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Overview
Today on-site drug testing is used widely in the workplace, the justice system (probation and parole), hospital emergency rooms, physician offices, and rehabilitation programs. In On-Site Drug Testing, scientists and forensic toxicologists critically evaluate the on-site devices currently available, their validation studies, and their use in a variety of settings. For each device, the expert contributors discuss its principles, materials and reagents, procedures and interpretation, and performance. The tests applied include both therapeutic drugs (lipid-lowering medications, antithrombotic medications, and anticoagulant drugs) at the point of clinical care and drugs of abuse (alcohol, amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine, and opiates) in the workplace and the criminal justice system. The well-versed contributors also address critical issues in sample collection and adulteration, and in program standards and legal requirements in workplace testing.
Comprehensive and authoritative, On-Site Drug Testing illuminates the state of on-site drug testing today, and provides all those responsible a firm basis for choosing the best test devices and techniques most suited to their purposes.
Synopsis
It is at least a decade since scientists turned their imaginations to creating new compact, portable test instruments and self-contained test kits that could be used to analyze urine and saliva for alcohol, drugs, and their metabolites. Although the potential applications for such tests at the site of specimen collection, now called “on-site” or “point-of-care” testing, range far beyond hospital emergency rooms and law enforcement needs, it was catalyzed by the requirements of workplace drug testing and other drugs-of-abuse testing programs. These programs are now a minor national industry in the United States and in some western European countries, and cover populations as diverse as the military, incarcerated criminals, people suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs, all athletes from college to professional ranks, and of course the general employed population, which is monitored for illegal drug use and numbers in the millions. It is not surprising, then, that the need for rapid and precise tests, conducted economically by trained professionals, has become a major goal. Current government approved and peer reviewed laboratory methods for urine analysis serve present needs very well and have become remarkably robust over the past twenty years, but the logistics of testing some moving populations, such as the military, the Coast Guard, workers on off-shore oil platforms, and athletes—perhaps the most mobile of these groups—are unacceptably cumbersome.Editorials
With the explosion of drug-testing in workplaces, schools, and sports as well as the more traditional police and medical contexts, the market for products to test without the time and expense of laboratory equipment has boomed. Contributors from manufacturers and academic medical departments in the US and Europe survey the devices currently being marketed, their validation studies, and their use in a variety of settings. They also provide some general accounts of on-site testing for drugs of abuse and therapeutic drugs, program requirements, and various settings. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Reviewer: Valerie L. Ng, PhD MD(Alameda County Medical Center/Highland Hospital)
Description: This book covers all aspects of drug testing on-site, i.e., near patient, client, family member, prospective employee, or potential criminal offender.
Purpose: The purpose is to review all aspects of on-site drug testing, ranging from device evaluation and test kits, needs of various programs, and the legal and medical contexts in which on-site drug testing is performed. The authors have succeeded admirably.
Audience: This book would appeal to anyone with an interest in on-site drug testing — from employers to worried parents, criminal justice workers, anxious new employees, laboratorians (all levels, from technical staff up to directors of laboratories), toxicologists, etc.
Features: This book contains 18 chapters that cover in detail all available on-site drug testing devices and relevant aspects. A nice feature is an early chapter discussing the pharmacokinetics of the drugs assayed, and interpretation of results depending on the time of ingestion versus the time of testing. As a laboratory director, I greatly appreciate the discussion regarding nonlaboratorian test personnel and the as-to-be-expected relatively worse performance when compared to laboratorians (i.e., more result variability and related issues including substandard documentation). As a parent, I enjoyed reading the many chapters devoted to specific devices, discussions of the underlying technology, and review of the devices' performance in actual use. There is a great final chapter listing all the various substances that can cause interference and alter the test result. This book should really be titled "Anything you ever wanted to know about do-it-yourself drug testing." The book is easy to read and understand, and would appeal to nontechnically trained audience (e.g., parents, police officers, lawyers, etc.).
Assessment: I really like this book! It's going up on the bookshelf for easy access next time I have to discuss the results of an on-site test relative to that generated by my clinical laboratory.
3 Stars from Doody