Down the drain: Reconsidering routine urine drug testing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pytell, Jarratt D; Rastegar, Darius A

Pytell, Jarratt D; Rastegar, Darius A.

Pytell JD; Addiction Medicine and General Internal Medicine Fellowships, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 5200 Eastern Avenue, Mason Lord Building, East Tower, 2nd floor, Baltimore, MD 21224, United States of America. Electronic address: jpytell1@jhmi.edu.
Rastegar DA; Division of Addiction Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, 5200 Eastern Avenue, Mason Lord Building, East Tower, 2nd floor, Baltimore, MD 21224, United States of America. Electronic address: drasteg1@jhmi.edu.

J Subst Abuse Treat ; 120: 108155, 2021 01.

Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1023675

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic and the move to telemedicine for office-based opioid treatment have made the practice of routine urine drug tests (UDT) obsolete. In this commentary we discuss how COVID-19 has demonstrated the limited usefulness and possible harms of routine UDT. We propose that practitioners should stop using routine UDT and instead use targeted UDT, paired with clinical reasoning, as part of a patient-centered approach to care.

Subject(s)

COVID-19; Opioid-Related Disorders/diagnosis; Substance Abuse Detection/methods; Humans; Opioid-Related Disorders/urine; Patient-Centered Care/methods; Telemedicine

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Full text: Available Collection: International databases Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Substance Abuse Detection / COVID-19 / Opioid-Related Disorders Type of study: Diagnostic study / Prognostic study Limits: Humans Language: English Journal: J Subst Abuse Treat Journal subject: Substance-Related Disorders Year: 2021 Document Type: Article

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