Criminal Background Checks and Drug Testing

Criminal Background Checks and Drug Testing:

The Office of Experiential Learning manages learning experiences which occur external to the school and are a required component of the curriculum in all four years of the PharmD program. Many of the sites we use for experiential learning require students to meet certain prerequisites, such as showing proof of immunization to communicable diseases and undergoing criminal background checks and drug screening. Failure to meet these prerequisites can result in students not being able to complete their experiential learning requirements.

To streamline the process of collecting and corroborating experiential learning site requirements, we have entered into an agreement with CastleBranch, Inc. This company will coordinate and manage the collection of all of the experiential learning requirements you will need for your rotation sites, and the information will be available to you both during your PharmD years and after graduation. This is a secure site to which only the Experiential Learning Office and you will have access.

The fee for this service is updated yearly, and is set by the CastleBranch company. Please contact the Experiential Learning Office to obtain the most recent fee structure for initial account setup, and account renewals. Please note, that clearances are required to be updated on a yearly basis. The Office of Experiential Learning will notify student when they should renew their CastleBranch account at a lower cost.

Drug testing (screening) is only required when a site requests this; therefore, students should not obtain the drug screening unless it is required by the site. Students can order this through their CastleBranch profile, please contact Ms. Schmotzer in the Experiential Learning Office to obtain instructions for the drug screen.

A positive criminal history and/or positive drug screen may disqualify you from completing required experiential learning at sites external to the University and may prevent you from completing the PharmD Program. Should a student fail a check, clearance, and/or drug screen, the School of Pharmacy cannot guarantee that it will be able to place the student at another entity for the requisite field education, thereby affecting the ability of the student to graduate on-schedule from the pharmacy program.

Additionally, in order to become licensed as a pharmacist, many states will inquire as to whether the applicant has been convicted of any misdemeanor, any felony, or any felonious our illegal act associated with alcohol and/or substance abuse. A criminal history as described above may delay or prevent licensure.