman to hold on for a few minutes more so that they could do a drug test (she'd applied to be a CNA). She zoomed out the door...

[Al Kalosis]

Hair is typically used when there is some sort of dispute. For example, lab results are positive and an employee or patient insists it must be a false positive. Hair tests can reveal the use of certain substances for a longer period of time than urine. It can be more expensive depending on the method of urine testing (cost of urine testing is highly variable depending on the sophistication of the machinery used). Metabolites of chemicals excreted in urine vary in the amount of time they remain in the body. Of the illicit chemicals, THC remains in urine the longest, from one week to about one month, whereas the metabolite specific to heroin (6-monoacetylmorphine) is gone within a few hours after using.

Personally, I have always had to provide urine samples to be considered for minimum wage unskilled labor positions, but for my current nursing position...not a drop.