positive drug screen

sohappytobe

Two of my employees have tested positive for drugs, pain medication. Both are RN's in a hospital setting with direct patient care. Both are under the care of physicians and have written prescriptions. I'm not sure what, if anything, to do in this case. Policy simply states that the matter should be brought to the administrator but I'm concerned about legal ramifications of any action taken. Suggestions?

Don D

None of the sites I have used for collection and reporting would report these two out as positives. Typically, the process works this way: The collection site sends the sample to the lab and gets the results back. In this case the 'positive' notification would go to the Medical Review Officer (MRO) for review and he would have a conversation with the individual. If he determined that the positive is due to a valid prescription, the result would not be reported as a positive, or if it were, it would be accompanied by a phone call to the employer advising that it is due to a valid and legal prescription.

There are quite a few valid prescriptions, typically pain meds, that will result in a positive for opiates and these are NOT what your drug/alcohol policy was designed to detect.

TN HR

Unless the process did take place, the MRO determined there was no valid prescription, and the test goes down as a positive regrdless of the substance or its intended use.

I have a good relationship with the MRO and CSR's with the company we use and they always call me to tell me that the EE either failed to call them to explain this situation or the prescription they have is dated, both of which require a positive report.

Gene