WHAT DOES THE DRUG TEST DISPOSITION MEAN?

Not knowing what your employee drug test disposition means can be frustrating and very confusing.  MBI Worldwide Background Checks and Drug Screening strives to make your drug screening process as seamless as possible, by offering not only the newest panels and products available, but also educating our clients on what to look for when testing an applicant and/or employee.  The first step to successful employee drug screening practices is knowing what each drug screen disposition means and how it will affect both the turnaround time of the test and the results.

Below are some of our most common dispositions that our client’s question:

1. Sent to Lab
   This is either a lab-based test that is automatically sent to the lab, or an instant drug test that has been flagged and is needing to be re-tested at the lab. Specimens can take up to 5 business days to be received at the lab.
2. Lost In Transit
   Any specimen that has not been received at the lab by the fifth business day will be resulted as Lost in Transit. There will be no charge for this drug test.  The applicant will have to retest.
3. Received at Lab
   This is a specimen that is currently in testing. This commonly takes 24 to 72 hours. If a specimen is positive, it will then go into confirmation testing. If the specimen has multiple components that were flagged, it will have to go through a separate round of testing per flagged component. Each round can take 7 to 72 hours before it is released to either MBI Worldwide, or the Medical Review Officer (MRO).  If it is released to the MRO,
4. Outside of Temperature Range
   This is a specimen that was either over 100 degrees or under 90 degrees. The applicant will always be asked to provide another specimen before the clinic releases the result as Outside of Temperature Range. It is only after the donor refuses to stay for recollection that the test will be closed out and a new test will have to be scheduled. Our staff will reach out to the clinic first to get more specific details on the collection before releasing the results to our customer, so our customer can decide if a re-test is in their best judgement.
5. Shy Bladder
   If the applicant / employee does not supply enough urine for the collector to receive a valid temperature reading, the individual will be asked to re-test and disposition that result as a Shy Bladder. The clinic will provide the applicant with water (up to 40 oz) for the next 3 hours until the applicant can provide a specimen. If the applicant refuses to stay the test will be released as cancelled with the collector’s remarks of a Shy Bladder. If the applicant does not stay to re-test, MBI’s Drug Screening Department will contact the clinic directly to obtain a reason why the collection was stopped and advise the employer of our findings.  After receiving all the information, it is at the employer’s discretion to re-test.
6. Chain of Custody (COC) Forms Mislabeled or Mismatched
   If the specimen is resulted out as COC Forms Mislabeled or Mismatched, this means that the clinic mislabeled the bottles at the time of collection of the specimen. The lab will not test a specimen that has mislabeled information on it and the applicant/ employee will have to retest.
7. Dilute Specimen
   A urine specimen that has resulted as Dilute Specimen has a higher-than-average water content.  If a person drinks an excessive amount of water, the result could be a drug screening disposition of Dilute Specimen.  A person can also be drinking a large amount of water in an attempt to dilute drug levels.   It is at the employer’s discretion to accept a Dilute Specimen test result as a negative test.  If the employer wants to retest, it should be stated in their policy and a Dilute Specimen result should be re-tested across the board.  In other words, be consistent.

As always, if you have additional questions about your drug screening and best practices, please email MBI Worldwide’s Drug Screening Department.