Ua dipstick vs lab drug screen?!
Question:
Ua dipstick vs lab drug screen?
If someone were to do preemployment screening for drugs and they were negative with the urine dipstick test, is it possible to show positive on a lab UA for drug screen. Is there a difference in these two tests???
Answers:
They are two separate tests.
A urinalysis dipstick tests for such things as specific gravity, the presence of white blood cells (leukocyte esterase) and red blood cells, ketones, glucose, and so forth. A urinalysis is an excellent test to screen for a variety of potential health issues in a patient.
A urine drug test is a screen for drugs of abuse performed on a urine sample and will test for around 6-8 different classes of drugs, such as barbiturates, opiates, etc. If one of these comes up positive, it is then necessary to perform a quantitative, confirmatory test.