The UCCS background check and drug screen, step by step
Every UCCS nursing student clears two screens through CastleBranch before clinical work: a criminal background check and a drug screen, both at the student's own expense. Graduate NP and DNP students place the results in Medatrax themselves, while undergraduates work through myClinicalExchange. Clinical sites can then layer their own onboarding on top of what the college asks.
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Tell us your UCCS program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UCCS course.
Two screens, one vendor
UCCS sends every nursing student to CastleBranch, which the college's own instructions call Castle Branch-DISA Healthcare. The background check is ordered under package code NV15 and the drug screen under NV15dt. Both codes appear in the graduate instructions and again on the NURS 4450 enrollment checklist, so one vendor and one pair of packages serve graduate and undergraduate students alike.
The bill is yours. The 08/2026 FNP/AGNP practicum handbook says students complete both screens "at their expense," and UCCS prints no price, so the figure that counts is the one CastleBranch shows when you check out.
| Student group | Ordered through | Where the results end up |
|---|---|---|
| Graduate NP and DNP (MSN, RN to MSN, Post-Graduate NP Certificate, BSN to DNP, Post-Master's DNP) | CastleBranch, package codes NV15 and NV15dt | Medatrax, uploaded by the student with the rest of the compliance file |
| RN to BSN and Dual Enrollment | CastleBranch, items five and six on the NURS 4450 checklist | The NURS 4450 enrollment file, alongside the myClinicalExchange uploads |
| Traditional and Accelerated BSN | CastleBranch | Undergraduate compliance records in myClinicalExchange |
The graduate sequence
For graduate students, the two screens are part of a larger compliance file that lives in Medatrax. Working in this order keeps them from becoming the one item that holds up your first clinical day.
- Read the college's instructionsUCCS's graduate background check instructions name the packages. Order under NV15 and NV15dt so your results match what the college expects to see.
- Order the background checkPlace the NV15 order with CastleBranch and complete every field it asks for.
- Complete the 10-panel drug screenThe Graduate Nursing Student Handbook calls for a 10-panel screen, and NV15dt is that test. Follow the collection instructions that arrive with the order.
- Upload both results to MedatraxGraduate students now place their own results in Medatrax, next to your license, BLS card, insurance proof and vaccine records, by the semester's published due date.
- Keep your own copiesSave both reports. A clinical site may want to see your clearance during its own onboarding, and having the files on hand keeps that step short.
Gaps have a real price: the FNP/AGNP handbook bars a student whose compliance file has gaps from starting clinical hours. The immunizations and compliance guide covers the rest of the Medatrax list and the conflicting deadline wording.
Timing the screens against your placement
The 2026 handbook ties compliance to "the published due date each semester" rather than a fixed week, and older UCCS documents gave different answers. Work from the date announced for your own semester, not from a date a classmate remembers.
The bigger risk is lopsided timing. A new Affiliation Agreement can take 6 to 8 weeks or longer when legal review is involved, and no hours count until UCCS sends its "good to go" email. If your screens are still pending on the day the contract clears, the paperwork you waited on is ready and you are not. Order them once your preceptor search is underway so both tracks finish together; the Affiliation Agreement page explains the contract side.
UCCS's public documents give no repeat interval for a graduate student's background check or drug screen. The Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator, who also coordinates Medatrax, is the right person to ask whether a fresh screen is due before a new rotation.
Cannabis, positive results and who decides
The college's current-student resources page, the same page that links the graduate handbook, carries a short and firm note: "Note that marijuana usage, regardless of the type of usage (recreational or medicinal), is strictly prohibited." Treat that as the college's position before you test, whatever state law allows where you live.
If a background report or drug screen shows a finding, the practicum handbook places the decision with the Chair of the Department of Nursing, who determines whether the student can continue. A clinical site, a preceptor or an outside service has no say in that ruling.
If you expect an old record or a prescribed medication to show up, raise it with the college before you place the order. An early, plain conversation gives the Chair the full picture and gives you time to plan around the answer, instead of learning about a problem a week before your rotation.
RN to BSN and campus BSN students
For NURS 4450 Public Health Nursing, the CastleBranch background check and the 10-panel drug screen are items five and six on the enrollment checklist. They follow the prerequisites, the attestation and intent form, myClinicalExchange registration and the clinical site information sheet, and they come before the badge photo. Each term has a checklist deadline, and missing it means no permission number to register; the NURS 4450 guide lists the dates.
