University and college drug testing is being conducted for some of the reasons you may suspect and for some you may not.
At National Drug Screening, we work with college and university programs that include nursing, occupational therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT), and Physician Assistant (PA). With the increasing abuse of prescription medications including opioids, medical professionals are often at risk due the availablity of drugs in their workplace and in patient homes.
The first thing that comes to mind for many when the topic of drug testing on college campuses comes up, is general abuse of drugs and alcohol, wild parties or other illegal activities. So why not test everyone who enrolls? One school tried to take this approach but a federal appeals court found that requiring college students to take a drug test as a condition of enrollment violates the U.S. Constitution. And as a good general rule, reasonable suspicion is required prior to any type of drug testing. This ruling does not apply to specific programs where students may be in apoisition that poses a higher risk or a safety concern such as could be the case in the collecge programs list above.
There is another type of testing that is common as well that involves campus activities or organizations such as fraternities or sororities. Sometimes testing is part of a program voluntarily put in place by the organization and at other times it may have been required due to an overdose or other incident involving drugs or alcohol.
Here are the top 3 types pf testing conducted on college campuses:
1) Fraternities / sororities or other campus associations as either part of a prevention program or due to past infractions related to drug or alcohol abuse or misuse.
2) Medical Professional Programs such as Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical Therapy (PT), Physician Assistant (PA), Dental programs and Nursing programs and associated internship programs. These programs require drug testing in part because the individuals will be supervising care, rendering treatment, and providing services within medical facilities or patients homes.
3) College sports and athletics which is required in many case to compete. Some colleges also require it for participation in other organized campus activities.
A big reason that many of these college program administrators choose to work with National Drug Screening is the ease of set up, the nationwide covereage for their students and internship locations, and the ability to schedule testing electronicallly and be able to walk in within minutes to get the testing done. Another factor that stands out is that 90% or negative results are available within 24 hours or receipt at the lab. If you need testing as part of one of the above programs or you represent a campus organization that needs to set up testing at one of our collection sites or onsite at your location, simply click here to contact our team or call 866-843-4545.
