All Blood Tests

Conducting a urine drug test requires four steps: collection, screening, confirmation, and review. Urine samples are commonly used to test the presence of various drugs in a person’s system because such testing is simple and mainly reliable. Not to mention, urine tests are much cheaper than other kinds – lab technicians usually aren’t required.

In like fashion, the drug test kits used for urine testing are easy to store and they have a long shelf life. Some kits come in packs with gloves and cups; they are very easy to use. Twelve different drugs can be tested through this method but there are certain drawbacks. Urine sample contamination is not difficult, there is only a three-day window of detection, and some subjects find the process invasive and embarrassing.

Here is the process for a conducting a urine drug test:

o  A temperature strip on the collection container guards against substitute samples and fraud. A tamper evident is put over the specimen container and then the subject is asked to initial the container and thus verify that there was no fraud.

o  The specimen (urine) is then screened for drugs and drug metabolites. If there are positive results, a second test is conducted to confirm this. A physician or nurse then reviews the confirmed positives so that legitimate prescription drugs can be ruled out as contributors to the positive result.

o  Some urine samples can be screened at the collection site and results can be known within minutes – others are screened at a laboratory. Negative results are accepted as is and are not confirmed or reviewed.

o  Urine specimens that show the presence of drugs in the initial screening are investigated again in a laboratory setting under two analytic techniques called gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Through gas chromatography, the various substances in the urine are separated and through mass spectrometry, they are shown as positive or negative.

o  The laboratory results are then written out and given to the urine donor or the authority that required the test.

Warning about urine tests

The government has some new guidelines for drug testing that require all laboratories to perform “specimen integrity,” especially for urine tests. Since there is so much fraud, in that people simply use other people’s urine to submit a drug test, the effectiveness of tests comes into question. As well, laboratories have been ordered to not look for just marijuana and other illicit drugs, but for other additives that evidence contamination (like dilution and adulterants).