Background check and drug test for SAU clinicals

01What SAU asks for

Two screenings sit on SAU's clinical compliance list. The first is a criminal background check at the federal or international level. The second is a drug test. The 2023-24 Graduate Catalog lists both in its MSN and DNP sections, and certificate students meet the same MSN list.

The catalog backs the background check by quoting a Joint Commission (JCAHO) standard, which is the reason clinical agencies expect it. SAU's undated clinicals article lists background checks and drug screening again among the documents to gather before your first rotation.

Both screenings belong to a longer list that runs from your RN license and insurance through CPR, TB, vaccines and privacy training. The whole list, with who pays and when each item is due, is on our clinical compliance page. This page deals only with the two screenings.

02When: before the first practicum, then yearly

The catalog says the student must start both checks and complete them before any clinically related practicum, followed by annual checks until the program ends. In the 2023-24 catalog, the first clinical courses are NUR 680, NUR 780 and NUR 660; current Nurse Educator and MSN/MBA pages add the NUR 780B practicum. Your advisor or your Brightspace course list will show the current numbers.

Yearly means every year of the enrollment, not only the years with a clinical course, because the rule runs until you complete the program. Mark the anniversary of your first results the day they clear.

SAU doesn't publish how recent a result must be at the start of your first practicum. Test too early and you may have to test again, so ask your program how close to the practicum start your results should be dated.

03Federal or international: which applies to you

The catalog's wording is a criminal background check at the federal or international level. It doesn't say when an international search is needed instead of, or as well as, a federal one. The same catalog asks for an RN license in your state or country of practice, so its rules leave room for nurses whose practice history reaches beyond the United States.

If you have lived, studied or worked as a nurse in another country, raise it with your program before you order anything. An international search may take longer to return than a domestic one, and you want it finished well ahead of the four-week paperwork mark.

Whatever level applies, keep the full report, not just a pass letter. A clinical site that runs its own onboarding may ask to see it, and having it on hand saves a second request.

04What SAU doesn't publish

Not on any SAU page we checked

• The screening company. No SAU page names a background-check or drug-testing vendor, so wait for your program's instructions before ordering.
• The drug panel, and how prescribed medications or cannabis that is legal in your state are treated.
• Which records would block a clinical approval, and who reviews a flagged result.
• How long SAU takes to review results once they arrive.
• Whether a check run by your employer can stand in for SAU's.

Each of these is a question to ask before you test, not after. Our who to ask page explains which part of SAU handles which question, from the program director to the Student Success Coach.

05If something is on your record

Talk to the program early, before you ask a preceptor to commit. SAU publishes no list of disqualifying offenses, and a candid conversation with your program director now is far better than a rotation that falls apart at the approval stage.

Your RN license matters here too. SAU requires an unrestricted, unencumbered license in your state of practice, so any board action that restricts it affects clinicals whatever the background check shows. See RN license for clinicals.

A clinical site may run its own screening on top of SAU's. If a hospital or health system asks, follow its process and tell your program what the site required, so both records match.

06Timing the checks against your preceptor paperwork

The screenings run on the same calendar as your placement. Work backward from the start of your first practicum.

1. Confirm the practicum semesterCheck your course plan so you know which semester the first practicum begins.
2. Ask for SAU's current instructionsGet the ordering route and any timing window from your program before you spend anything.
3. Finish both before the four-week markUnder the 2023-24 catalog, your agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification paperwork is due at least a month before the clinical course. Have your screening results back by that point too, so nothing is pending when faculty review the placement. The forms are on our paperwork page.
4. Set the yearly reminderPut the renewal date in your calendar as soon as the first results clear.

If your screenings are done but your preceptor search isn't, that is the gap we work on. A placement advisor brings leads in your home state and prepares what SAU's faculty review, and faculty make every approval decision on a complete file. See how it works.