Historically, studies have proven that workplace drug testing can deter drug use among employees. A drug-free workplace will increase employees’ productivity, morale, and performance. If maintaining a drug-free workplace is crucial for ordinary employees, it’s obviously so for safety-sensitive positions such as medical professionals?
Medical professionals are perceived to provide superior health care to their patients without human error and malpractice. Therefore, the implementation of a standardized drug testing program for medical professionals is imperative. It maintains the confidence level of people who have the responsibility to provide proper medical care, attention, diagnosis, and medication for health-related issues.
Here are some of the things that need to be considered when implementing a drug-testing program in the healthcare industry.
Choose reliable drug testing providers.
It is ideal to outsource the drug testing program to a vendor since healthcare workers are knowledgeable about how a drug test works and therefore, have the chance to manipulate the result. In achieving quality and reliable results, employers must choose the right drug testing and screening provider for their medical professionals and staff. Also, the right drug testing providers will give you guidance on how to carry out the procedure you have in mind in a compliant way.
Decide the best type of drug testing procedure.
If you want to monitor the drug abuse rates of medical professionals, the program won’t yield the best results if your drug testing method fails. Before anything else, it is best to find the most effective testing method you want to use in the program. Some of the most common types of drug testing procedures are urine, saliva, blood and hair testing.
Aim for comprehensive tests.
The idea is to create a reliable drug testing program that will monitor drug abuse among healthcare workers. Usually, a single drug testing method might not be as reliable as it can be. Therefore, a series of drug testing procedures in a program is highly recommended to prevent an unreliable test result. Although this will result in higher costs, comprehensive drug tests mean quality results.
Administer drug tests randomly.
The pre-employment drug test is usually a mandatory drug testing service for safety-sensitive positions in the healthcare industry. However, a pre-employment drug test alone does not maintain a drug-free workplace environment. Therefore, random testing is the best way to conduct drug testing to sustain a workplace with no drug abuse from its medical staff. Another strategy is to select a few medical personnel per department, so they won’t know when they will be called to undergo drug tests.
Require all medical personnel to undergo a drug test.
Even you are implementing a random drug testing service, make sure that everyone will have their chance to undergo the required drug testing procedure. It should include positions from highest to lowest ranks. By doing this, you are confident that no one was missed, and the drug test results are reliable. Another benefit you will gain is the sense of fairness and equality seen by your employees across the medical facility.
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