Author: Charles Frank

Easy Ways to Read Drug Test Results: 10 Steps with Pictures

If you do have a letter of medical necessity for at-home drug tests, you may be able to purchase the test using funds from your flexible spending account (FSA) or your health savings account (HSA). However, it’s worthwhile to talk to the company that manages your benefits before you purchase the tests to make sure your FSA or HSA plan will cover the costs. If you wish to have these features included in your test, the cost will likely be higher than a traditional test kit. At-home tests also offer the benefit of using simple or basic equipment and testing steps that can be performed with little training or prior experience.

Before taking any action, you should review your company’s drug testing policy and follow those guidelines for next steps. Some urine test cups are able to detect multiple substances at once, while some are specific for certain drugs. Choosing the right urine test cup for your purposes depends on why you are drug testing and what you are testing for. When no line appears in the Test Region (T) but a colored line is displayed in the Control Region (C), the drug test result is POSITIVE. A positive urine test result indicates that the drug, or drugs, in question were detected by the drug test.

How long will drugs show in a urine test?

Cutoff or detection levels are suggested by SAMHSA and are used to prevent the majority of false positives for trace amount of drugs in a donor’s system. The detection levelsare different for each individual drug, and most of the drug testing in the workplace uses a standard set of cutoff levels. However, law enforcement and addiction treatment programs that have a zero tolerance policy will sometimes use a lower cutoff level in their testing. However, the addition of these chemicals may affect the temperature of the urine sample which is why a temperature strip is so useful in identifying urine drug screening. On-site immunoassay, or more commonly know as urine drug testing, is used for initial screening of the presence of drugs in a person’s system. Urine drug tests are checking for a certain level, or the detection level, of the drug or drugs.

This type of urine drug test undergoes gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) testing in a laboratory setting. This test is much more specific than a urine screening test and results are very accurate. This type of urine screening is used in testing for the presence of a specific drug, especially when the initial screening test produces a positive result.

By using Australian Standards approved drug testing devices the likelihood of a false positive is drastically reduced. But there are occasions when a false positive can occur from a donor who is neither abusing drugs nor has taken an illicit drug. This is why it is recommended that all positive tests should be confirmed by a National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA) Accredited Laboratory for further testing. All on-site tests should be considered presumptive until verified by an Accredited Laboratory. Saliva tests don’t tend to have as long of an acceptable testing window. Substances like cocaine, morphine, or heroin can be present up to 36 hours after taking them.

1. Notification or consent may be a requirement before testing, depending on jurisdiction and circumstances.
2. For drug screening, a urine temperature that is within the range of °F is usually acceptable.
3. However, a negative result does not necessarily mean drug use hasn’t happened recently, since detection windows vary per substance.
4. Urine drug screening is appropriate for any testing reasons and can be used for a wide range of illegal substances and prescription drugs.
5. About DrugConfirm Home Drug Test Cup Urine drug testing is one of the most popular methods of random drug testing for recent drug use, as these tests …
6. It may also be done at the laboratory where the laboratory technicians or medical staff read the results.

A positive drug test result is when ONE line appears in the Control Region (C) and NO line appears in the Test Region (T). Just a quick note so say how massively impressed I was to get back to my apartment a few minutes ago and find two packages waiting at reception for me from Australia Drug Testing. I only put the order through yesterday afternoon and in less than 24 hours I have it!

For example, false positives may impact results and some states allow candidates to explain a positive test result within an allotted number of days. Urine drug test cups with thermometers are great tools and often read the sample’s temperature in Celsius or Fahrenheit. A newly collected urine sample should be warm to the touch, but a more accurate temperature is necessary to ensure that it has not been adulterated. Using the thermometer strip allows you to check whether the sample is obtained fresh or adulterated.

Substances tested

A Urine drug test will not differentiate between prescription medications and illicit substances. Many donor’s may have a legitimate prescription for opioid pain medication from their doctor. Similarly, some diet pills and ADHD medication can contain amphetamines and methamphetamines. It is important to identify a donor’s full medication and supplement history to differentiate between abuse and legitimate prescription use. Urine testing is most common because it is noninvasive, quick, and able to qualitatively detect a wide range of drugs. The window of detection depends on the frequency and amount of drug intake but is about 1 to 4 days for most drugs.

Urine drug screening is very effective in detecting recent use, typically in the past 1-3 days. Urine drug screening is appropriate for any testing reasons and can be used for a wide range of illegal substances and prescription drugs. Some drugs stay in the donor’s system for a long period of time (weeks to months), while other drugs are only in the system for a very short amount of time (hours to days). Urine drug tests can typically detect the drug in question immediately after use. Some collection cups are also more sensitive than others, providing early or extended detection windows.

This cup brings a whole new meaning to the word instant, and the quality and accuracy the same. I highly recommend ECO Cup ll drug screen cups and ADT for their friendly and reliable service. This means that if you got your test a few years ago, it probably won’t effectively detect the presence of drugs anymore.

Urine Collection Cup Features

Pseudoephedrine, tricyclic antidepressants, and quetiapine may produce false-positive results for amphetamines, and ibuprofen may produce false-positive results for marijuana. With cocaine testing, which detects benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite, other substances do not cause false-positive results. In a healthcare setting, drug tests may include urine, hair, saliva, or blood samples. However, at-home drug tests are typically urine or saliva because, in some cases, they can show results instantly or within just a few minutes. Employment drug testing laws vary from state to state but can often guide next steps for a candidate or employee’s positive drug test result.

How long can at-home drug tests detect drugs?

The best way to ensure that you’re using the product correctly is to read the instructions manual that comes together with the kit. Using the product correctly and reading the results correctly is important to yield accurate and unadulterated fesults. An acceptable urine temperature for drug test analysis falls between the range of 32–38 °C (90–100 °F). If the drug test temperature is out of range, it is possible the urine is adulterated by substances (i.e. water) indicating the drug test has been falsified.

Quick deliveries, great advice (when needed), and a fantastic range of stock. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. If you visit a pharmacy aisle or shop online for an at-home drug test, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the options that are available.

Your questions will be answered by a laboratory scientist as part of a voluntary service provided by one of our partners, American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science. Please allow 2-3 business days for an email response from one of the volunteers on the Consumer Information Response Team. Drug screening is considered a type of employment background check and therefore the requirements of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) also apply.

A urine test cup usually contains a temperature strip, which is built in to detect abnormalities in the specimen. Temperature strips for urine testing can also be applied separately by a Third Party Collector (TPA). We have experienced nothing but unwavering support with a wealth of knowledge from this organisation.