Transportation Information and Courses from MediaLab, Inc.

For monitored collections, the Department of Transportation classifies the following as health professionals: Physician Medical Technologist Medical Laboratory Technician Nurse (RN/LPN) Physician's Assistant/Nurse Practitioner Medical Technician (A medical technician is anyone who is licensed or certified to practice in the institution where the collection is being done. For example, a phlebotomist, EMT, or medical assistant.)

The Non-Federally Regulated Custody and Control Form is most often used in clinics and hospital emergency rooms when drug abuse is suspected, or by companies participating in their state's drug-free workplace program. Be aware that some states mandate the use of a special CCF for their drug-free workplace program. There are significant differences between the Federally Regulated CCF and the Non-Regulated CCF. You are strongly encouraged to review the difference between the two. Unless there are extenuating (which we will discuss next), remember that the two forms are not interchangeable. The Federally Regulated CCF can be used only for urine collections required by the Department of Transportation drug testing program.

This program is intended to provide guidance and training to those individuals who will be conducting Department of Transportation (DOT) regulated urine specimen collections. While this program is more than just an overview, obvious restraints prohibit an in-depth discussion of every procedure or problem that might be encountered.This program only serves as a training program. It does not represent final authority. Every effort has been taken to keep this course up-to-date with current regulations. However, if anything you see in this program conflicts with the federal regulations (49 CFR 40), the federal regulations prevail and must be followed.Training to qualify as a drug screen collector must include the flawless completion of five mock collections. These mock collections must include the following scenarios and must be performed in the presence of a qualified collector: Two uneventful collections. One collection in which the quantity of specimen is not sufficient. One collection in which the temperature of the specimen is out of range. One collection in which the donor refuses to sign either the donor certification on the pink copy of the CCF or refuses to initial the security strips.

Fortunately, the great majority of collections are uneventful, but from time to time problems or the unexpected occur. This section will discuss a few examples of special situations that may take place during a collection and what the response of the collector should be. Obviously, not every special situation can be envisioned or discussed. It is strongly recommended that the collector be very familiar with the Department of Transportation publication: Urine Specimen Collection Guidelines dated August 25th, 2008.

Have and practice a household disaster plan. Be familiar with the Homeland Security Advisory System. Establish meeting places and phone numbers in case   household members are separated. Identify an out of state contact to call during a major disaster or emergency. Prepare and keep up to date disaster supply kits for your home and vehicle. Teach all members of the household when, where, and how to turn off utilities. Have any necessary tools handy. If you have children in school, make sure you understand the emergency plans and expectations at the school. Preplan alternate transportation routes to important destinations. Keep at least a half-tank of gas in your vehicle at all times. Remember, gas stations rely on electricity to power their pumps.            Know ahead of time what you should do to help family, friends, or neighbors who are elderly or have special needs. Make sure you’re dealing with credible sources before providing credit card numbers, social security numbers and other personal information to people or organizations on the internet. Use anti-virus software and regularly download security protection updates.

Medical errors also occur in the analytic processes and systems of patient care. Analytic errors begin with problems in the transportation of medical samples for testing. These occur between the patient's location and the testing facility. They happen during the time between specimen collection and arrival in the testing facility. The possibility for analytic medical error continues through the analytic processes and procedures of medical testing. Analytic medical error also includes systems, processes, and procedures involved in the transmission and reporting of test results. These medical errors occur during the time the laboratory is directly involved in receiving, analyzing, and reporting test samples. Examples: Wrong transport storage or temperature Delay in transport Sample mixup during transport Acceptance of unacceptable samples that are insufficient, hemolyzed, or clotted Centrifugation, mixing, and other test sample preparation errors Wrong test procedures Test control errors Sample mixup during testing Outdated reagents Wrong reagents Test result mixup Transcription errors Data reporting process errors Result report delays

Quality control (QC) is a system used to maintain a determined level of accuracy and precision. Proper quality control helps ensure that reported results of patient laboratory testing are correct. Quality control applies not only to specimen testing, but also to collection, storage, and transportation.

Some starch granules from dusting powders have faint concentric striations, others do not. External contaminants (ie. those that enter the urine specimen during collection, transportation, or while being examined on the slide) must be differentiated from crystals and other clinically significant findings.