Drug screenings

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Do any of you do drug screenings in house? We had been sending our kids out but the doc we'd been sending them to wanted to use a blood test instead and it's bacome a huge bone of contention.

We discussed the possibility of screening in house with urine and we feel as though this may be a viable possibility. if you are doing this:

Where do you get your test kits from? What type or brand are they?

Would you mind sharing your policy and regs with me?

What do you do to ensure the purity of your sample? Turn off water in bathroom? Dye in toilet?

Who is present with you when you collect the sample?

Do you empty your office of other student "patients"?

[Jolie, BSN]

Not in our district.

If deemed necessary, the principal would refer them to an outside lab after the parents were notified.

Along with the policy and procedure of collecting and ensuring the security of the sample, I would be concerned with the legal implications. Will parental notification / consent be required? Does the school have the legal authority to demand a sample of an unwilling student? Will parents be billed? For what will the results be used? School discipline? Legal charges?

[schooldistrictnurse]

Jolie brings up some very valid points. We don't do testing in our district either. We have a no tolerance policy, so if you are found with drugs, sell drugs, etc, you are out. If a student (that has not been found with drugs at school) voluntarily goes for treatment, they are not expelled. I think any follow up would be through the courts or their treatment center. We do use dog sweeps through the building about twice a year.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Not in our district.

If deemed necessary, the principal would refer them to an outside lab after the parents were notified.

Along with the policy and procedure of collecting and ensuring the security of the sample, I would be concerned with the legal implications. Will parental notification / consent be required? Does the school have the legal authority to demand a sample of an unwilling student? Will parents be billed? For what will the results be used? School discipline? Legal charges?

Some valid points -certainly some of these have crossed my mind as well.

Parental notification and consent would probably be the same as when the kids were taken to the lab or doctors office or whatever they were doing. I have my concerns about obstining a sample from an unwilling student and have been assured that when this begins that there will always be a uniformed officer present during the process. I dont know that that is fail safe, but i certainly am not going to demand anything of a student suspected of being under the influence when i'm alone - i've already had my share of run ins with charming individuals strung out on coke or pcp's.

As far as i know, parents are billed right now. and As far as the use of the results - that's up to the principal - i know a kid got a 3 day suspension a few weeks ago for having a few joints on him.

Thanks for the input, i really appreciate it. :)

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Our district requires random drug testing for our athletes but we have an outside agency performthe testing. They set-up in our school clinics. I am present for the Middle School test days but the Asst. principal is available at the High school.

[bergren]

National Association of School Nursing Position Statement

The Role of the School Nurse Regarding Drug Testing in Schools

http://www.nasn.org/Default.aspx?tabid=218

[LACA, BSN, LPN, RN]

I'm the minority on this one I guess. Or rather, our district is. The school nurses perform random drug tests on 7th-12th graders, 3 times per season (3 rounds in the fall, 3 in winter, and 3 in spring). In order to be tested, parental consent is obtained. If the parent wants their child excluded, then I can't test that child. I'm somewhat surprised that over 90% of parents are fine with it, I figured more would exclude, but they don't. If an athlete fails a test, they are automatically suspended from the team and must pass 6 tests in a row (at parent expense) before they can participate again.

On randoms, if the principal sees that there is reasonable suspicion to think that a student is using drugs, they can have random test performed. Parents are contacted to let them know that the student is suspected and is being test. If the parent refuses to let the child be tested, they are zero toleranced and suspended for 45 days. If the student refuses to give me a sample, the district considers that an admission of guilt, they are zero toleranced, and suspended for 45 days. If they give the sample and fail, they are zero toleranced and suspended for the length of one semester.

I have an envelope with numbers on slips of paper, I have a random student draw out however many numbers I need. ONLY the numbers go on the forms. The student's name is NEVER used. We ship them out the same day and recieve results in about three days. We are looking at using the "instant" result type tests for the suspicion tests though, so that they can suspend the child that day if need be.

Our district covers the cost of the athlete random tests and the first suspicion test. If any other tests are required because of failing, the parents must pay for it.

[bergren]

Do you only test athletes or all students participating in extracurricular activites (ie band etc)?

[LACA, BSN, LPN, RN]

For some reason (unknown to me...) they only test athletes--ie, football, cheerleading, golf, basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer. They don't test band or any other club/organization participants. Even when I was in school, I always thought it to be very unfair that band students weren't drug tested just like the athletes.