How to Make a Random Drug Screening Schedule

Whether you are working for a drug rehabilitation center, or just a place of employment, drug screenings are often a part of regular day to day activities that needs to be addressed. One of the most difficult parts of the drug screening process is deciding how often and when to screen participants.

Instructions

• 1

  Make a list of participants. The first thing you want to get out of the way when making a random drug screening schedule is the list of who you need to screen. Add additional information such as when they work, or when you will have access to them to administer the test. If you are planning on random testing, write down the times in which you think they will be most unlikely prepared to take the test.

• 2

  Decide on the drugs you want to test for. Different drugs remain in the system for different amounts of time. For example, methamphetamine may stay in urine for three to five days, while marijuana can stay in urine for up to an entire week or more depending on how much was ingested. Different drugs will require you to test at different intervals to be sure that the participant is unable to use between testing dates.

• 3

  Determine how you want to test the participants. There are three main types of drug testing including blood, urine, and hair. Urine testing is used the most frequently for testing that needs to be done on a regular basis. The tests are cheaper to perform, and results can be almost immediate for many types of illegal substances. Blood is the next most common form of testing, but is disadvantaged because drugs do not stay in the blood stream as long as they do in urine. The final testing method is through hair. Most hair samples can detect drugs up to 90 days after they have been ingested. This allows for the greatest amount of time between testing, but is disadvantaged because it cannot tell whether the drug use was recent or past.

• 4

  Make a spreadsheet. Once you have determined who you are testing, what you are testing for, and what method of testing you are using, place the information into a spreadsheet and use it as a reference for when you must test your participants. It's also a great way to keep track of testing results.