The yearly background check and drug screen at Rivier
Rivier University requires two screenings every year you are in clinical courses: a background check and a drug screen. Both go through the agency the Division of Nursing & Health Professions contracts with, both are paid for by you, and results from an employer or another school do not count. They matter beyond Rivier, because a clinical site can turn a student away based on them.
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Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
Two screenings, the same yearly rhythm
The background check and the drug screen share three rules at Rivier. Each is required every year, each runs through the Division's contracted agency, and each is paid for by the student; the Handbook says plainly that students pay for all testing.
Both count as clinical requirements, which Rivier tracks in CastleBranch (myCB) alongside your immunizations and certifications. The CastleBranch requirements guide shows how the whole file fits together. This page covers the two screenings and what happens when a clinical site looks at the results.
Your order goes through the Division's contracted agency; ask the Clinical Practicum Coordinator how to place it for your year. Leave room in your budget and your calendar for both, every year you have a clinical or practicum course.
The background check
Rivier requires a background check every year, completed before the academic year starts, through the Division's contracted investigative agency. A check from your hospital employer, a staffing agency or another school is not accepted, even one finished last month.
Timing is where students slip. The academic year opens in September (September 8 in 2026), but graduate clinical records are due four months before practicum courses, so a fall practicum student is really working to a late-spring date. Order early enough that the result is back before your file is due.
For the scope of the search and the usual turnaround, ask the Clinical Practicum Coordinator before you order, especially if your practicum semester is close.
The drug screen
The drug screen follows the same yearly pattern through the Division's contracted agency. The difference is that the yearly result is not the only one Rivier can ask for: the Handbook allows random and targeted testing as well, so a clear screen early in the year does not close the question until the next one. Keep your result date with your own records, because a request can arrive at any point in the year and your clinical file has to stay complete throughout.
If you take a prescribed medication that could appear on a screen, raise it with the Clinical Practicum Coordinator before you test and keep your prescription documentation ready. The cost rule covers every test, random and targeted ones included: the student pays.
When a clinical site reads the results
A clear result with Rivier does not settle things with every site. Rivier's Handbook says agencies can decline a student because of what a background check shows, and Rivier's older 2018 form adds that a placement agency's requirements take precedence over the university's. A hospital may therefore run onboarding checks of its own on top of the Division's.
If a site says no, the Handbook is direct: Rivier is under no obligation to place you elsewhere, and it does not promise that you will finish the program. The practical steps after a refusal, from talking to the coordinator to restarting the search, are on when an agency says no.
Only screenings ordered through the Division's contracted agency count. An employer's recent background check or drug test does not replace Rivier's.
Planning the screenings around your practicum
Five steps keep the screenings from becoming the last item holding up a placement.
- Find your file dateCount back four months from the start of your practicum semester. That is when your graduate clinical records, the two screenings included, should be complete.
- Order through the Division's contracted agencyAsk the Clinical Practicum Coordinator for the ordering route, and leave room for results to come back before your file date.
- Ask each site what it runsBefore you accept a placement, find out whether the site adds its own background or drug screening at onboarding.
- Flag anything earlyIf something on your record could raise a question, talk to the coordinator before a site is chosen, not after a refusal.
- Repeat next yearBoth screenings come due again every year. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day your result arrives.
A separate check at licensure time
Rivier's yearly checks are not the last you will see. When you apply for a New Hampshire APRN license after graduating, the state's licensing office, OPLC, requires its own criminal background check, with separate instructions for New Hampshire and out-of-state applicants, plus license verification through Nursys and official transcripts that go straight from Rivier to OPLC.
The two checks serve different purposes, one for clinical placement and one for licensure, and neither stands in for the other. Other states set their own APRN licensing steps, so a graduate licensing outside New Hampshire should check with that state's board. For the license side of your program, including the RN license your practicum needs now, see the RN license page.
How we keep screening questions from costing you a semester
We ask about screening at the site level, early. For each site we propose, we find out what it runs at onboarding and how long that takes, so you can line it up with your yearly Rivier checks instead of meeting a new requirement the week you start.
We work to Rivier's timeline: the four-month file date, the December 1 and August 1 placement cutoffs and the 30 days contracts need. If a site does decline, we restart the search straight away with a replacement that fits your track's preceptor rules. The call on each site belongs to Rivier's graduate faculty, and we make sure what reaches them is complete. Our process shows each step.
Questions Rivier students ask
Does a background check from my hospital job count for Rivier?
No. Rivier's Handbook accepts a background check only when the Division's contracted agency runs it. A recent check from an employer, staffing agency or another school does not replace it. Order through Rivier's route every year, before the academic year begins, and keep the date in view for your practicum file.
Who pays for Rivier's drug screen?
You do. The Handbook says students pay for all testing, which covers the yearly screen and any random or targeted test on top of it. Rivier's other practicum charges, from the annual liability fee to agency ID cards and CastleBranch fees, are explained in the placement costs guide.
Does Rivier drug test students more than once a year?
It can. The yearly screen is the baseline, but the Handbook allows random and targeted testing on top of it through the Division's contracted agency. Treat compliance as continuous across the year rather than a box ticked once, and tell the Clinical Practicum Coordinator about any prescribed medication before you test.
What if a clinical site refuses me after my background check?
Rivier's Handbook lets agencies refuse students based on background check results, and says Rivier has no obligation to find another site. Talk to the Clinical Practicum Coordinator right away about your options and timing. A new site still has to meet your track's preceptor rules, clear Rivier's approval and have a contract in place, which all takes time.
Which company does Rivier use for background checks?
Rivier's Handbook describes it simply as the investigative firm under contract with the Division of Nursing & Health Professions, and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator can tell you how to order through it. Whatever the ordering steps, the rule stays the same: only a check through the Division's contracted agency counts toward your clinical file.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
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