The Test Comes Back Non-Negative. Now What?
It’s 9:15 Monday morning. A pre-employment drug screen has produced a non-negative result.
The hiring manager wants an answer today.
What would you do?
The first thing to understand is that a non-negative screening result is not necessarily the same as a confirmed positive result.
Initial drug screens are designed to identify whether certain substances or metabolites may be present at or above established cutoff levels. When a screen produces a non-negative result, additional steps may be appropriate depending on the testing program, applicable regulations, and organizational policy.
That can include sending the specimen to a qualified laboratory for confirmation testing using a more specific analytical method. In some programs, a Medical Review Officer (MRO) may also review confirmed laboratory results and relevant medical information before a final result is reported.
The important operational lesson? Have your process established before a non-negative occurs.
Organizations should know who is responsible for the next step, where specimens are sent when confirmation is required, how results are documented, and who is authorized to make employment or program decisions.
Waiting until a non-negative result appears can create unnecessary confusion at exactly the wrong time.
Fact Friday takeaway:
A non-negative screen should trigger your established process, not an immediate assumption about the final result.
Using a credible resource for drug screening supplies helps support consistency and reliability across your program.
