There are screening panels described below, with the option to add-on confirmatory testing.
How to order:
If ordering urine drug testing for pre-employment, stable patients on chronic opioid therapy, buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder, or for patients who might be using other substances and a shared decision has been made to check a urine toxicology for safety and education, order "Drugs of Abuse Screen, Urine"
Unexpected screening results:
If you receive an unexpected result from the screen panel and wish to rule out a false negative/positive, please add on the confirmatory test for the specific drug - place the order for the drug you want to confirm (see individual list below) and select Add-On (under Priority).
In general, screen first, confirm only if needed:
Please order the screening tests first followed by add-on confirmation and not just the individual confirmatory tests.
The reason for this is two-fold:
Safety: You can screen for other substances that may affect ongoing treatment. Of note, cannabis is commonly used by our patients and it being positive on the panel is rarely a reason to impact clinical management; unfortunately it is part of the LabCorp panel and cannot be removed.
Effective use of resources: Screening panel results are usually sufficient enough for clinical decision-making; confirmatory tests are more costly and time consuming
When to order confirmatory testing WITH screening test: When there have been a history of discordant results (e.g. negative screening immunoassay, positive confirmatory or vice versa) or there is another reason to obtain quantitative results (versus qualitative).
Factor in turn-around time:
- Turn-around time for the Drugs of Abuse Screen, Urine panel is 4 hours as specimens are processed at MSH labs, and for individual confirmatory (GC/MS) is up to 5-7 days depending on drug