SUBJECT: PURPOSE:
Pre-employment and Student Candidate Drug Free Program This program will institute and maintain a program for achieving the objective of a drug free institution. This policy applies only to screening of all applicants for regular or student appointments at the LSU Medical Center - Shreveport. This is only a screening process for prospective employees and students conducted under the authority of Louisiana Revised Status 49:1001 et seq.
SCOPE:
DEFINITIONS: Drug Free Institution - A site for the performance of work at which employees and students are prohibited from engaging in the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession, or use of a controlled substance in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 and the Drug Free School and Communities Act of 1989. Controlled Substance - A substance in Schedules I through IV of section 202 of the Controlled Substances Act. Aliquot - A portion of a specimen used for testing. Chain of Custody - Procedures to account for the integrity of each urine specimen by tracking its handling and storage from point of specimen collection to final disposition of the specimen. These procedures shall require that an appropriate chain of custody form be used from the time of collection to receipt by the laboratory and that, upon receipt in the laboratory, an appropriate laboratory chain of custody form account for the same or sample aliquots within the laboratory. Chain of custody forms shall, at a minimum, include an entry documenting date and purpose each time a specimen or aliquot is handled or transferred and shall identify each individual in the chain of custody.
Collection Site - A place designated by Human Resource Management where individuals present themselves for the purpose of providing a specimen of their urine to be analyzed for the presence of drugs. Initial Test (or Screening Test) - An immunoassay screen to eliminate negative urine specimens from further consideration. Prospective Employee/Student - Any person to whom a job offer or student appointment has been made contingent upon passing the drug screen. Medical Review Officer - A licensed physician responsible for receiving laboratory results generated by employer or testing entity’s drug testing program who has knowledge of substance abuse disorders and has appropriate medical training to interpret and evaluate an individual’s positive test result together with a medical history and any other relevant biomedical information. SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. ACTION: The Director of the Department of Human Resource Management is delegated the authority to establish a drug screening program and is appointed the responsible Medical Center official to supervise the program. Procedures for obtaining specimens, ensuring privacy of information, maintaining chain of custody samples, reviewing quality matters related to the program, and keeping all records related to the drug screening program shall be established and maintained by the Director of Human Resource Management. The following procedural steps shall be followed: 1. Notification of drug screening requirements will be posted on bulletin boards and shall be included in information provided to applicants prior to their interview for a paid, unpaid, or student position at LSUMC-S . 2. Any individual to whom an offer of a paid, unpaid, or student position is made shall be required to pass a drug screening examination at LSU Medical Center - Shreveport prior to being appointed. Failure to pass or submit to such screening examination will disqualify the applicant for employment or appointment to a student position. Each applicant will be informed of the: a) Substances which may be identified. Cannabis Phencyclidine (PCP) Opiods Cocaine Amphetamines/Methamphetamines b) Consequences of failing to submit to the test or failing to pass the test.
c) Reasonable means used to maintain confidentiality of results or any other medical information which may be provided. 3. Each prospective employee/student will be required to sign the drug screening consent form and will be notified of the time and place to appear for specimen collection. Failure of a prospective employee/student to present for testing will normally be considered refusal to submit to drug testing and will be grounds for refusing the applicant employment or appointment to a student position. Collection procedures will be in accordance with the Procedural Manual for the Occupational Health Clinic. 4. Drug screening results will be reported in a timely manner and will be revealed only to those persons authorized by the Director of the Department of Human Resources, as having a need-to-know the information. 5. A confirmed "positive" result of the aliquot means the detection of an illicit or legal substance in the pure form or its metabolites at or above the specified threshold or prescription level by two consecutive drug screening tests which employ different test methods and which was not determined by the appropriate medical, scientific, professional testing or forensic authority to have been caused by alternate medical explanations or scientifically insufficient data. 6. A "negative" result of the aliquot means no detection of an illicit substance in the pure form or its metabolites at or above the threshold level by a drug screening test. 7. A prospective employee/student who declines to consent to screening or who receives a confirmed positive drug screen result shall have the conditional offer withdrawn and shall be subject to disqualification from consideration for a period of one year from the effective date of the disqualification action. 8. Any prospective employee/student who intentionally tampers with a sample provided for drug screening, violates the chain of custody or identification procedures or falsifies test results shall have the conditional offer withdrawn and such actions shall be grounds for disqualification for all positions for three years from the effective date of the disqualification action. 9. If a prospective employee/student has reason to believe that technical standards were not adhered to in deriving the applicant’s confirmed “positive” result, the result may be appealed in writing to the Director within 14 calendar days of receiving written notice of the result.
10. The Director, Department of Human Resource Management, has the discretion to authorize retest by the original or a different laboratory on the same or a new specimen where the Director determines that the technical standards established for test methods or chain of custody procedures were violated in deriving a confirmed “positive” result or has other appropriate cause to warrant a retest.
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER - Shreveport
Pre-Employment and Student Candidate Drug Free Program Consent Form
I have been requested to submit to a drug screen by a urine test. I have been informed and I understand, that my agreement to submit to the requested drug screen by a urine test is completed voluntary on my part, and that I have the right to refuse to submit to the test. I am aware and have been told that my refusal to submit to the drug screen or the result of a confirmed positive by a urine test, will disqualify me for employment or appointment. A prospective employee/student who declines to consent to screening or who receives a confirmed positive drug screen result shall be subject to disqualification from employment or student appointment for a period of one year from the effective date of the disqualification action. I hereby give my consent to Louisiana State University Medical Center and their agents to perform this test. I hereby give my consent to release results to appropriate LSUMC-S management staff on a need-to-know basis. I understand that the information released will be used to determine whether I have violated Louisiana State University Medical Center - Shreveport’s Pre-Employment and Student Candidate Drug Free Program. I acknowledge that I have been advised that I may make a written request for a complete and accurate disclosure of the nature and scope of the tests conducted.
____________________ Date
_____________________________________ Applicant Signature
____________________ Date
_____________________________________ Human Resource Representative