Table 4.
Testing characteristics.
| Respondents | No personal history of substance use* (n = 988) | Personal history of substance use* (n = 295) | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Institution currently performs employment drug testing | 17 (1.33) | 7 (0.71) | 10 (3.39) | 0.0004 |
| Testing timingb | 0.16 | |||
| Random | 7 (43.75) | 3 (42.86) | 4 (44.44) | |
| Pre-employment | 6 (37.50) | 4 (57.14) | 2 (22.22) | |
| For cause/ ‘reasonable suspicion’ | 3 (18.75) | 0 (0) | 3 (33.33) | |
| Respondent believes that random drug screening can be used to improve safety for anesthesiologists/residents | 1061 (82.83) | 839 (85.18) | 221 (74.92) | < 0.0001 |
| Respondent believes that random drug screening can be used to improve patient safety | 1095 (85.41) | 869 (88.13) | 225 (76.27) | < 0.0001 |
| Respondent would accept pre-employment drug testing | 1151 (89.71) | 918 (93.01) | 232 (78.64) | < 0.0001 |
| Respondent would accept random drug screening | 1137 (88.62) | 911 (92.30) | 225 (76.27) | < 0.0001 |
| Respondent would accept a drug test if their performance was determined to be impaired | 1137 (88.83) | 884 (89.66) | 252 (86.01) | 0.08 |
| Drugs respondent believes are important to be tested fora, b | ||||
| Illicit stimulants | 976 (86.52) | 772 (88.13) | 203 (80.88) | 0.003 |
| Prescribed stimulants | 415 (36.79) | 350 (39.95) | 64 (25.50) | < 0.0001 |
| Anesthetic agents | 932 (82.62) | 713 (81.39) | 218 (86.85) | 0.04 |
| Opioids | 1083 (96.01) | 840 (95.89) | 242 (96.41) | 0.71 |
| Marijuana | 636 (56.38) | 527 (60.16) | 108 (43.03) | < 0.0001 |
| Benzodiazepines | 583 (51.68) | 473 (54.00) | 109 (43.43) | 0.003 |
| Sleep induction/maintenance medications | 374 (33.16) | 308 (35.16) | 65 (25.90) | 0.01 |
| Otherc | 34 (3.01) | 28 (3.20) | 6 (2.39) | 0.51 |
| Reasons to disagree with drug testingb, d | ||||
| Not effective | 34 (13.93) | 22 (14.97) | 12 (12.37) | 0.57 |
| Risk of false-positive results | 74 (30.33) | 52 (35.37) | 22 (22.68) | 0.03 |
| Cost | 20 (8.20) | 18 (12.24) | 2 (2.06) | 0.005 |
| Lack of established guidelines | 66 (27.05) | 44 (29.93) | 22 (22.68) | 0.21 |
| Presence of a drug does not define impairment | 106 (43.44) | 41 (27.89) | 65 (67.01) | < 0.0001 |
| Violation of privacy | 167 (68.44) | 99 (67.35) | 68 (70.10) | 0.65 |
| Other | 27 (11.07) | 18 (12.24) | 9 (9.28) | 0.47 |
| Personally, been subject to drug testing | 60 (4.68) | 43 (4.36) | 17 (5.78) | 0.31 |
Data is presented as n (%).
a
Only assessed among people who indicated they would accept drug testing (pre-employment, random, or performance-based) or believed it would improve safety (of either patients or healthcare workers).
b
Respondents could select all that apply.
c
Other included alcohol, anabolic steroids or performance-enhancing drugs, ecstasy, lysergic acid diethylamide, lisdexamfetamine, and zolpidem.
d
Only assessed among people who indicated they would not accept drug testing or did not think it would improve safety.
*
Note: Substance use is defined as ‘ever used or uses any substance with the potential of abuse to change mental status.