Background Check Requirements for All Nursing Students

Clinical agencies require students to be fingerprinted, pass drug screening and background checks and clear the HHS/OIG list of excluded individuals, the GSA list of parties excluded from federal programs, and the Nationwide Sex Offenders Data Base. Compliance with this requirement and satisfactory findings are essential for clinical placement and progression. Students who fail to submit to a background check or students whose background checks indicate a conviction as specified in Florida Statutes Title XXI, Chapter 435.04 Level 2 Screening Standards will be unable to remain in the nursing program.

Substance Abuse Policy

Philosophy: Barry University acknowledges the problem of substance abuse in our society and perceives this problem as a serious threat to employees and students. It is the intent of the University to establish and maintain a drug-free work place. The faculty of Barry University Division of Nursing believes that each nursing student has a personal obligation to practice those health conscious behaviors intended to foster clear and rational decision-making, as well as, the ability to function in a safe and therapeutic manner throughout the program of study. While we recognize chemical dependence as a disease, we believe public safety requires regulation of behavior, in addition to treatment for the disease. The university policies related to substance can be found in the current Barry University Student Handbook.

Policy: All incoming undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students for the Division of Nursing shall be drug screened, prior to the start of nursing courses, through arrangements made by the division and screening agency/laboratory. Students are responsible for the cost of all screenings. Information about drug screenings will be conveyed to students at the time they are approved for admission into the nursing program. The Division of Nursing will have access to the results of the screenings. No documentation of the results will be kept in the Division of Nursing, only a notation will be made that the drug screening was completed.

A negative drug screen will be required in order to enroll in any nursing course. Additionally, students must agree, at the time of admission into the program, to be drug screened at any time in the program. Evidence of substance abuse will result in disciplinary action up to and including administrative withdrawal.

Substance Abuse Verification Process: The Division of Nursing has the right to require a student to submit to testing for substance abuse at the student’s expense when the nursing program has reasonable cause to believe that a student is abusing alcohol or controlled substances.

You can begin the background check and drug screening application process online.