Medical Review Officer (MRO) Assistant Training-Alternative Specimens and Specimen Collection

Video Transcription

Video Summary

This video discusses hair testing for drugs of abuse, specifically focusing on its status from a federal regulatory perspective and issues related to specimen collection. Hair testing is appealing for workplace drug prevention and control due to its longer detection period compared to oral fluid and urine testing. The Department of Health and Human Services attempted to gather information on the applicability of hair testing for federal drug testing programs in the early 2000s, but no significant progress was made until 2014 when Congress allowed truck companies to use hair testing for pre-employment testing. However, the guidelines for hair testing have not been finalized. Currently, the industry relies on its own standards for hair specimen collection. Privacy concerns, sample adequacy, and difficulties in handling different hair types are some of the issues associated with hair testing in the workplace. No credits were mentioned in the transcript.

Keywords

hair testing

drugs of abuse

federal regulatory perspective

specimen collection

workplace drug prevention