Medical Drug Tests

Unlike the on site drug test scheduled by employers, a medical drug test can be proceed at a location apart from the workplace. Yet like the onsite tests, the medical drug tests rely on the chemistry of the tested substance, the technology of the testing process and the protocol followed by the tester. At the same time, such tests can fall prey to the presence of certain uncontrolled variables.

Every medical test begins with the collection of samples. That is generally done by humans. Humans are responsible for seeing that every sample receives a clear and correct label. Failure to label samples properly allows a lawyer to challenge the accuracy of the test results.

While the collection procedure introduces the element of human inaccuracies, not all of those inaccuracies are caused by simple mistakes, such as incorrect labels. Sometimes, patients try to disguise the presence of drugs in a test sample. During the testing of a sample from a medical office, a lab should not assume that the patient could not have used any type of adulterant.  The lab should test for the presence of substances such as bleach, chlorine and hydrogen peroxide.

A medical test can undergo a screening before it the test sample gets passed to a verification lab. However, the screening of a medical test offers no more information than the screening of most on site tests. That screening can allow for presumption of drug use, but it does not prove that such use took place.

Proof of drug use rests on the findings from a laboratory confirmation. Lab personnel usually use either gas chromatography or a mass spectrometer, in order to quantify the amount of any illegal substance in a test sample. The existence of a defined figure, gives the confirmation greater credence than the qualitative nature of the screening results. It serves as less subjective evidence that drug use has indeed taken place.

Upon issuance of the results from the confirmatory tests those results get passed on to a team of health professionals. That team then reviews those test results. They provide the final check in the lengthy procedure that is part of the typical medical drug test.

Now at this stage the possible introduction of human error has not been eliminated. In fact, it is all too present. Even the most experienced health professional could assess a set of results on a day when he or she did not feel too well. In that event, the assessment could well be in error. Therefore, it is clear that even the well laid out protocol for the medical test allows for the influence of human failings.

Creation of a totally accurate medical drug tests cannot be assured until all human interference has been eliminated. That cannot be achieved at this time, but it should be achievable in the near future. It would require the "manning" of medical labs with lots of functioning robots. Of course, there would probably be humans designing and maybe even making those robots.