Drug testing physicians for substances of abuse: case report of a false-positive result

Michael G Fitzsimons; Yumiko Ishizawa; Keith H Baker

doi:10.1016/j.jclinane.2013.05.009

Drug testing physicians for substances of abuse: case report of a false-positive result

J Clin Anesth. 2013 Dec;25(8):669-71. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinane.2013.05.009. Epub 2013 Aug 27.

Authors

Michael G Fitzsimons¹, Yumiko Ishizawa², Keith H Baker²

Affiliations

¹ Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA. Electronic address: mfitzsimons@partners.org.
² Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.

PMID: 23988805
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclinane.2013.05.009

Abstract

The risk of a false-positive urine drug screen is one of the major impediments to widespread implementation of drug testing programs in anesthesiology. A case of a false-positive urine screen for ketamine in an anesthesia provider is presented, with recommendations for methods of managing such an event.

Keywords: Anesthesiologists; Drug testing; Ketamine; Substance abuse.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Anesthesiology*
Anesthetics, Dissociative / urine
False Positive Reactions
Humans
Ketamine / urine
Physician Impairment*
Physicians
Substance Abuse Detection / methods*
Substance-Related Disorders / diagnosis*

Substances

Anesthetics, Dissociative
Ketamine