Medical Review Officer Online Course with Live Discussion (Includes Digital Syllabus)-Alternative Specimens and Specimen Collection

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this video, the speaker discusses hair testing for drugs of abuse in the context of federal regulatory perspectives and issues related to specimen collection. Hair testing is attractive for workplace drug prevention and control due to its longer detection window compared to oral fluid testing or urine testing. The Department of Health and Human Services attempted to assess the applicability of hair testing for federal drug testing programs in the early 2000s. In 2014, Congress allowed truck companies to use hair testing for pre-employment testing, pending the finalization of technical guidelines by the Department of Health and Human Services. However, no mandatory guidelines have been proposed yet. Without federal standards, industry standard practices for hair specimen collection are followed, including using disposable gloves, scissors, a hair clip, alcohol wipes, and a collection kit provided by hair testing laboratories. The collection procedure involves cutting at least 1.5 inches of head hair, wrapping it in a foil packet, sealing the envelope, and sending the specimen to the laboratory for testing. However, challenges arise in cases where donors lack hair or have privacy concerns, and there are differences in detection windows between head hair and body hair. Other difficulties include handling closely cropped, curly, or braided hair, and ensuring an adequate sample without cutting too much hair.

Keywords

hair testing

federal regulatory perspectives

specimen collection

detection windows

workplace drug prevention