Hospitals Background Checks
Compulsory employee drug screening is standard in sensitive job roles like transportation and healthcare. A significant portion of healthcare professionals are responsible for administering care or prescriptions to patients, including senior citizens and children. A recent survey claims that many healthcare staff in hospitals and medical facilities are highly susceptible to alcohol, drug, and illegal substance abuse as is the case across most fields. As such, conducting screening via hospitals background checks should be practiced regularly, or at least upon onboarding new employees. Drug and alcohol screening is crucial for workplace safety, irrespective of the industry/sector.
Mandatory Random Drug Testing
More advanced steps can be initiated besides enhancing the surveillance of drug storage locations in hospitals and medical facilities. Hospitals must conduct random drug screening on all their employees, especially those healthcare workers with direct drug access. The drug and substance screening must be adequately comprehensive to assess all kinds of abused and illicit substances. 10-panel drug and alcohol screening is the most favored method of testing hospital employees.
High Substance Abuse among Hospital Staff
Drug and substance abuse is recognized as a significant challenge in the healthcare sector. According to research and studies, many American nurses, doctors, healthcare aids, technicians, etc., are regular drug and illicit substance users. Whether they are self-medicating and getting addicted to prescribed medications or using them for recreational purposes, it is recognized as abuse and seriously endangers the safety and lives of patients and other hospital staff.
Varying Drug Testing Laws
Drug screening laws and regulations vary from one state to the other in the USA. Some state laws outline the limitations to the time and processes of conducting drug testing on healthcare professionals. For instance, in some states, private and public hospitals have the authority to screen employees and potential employees without any restrictions. A state-approved medical facility or a laboratory must carry it out. On the other hand, there are a few states where prior notice must be handed over to the employees to conduct any drug and alcohol screening. Furthermore, testing is done only when there is a new recruitment, a drug-abuse suspicion, or re-joining after a rehabilitation program.
Exceptions are Made
Background Check Services conducted by hospitals are made an exception for some hospital employees. The staff members on medication from a certified physician and prescribed a temporary drug for a specific health condition are exempted from drug screening. The hospital staff must notify the authority about the medication consumption to avoid any suspension from work or disqualification from the job application during pre-employment drug testing. It is always better to be honest rather than to face charges of drug and substance abuse in the future. In such situations, hospital authorities generally don’t allow employees to deal with patient care or medicated drugs directly.
Clear Policy Outline on Drug Screening
Hospitals that screen their healthcare workers for drug and substance abuse abide by a clear set of policies and regulations for conducting drug tests. Based on state law, the healthcare workers in hospitals and medical care units are randomly chosen to undertake alcohol and drug screening at any time during work hours. In most states, hospital authorities will screen staff members who appear to be intoxicated by alcohol and illicit substance use during work hours. Moreover, drug screening is also conducted when absenteeism increases, there is frequent late entry, and performance degrades over time.
Conclusion
Background Check Services screen employees for alcohol, drug, and illicit substance abuse via different tests. The presence of alcohol, drugs, and substances can be acquired via urine tests, blood tests, saliva tests, breath alcoholtests, hair tests, and so on. Whether hospitals carry out pre-employment drug screening, regular testing, or random screening, the motive is the same. The objective of conducting a drug screening is to ensure the hospital environment is drug-free and the safety of the patients is given priority. Moreover, other healthcare professionals are also safe, and workplace accidents or mistakes due to drug and substance abuse are eliminated.