IWU background checks and drug screens, in the order they come
IWU's graduate nursing students complete a criminal background check within six weeks of starting, then a second check and a drug screen before their first practicum course, each at their own expense. Random or reasonable-suspicion drug tests can follow at any point. Below is the full sequence, and how we line up your site so the clearance lands on time.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your IWU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your IWU course.
The screening sequence at a glance
IWU spreads screening across the program instead of doing it all at once. The catalog pages for the Masters Nursing tracks set out three checkpoints, and a fourth stays in force for as long as you are enrolled. The table lists each one so you can match it against the catalog year you entered under.
| Checkpoint | What IWU requires |
|---|---|
| Admission (all Masters Nursing tracks) | A criminal background check, completed within six weeks of the program start, at the student's expense |
| Before the first practicum course (APRN students) | A second criminal background check and a drug screen, alongside health clearance and immunizations |
| Before any patient contact | Every requirement the practicum agency sets, at the student's expense |
| Any time while enrolled | Random or reasonable-suspicion drug testing |
The BSN-to-DNP catalog pages also list a drug screen before the first practicum. Wording shifts a little from track to track, so read the page for your own program rather than a friend's.
The admission check: six weeks from your start
Every Masters Nursing track at IWU asks for a criminal background check at admission, finished within six weeks of the program start and paid for by you. IWU's online nursing courses run one at a time, so those six weeks pass quickly once coursework begins.
The public catalog doesn't name the company IWU uses for this check. A CastleBranch portal branded for IWU Nursing exists; ask which system your program uses before you pay for a check anywhere else.
Think of this first check as an early read on your record. If anything needs explaining, you find out now, well before a clinical site asks IWU for a copy of the report. Keep your own copy of the result too, since a site's onboarding team may ask what IWU already has on file.
Before your first practicum course: the second check and the drug screen
IWU requires APRN students to complete a second criminal background check and a drug screen before the first practicum course. Both travel with health clearance and immunizations, and all of it must be finished before you see a single patient. The cost of each item is yours.
For FNP students, the first course with supervised clinical work is PYC-660 Advanced Health Assessment. In the PMHNP catalog, the first clinical course listed is PMHN-652, which carries 75 hours. Time the second check and the screen so results are back before that course opens, not partway through it.
Sites can add steps of their own, and the catalog makes each one your responsibility before patient contact. Franciscan Health's public page for NP rotations in central Indiana, for example, asks for a national background check from within the past 12 months and a 5-panel drug screen, among other items. A check you finished at admission may be too old for a site like that.
The admission background check does not count as the second one. IWU lists them as two separate requirements, and the second is due before your first practicum course.
Random and reasonable-suspicion testing
Passing the pre-clinical screen doesn't close the file. IWU's catalog states that random or reasonable-suspicion drug tests can happen at any time during the program, and students who don't comply with the clearance requirements are dismissed.
Treat clearance as a standing condition rather than a one-time task. Keep prescriptions documented, respond quickly when a test is requested, and speak to your program faculty early if a medical matter could affect a result.
The catalog doesn't publish what a screen tests for or how a positive result is reviewed. Those details belong to IWU's student handbooks and clinical guidance, so look them up rather than relying on what another school does.
The records also reach your sites. When a site asks, IWU may share your background check, health, immunization and drug-screen results with it, so whatever IWU holds can follow you into the practice where you train.
Where the results are submitted
IWU's recent catalogs, the 2024-25 and 2025-26 editions, name Medatrax as the home for preparatory practicum requirements, listing health requirements, compliance education and the approvals for your site and preceptor. Students who haven't submitted those items by the second week of a practicum course may be dismissed.
Those catalogs don't spell out whether the second background check and drug screen are uploaded there as well, and the 2026-27 pages don't repeat the Medatrax sentence. Ask your program faculty where each result belongs, then finish it early. Our Medatrax guide walks through the week-two deadline.
Step-by-step submission detail sits in IWU's NP Clinical Guidelines and student handbooks, which are not public. Open them as soon as you have access; our page on the NP Clinical Guidelines lists what to look up first.
RN-to-BSN and Marion BSN students follow different rules
The online RN-to-BSN handles screening case by case. A background check, drug testing and immunization tracking are required, at the student's expense, when the practicum facility asks for them, and the Division of Post-licensure Nursing sends the instructions. The RN-to-BSN page covers the NUR-492 capstone and its immersive practicum.
On the Marion campus, entry to the nursing major requires a certified background check through a company the Division approves, and records are kept in a secure online document management system. The drug screen, offered at the IWU Health Center, is taken once before clinicals and then yearly, within 30 days before clinicals start, and a Clinical Coordinator tells students when. Our BSN clinicals page has the rest of the campus picture.
Why IWU students bring us in before the screening deadlines
Clearance only counts once it is matched to a confirmed site, and that pairing is where we do our best work. We track down a preceptor and a practice near you that suit your IWU course, then collect the site's entry rules at the start. You get one ordered list that combines IWU's checkpoints with the site's, so nothing surprises you in week one.
We also assemble what IWU vets before it approves a site and preceptor: the preceptor's credentials and license, details on the site, and each record IWU requests. IWU makes the final call on every placement; our part is making sure the School of Nursing receives a complete file that follows its rules from the start. If a preceptor steps away mid-course, we stay on call and source a replacement.
Share your program, start term and town in the form below, or read how it works first.
Questions IWU students ask
Who pays for IWU's background checks and drug screens?
You do. IWU's catalog puts the admission background check, the second check, the drug screen and any site requirements at the student's expense, and its Nursing Practice Experience Costs policy says any cost of clinical placement falls on the student. Our placement costs page lists the other items that fall under the same policy.
Can I use my employer's recent background check for IWU?
IWU's public catalog doesn't say an employer's check can stand in for either of its two checks. It lists them as program requirements with their own timing: one within six weeks of starting and another before your first practicum course. Ask your program faculty before you skip either one, and expect a site with its own process to want that step too.
How often does IWU drug test nursing students?
For APRN students the catalog sets one required screen before the first practicum course and allows random or reasonable-suspicion tests at any time after that. No schedule for random testing is published. Marion BSN students follow a different pattern: a screen before clinicals, then one every year, taken within 30 days of the clinical start.
What happens if something shows up on my background check?
IWU's public pages don't describe how a finding is reviewed. They do say that every nursing license you hold must be unencumbered, and that a site can request your background check from IWU. If you expect a question, raise it with program faculty early, before a preceptor commits to you. Our page on the RN license rule explains the license side.
Do I need a drug screen for the IWU RN-to-BSN?
Only if your practicum facility requires one. IWU's RN-to-BSN catalog ties the background check, drug testing and immunization tracking to what the facility asks for, charged to the student, with instructions from the Division of Post-licensure Nursing. If your capstone runs at your own workplace, ask that facility what it needs before the course starts.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against IWU's own catalog and program pages. IWU's NP Clinical Guidelines, your syllabus and your program faculty have the final word.
IWU says you secure the site and preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your IWU program, your community and when your next practicum course starts. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare everything IWU vets before it approves them.
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PYCcourses, psychiatric care for PMHNP, leaders for HSL - Credentials, license and site details ready for IWU's review and Medatrax
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