School of Medicine Drug Testing Policy

The School of Medicine does not require "routine" drug testing of medical students. However, some facilities where students may rotate for various clinical experiences do require drug testing before they will accept a student for a rotation. The School generally contracts with these facilities so that the testing can be done through the School rather than through the facility in order to protect students' privacy. The School in turn uses CastleBranch, which provides industry-standardized drug screening service through Quest Diagnostics and Lab Corp laboratories around the 5 state region. Working with CastleBranch, the School has chosen to implement a urine drug screening program for its drug testing protocol. The CastleBranch drug testing procedure is used and the laboratory will perform a 12-panel test for the following drugs:

  1. Amphetamine (methamphetamine)
  2. Barbiturates
  3. Benzodiazepines
  4. Cocaine
  5. Cannabis metabolites
  6. Fentanyl
  7. MDMA/Ecstasy
  8. Methadone
  9. Methaqualone
  10. Opiates (codeine & morphine)
  11. Phencyclidine
  12. Oxycodone

*Due to federal regulations, a positive drug test is not mitigated by state law or medical marijuana authorization.

Clerkship sites/course numbers with drug test requirement​​. No information concerning drug testing will be shared with the clerkship rotation facility other than to verify that the results were negative. The SOM can NOT verify drug test results from outside agencies.

Students will have access to their drug test report on their MyCB account on CastleBranch website.  The School will also have access to the report via the CastleBranch website.  The School will record compliance status in Evalue but will not upload the reports to Evalue in order to protect students' privacy.

UW Policy on Cannabis Use

Process for positive results for prescribed medications

Confirmed positives for a prescribed medication will be reviewed by a CastleBranch Medical Review Officer.  Once CastleBranch has reviewed the supporting documentation for the prescribed substance, the results will be reported to the School as "negative" and no information about the prescribed substance will be shared with the School.

If there is a positive result for a prescribed medication/s, a Castlebranch "Medical Review Officer" (MRO) will contact student to ask for documentation of their prescription.  Once the review is completed, the results will be reported as negative and the UWSOM will not have any information about the student’s medication/s.

Students will have three days to respond to the MRO.  If the MRO does not hear from the student within three days, Castlebranch will report the positive result to the school.

Process for positive results for controlled or illicit substances and/or cannabis

If there is a confirmed positive for a controlled (Schedules II-V) or an illicit substance or cannabis, the medical student will be referred to the Associate Dean for Student Affairs for further assessment and management. A positive result for any illicit substance and/or cannabis, will result in an automatic referral to the Washington Physician's Health Plan (WPHP).