Toxicology Roadmap: Everything You Need to Know About Successfully Running a Urine Drug Testing Service (Half Day)

Sunday, July 28, 2024
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM US Central Time
McCormick Place Chicago

Description

Urine drug testing (UDT) is an important tool used in a variety of clinical situations including pain management, opioid use disorder, general medication compliance, emergency medicine, and labor and delivery populations. Due to the opioid epidemic and changing clinical and regulatory needs, many laboratorians are implementing UDT or revising and expanding their UDT menus. It can be daunting to select, validate and implement new test methods while also addressing clinician questions and concerns. This session provides a how-to approach for addressing issues encountered by clinical toxicology laboratories by reviewing the basics of UDT, test selection and validation, and clinician communication. We will provide practical tips and tricks learned through experiences of the presenters. The course will feature a combination of didactic presentations, audience polling and group problem solving to reinforce key concepts.

Target Audience

This activity is designed for physicians, lab supervisors, lab directors (and/or assistant directors),lab managers (supervisory and/or non-supervisory),medical technologists, pathologists, toxicologists, and in-training individuals.

Prerequisite Knowledge 

Some background in urine drug testing is helpful but not required. 

What to Bring

An mobile device or computer to answer poll questions.

Learning Objectives

  • Describe the use of immunoassay and mass spectrometry for urine drug testing including their advantages and disadvantages.
  • Compose a method validation and implementation plan for urine drug screening tests.
  • Interpret urine drug screen questions commonly received from clinicians and communicate effectively back to the clinician.

Faculty

Jessica Boyd, BS, PhD, DABCC | University of Utah/ARUP Laboratories

Claire Knezevic, PhD, DABCC | Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes

Bridgit Crews, BA, Dphil, DABCC | Washington University in St. Louis

Course Outline

  1. So You’ve Inherited a Urine Drug Testing Lab… (55 mins.)
    Basics of urine drug testing will be covered including common drug classes and the screen vs confirm approach. 

    Break (5 mins.)

  2. So You Want to Expand Your Test Menu and Assays… (55 mins.)
    Considerations for bringing in a new test and updating your test menu will be discussed. Audience polling will be used to determine current and desired states in participants current practice. 

    Break (5 mins.)

  3. So You Need to Effectively Communicate with Clinicians… (60 mins.)
    Pre and post analytical communication with clinicians will be covered, including interactive discussion sessions for drug screen interpretation.