Urine Drug Screening in the Hospital Setting

Urine drug screens (UDS) are useful for identifying drugs of abuse and helping ensure medication compliance. They are also heavily utilized in the criminal justice system and some workplaces. However, UDS testing can carry legitimate risks of false positive and negative results that warrant careful analysis to characterize their significance and implications. In particular, an appreciation of opiate metabolites is necessary to identify patterns of opiate compliance and use of non-prescribed, illicit opiates. Standard UDS testing screens for presence of amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana, opioids, and phencyclidine. Howevere, each of these drugs remain in the urine for different durations and have different cross-reactivities.