Drug abuse among healthcare professionals has become a serious issue in the United States, leading to a lack of productivity, medical concerns, and workplace accidents. This may put the entire healthcare service in question.
Hospitals and other healthcare employers have come up with a Drug-Free Workplace Program (DFWP) to prevent substance abuse in the workplace. Comprising the ethical considerations of workplace drug testing for healthcare professionals is not a good way to maintain workplace safety and productivity.
This blog helps healthcare professionals know about their ethical considerations during drug testing.
Why Is Drug Screening Important in Healthcare?
Healthcare is a sensitive profession where medical professionals require a sound mind to make the right decisions.
Healthcare professionals also have diverse access to all kinds of medications, and it is crucial to conduct drug testing based on the circumstances. Medical jobs require a legal and ethical obligation to provide safe patient care, and drug influence might put the patient’s life at risk.
Healthcare employers also conduct drug testing for doctors and other medical professionals to establish a safe and secure workplace for employees and patients.
No Healthcare employer can establish drug testing in their organization without a solid drug testing policy. The policy will involve ethical considerations like legal, medical, and employee relations while conducting a drug test.
Here are essential considerations that you should notice while your employer is conducting a drug test.
Your Employer Can Drug Test Based on Circumstances
The healthcare employer can conduct drug testing based on their drug testing policy, but only in certain circumstances.
- Pre-employment drug testing - This test will be conducted for all medical specialties while hiring a doctor into the organization. Once the doctor completes his/her interview successfully, a standard 5-panel drug test will be conducted.
- Random drug testing - Random drug testing for healthcare professionals would be conducted based on the Healthcare professional panel (HPP) and Medical professional Panel. (Medpro Panel)
- Suspicion-based drug testing - If there arises a suspicion that an employee might be influenced by illegal drugs, the employer might conduct a suspicion drug test.
- Post-Accident drug testing - After workplace injury or accident at work or in workplace property.
- Pre-Access before employees get into specific facilities - Certain facilities like Anaesthesiology, Pain Management, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, and Emergency Medicine might conduct pre-access drug testing.
Establishment of Third-Party Administrator
If your employer is conducting in-house drug testing, ensure a third-party administrator (TPA) is established to manage the administrative functions of the drug testing program. The purpose of hiring TPA is to maintain a delicate balance in conducting a drug and alcohol test in the healthcare workplace.
The TPA would be allocated by the Consortium, where they act as a service agent, and the specimens would be collected and tested in the TPA’s office, and then the results would be declared. But, in most cases, hospitals hire TPAs to manage the administrative functions during the drug test.
Make Sure Your Privacy is Protected
Privacy is crucial in a drug test to ensure that your rights are protected during the drug screening process. The employer can ensure privacy by focusing on confidentiality, informed consent, appropriate collection methods, and fairness.
If your employer is conducting a supervised drug test, it is significant that only a trained professional is appointed as a supervisor. Ensure that the supervisor does not breach the pre-defined guidelines (E.g., A female supervisor for female candidates) and threaten privacy.
Every employee or candidate has a fundamental right to privacy, and no employers can interfere in the zone without having a serious cause. If you are concerned that your privacy is threatened, you can report it to the organization or authority or the TPA (Third Party Administrator), who is present while conducting in-house drug testing.
No to Discrimination
The employer should conduct drug tests for all healthcare employees in an impartial manner without any discrimination. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 is determined to prevent discrimination in the workplace, including drug testing.
This means that employers cannot discriminate against job applicants or employees who have a disability or a history of substance abuse and must provide reasonable accommodations to enable them to participate in the drug testing process.
The ADA, 1990 does not prohibit or authorize drug tests, but they play a vital role in preserving the confidentiality of the drug test.
Finally
It is hard to digest that nearly 10% -15% of physicians misuse substances in their lifetime. This threat needs to be put down, but not at the cost of physician rights. As a healthcare professional, you must ensure your healthcare employer conducts the drug test in the lines of privacy rights, fairness, and safety during the drug test.