Traditional and Accelerated BSN students meet a background check when they apply for a clinical seat, and CastleBranch screening also appears on the professional program requirements they upload to myClinicalExchange. Those uploads follow each term's undergraduate compliance date. UCCS assigns campus BSN clinical placements itself, so for these students the screens are about readiness rather than a site search.
What clinical sites add on top
UCCS's list is the floor, not the ceiling. The 08/2026 FNP/AGNP handbook tells students to meet each site's own requirements as well, and its example is an immunization UCCS no longer lists, COVID-19. Clearance works the same way: a site that runs its own student onboarding decides what it needs to see before your first day.
Some sites handle that onboarding through myClinicalExchange. The Academic Services Professional for Graduate Nursing identifies those sites while processing your Clinical Site Sheet, and the account is yours to open and pay for; the myClinicalExchange page walks through it. A few systems also limit which schools they take at all: the handbook flags Denver Health as a system that may take students, even its own employees, only from certain universities.
Questions worth asking a site before you commit
- Will it accept your CastleBranch results, or does it run a check or screen of its own?
- Does it place students through myClinicalExchange?
- Does it require immunizations or badging beyond UCCS's list?
- Does it accept students from UCCS at all?
Why UCCS students choose us for the search
Clearance is your part, and it moves quickly once you know the order. The slow part is usually the site, and that is where we do our best work. We search for a primary care or psychiatric preceptor where you live, confirm the site takes UCCS students, and ask what its onboarding involves before we present the match, so any extra check or account is known on day one.
We then prepare everything the Clinical Site Sheet needs: the preceptor's name, credentials, license and certification, the site's details, the person with legal authority to sign and your exact hours. The college reviews and approves every site, and our job is to hand it a file with nothing missing. Share your UCCS course and the semester you start through the contact form, or read how it works first.
Questions UCCS students ask
Who pays for the UCCS CastleBranch background check?
You do. The graduate practicum handbook says the background check and drug screen are completed through CastleBranch at the student's expense, and UCCS publishes no price for either. The amount is whatever CastleBranch charges when you place the NV15 and NV15dt orders. RN to BSN and campus BSN students order through the same vendor and cover the cost the same way.
Can I use a background check from my employer instead?
UCCS's sources name CastleBranch and its package codes for every nursing student and say nothing about accepting an employer's report, so plan on ordering through CastleBranch. If you already hold a recent check from work, ask the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator before paying twice, and remember a clinical site may still ask for its own.
Does UCCS require a new drug screen every year?
The public handbooks do not state a repeat interval for graduate students. They name the 10-panel screen, the NV15dt package and the Medatrax upload, and they tie compliance to the date UCCS publishes each semester. The Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator, who also runs Medatrax compliance, can tell you whether a new screen is due before your next rotation.
What happens if my UCCS drug screen comes back positive?
That call belongs to the Chair of the Department of Nursing, who rules on whether a student with a positive finding continues. The college's resources page also states that marijuana use, recreational or medicinal, is strictly prohibited. If a prescription or an old record may appear on your results, talk to the college before you test so the Chair hears it from you first.
Will each clinical site want its own background check?
Some may. UCCS keeps your CastleBranch results in Medatrax for the college's purposes, and its handbooks do not ask for a new UCCS check per site. Individual sites set their own onboarding, sometimes through myClinicalExchange, and can ask for more. The site is the only reliable source, which is why we ask about onboarding before presenting any match.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against UCCS's catalog, practicum handbooks and college pages. Your degree plan, the handbook for your cohort and the Graduate Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
UCCS asks you to find your clinical hours where you live. Let us run that search.
Tell us your UCCS track, your next clinical course and where you live. We find preceptors who fit the course and prepare the details your Clinical Site Sheet needs, early enough for the agreement to be signed before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NURS 6900, acute and chronic care forNURS 6915andNURS 6925, psychiatric prescribers forNURS 6801toNURS 6803 - Credentials, license, certification and the site's signer ready for the Clinical Site Sheet
- In Colorado Springs, along the Front Range, or in any of UCCS's approved states
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