[MCOH-EH] Stopping Pre Employment Urine Drug Screens

[Swift, Melanie D., M.D., M.P.H.]

The following comments are my personal opinion and are not intended to represent my employer:

Good for them! You'll find a lot on the internet touting a high ROI for pre employment UDS. By an amazing coincidence, this information mostly comes from vendors who sell the service. And they all seem to make sense - unless you know enough about drug testing to realize:

  *   Any recreational user with an IQ above 80 can simply abstain for the requisite clearance time to pass a planned UDS
     *   The likely exception to this is the naïve recreational marijuana user who does not realize how long the clearance time can be. Rest assured that among those working in the facility who passed a preemployment UDS once upon a time, there are also multiple recreational THC users especially in states where this is legal. You will not "catch" most of these people with a preemployment UDS.
  *   Any serious addict who is not able to stop using for the clearance time of their drug of choice is either:
     *   Not smart and functional enough to be hired to work in healthcare, or
     *   Smart enough to google "how to beat a drug test" and secure the necessary freeze dried urine and paraphernalia to produce a negative urine between 90 & 100 degrees, or
     *   Smart enough to have a prescription for their drug of choice
  *   Abuse of prescription medication is a far more pervasive problem among healthcare workers than illegal drugs, and evidence of a valid rx for the drug found yields an MRO negative report to the employer anyway.
Again just my opinion, and I really think that pre employment drug screening is a very expensive and labor intensive exercise in optics rather than a meaningful program for deterring drug use and treating addiction.
Melanie

From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces+swift.melanie=mayo.edu at mylist.net> On Behalf Of LeClair-Netzel, Megan E
Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 11:52 AM
To: MCOH/EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [MCOH-EH] Stopping Pre Employment Urine Drug Screens

Hello,

Our C-suite has told Employee Health we need to investigate stopping urine drug screens for new hires as a cost savings measure and only UDS those for who it is required by law or certification.


  *   Have any others gone through this or stopped pre-employment UDS?
  *   What certifying bodies for a hospital organization require UDS?
     *   For example, we found out specialty pharmacy need UDS for URAC

Thanks,

Megan


Megan LeClair-Netzel, DNP, RN, AGCNS-BC
Employee Health Services
UW Health
(608) 263-7535
she/her (Why pronouns are important<https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flgbt.wisc.edu%2Fpronouns-matter%2F&data=05%7C01%7CSwift.Melanie%40mayo.edu%7C903732fa135a41a221f408da7493a5ed%7Ca25fff9c3f634fb29a8ad9bdd0321f9a%7C1%7C0%7C637950475098307093%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=QjwOTYVH40O2Y6XBE5DAkrMT2uMGb6ojy82P4PNeEPk%3D&reserved=0>)

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