A variety of drug testing kit options allow hospitals and other healthcare settings to monitor drug use by employees without having to draw blood. These tests range from simple strips which can even be used for home testing to urine and saliva tests which require more steps and time, and hair tests, which require a laboratory. This kits are available for one substance alone, such as marijuana testing kits, or for multiple substances.
Using a variety of testing strips, cassettes, cups and swabs, hospitals and other workplaces can perform rapid checks on employee drug use, with results usually available in 10 minutes or less. These, which include pre-marked indicators that change color to reveal an illegal substance such as marijuana, amphetamines, barbiturates or cocaine, can be performed by any employee, or by labs contracted to conduct testing services.
The simplest version of in-house drug testing is drug test strips. These kits, available as single or multi-panel strips which can detect up to 10 different drugs in selected combinations, require dipping the test stick in a collected sample of urine. Combinations of colored lines on the drug test strips indicates a positive or a negative result.
Drug test cassettes, which involve placing drops from a urine sample into a receptacle on the kit, can also test for single or multiple substances. These cassettes, one of the earliest methods of testing urine samples, can be purchased in several configurations to test for specific combinations of substances, such as amphetamines, marijuana and cocaine, from a single sample.
Saliva tests, in which saliva is obtained by swabbing the mouth or placed in a spit cup, allow for testing of multiple substances as well. Saliva is quickly and readily assessable. Hospital staff can test saliva for marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and various opiates.
These kits can also involve the sampling of hair. Hair samples, which can show drug use up to 12 months prior to testing, can be done by laboratories or sent out for 24- to 48-hour turnaround.
Although in-house and laboratory drug test options focus on illegal drug substances, they can also be used to check for use of other substances such as alcohol or steroids. Saliva samples for alcohol use are more reliable than breathalyzers, and blood tests can identify the presence of steroids as well as other drugs.
Test strips and kits are available in multi-packs and bulk batches for use in institutions with large numbers of employees, and drug testing services can also be contracted with outside testing agencies to ensure that hospitals and other health care environments remain drug-free.
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