Free guide · Monitoring
Collection sites, and why they aren’t all the same
The morning check-in says you’re testing today. The collection site is where you actually go: the facility that collects the sample, has you fill out the paperwork, and sends it on to the separate company that runs the test.
Nobody tells you that the sites vary as much as they do, and the variation matters more than it sounds like it would.
Where do I go for my drug screen?
The best answer comes from the other participants in your program. They’ve already been to the worst sites in your area, and they also know which ones are the most expedient. Ask them before you ask anyone else.
The good ones, and the other ones
Some of them are very used to doing this and are very efficient. You don’t have to wait or mess around, and you don’t encounter people who don’t know what to do. They see monitoring screens every day, they know the forms, and you’re in and out.
And then there are the other places, where the staff rarely do any of these and don’t know which forms to fill out or what to do. Same test, same sample, and a completely different morning.
The trap: picking the closest one to work
It’s the obvious move. You pick a place on your own because it’s the closest one to where you work, and closest is the whole reasoning. That’s exactly how you wind up at a site where nobody knows what a monitoring screen is.
In a process where the paperwork is your responsibility, a site that fumbles the forms isn’t just an annoyance.
If you’re selected and can’t find anywhere to go
It happens: you get picked for a random screen and can’t locate a place to do it. If anything is out of place, or something is not going correctly, call your contact at your health program. The company that runs the random monitoring can be a separate organization from your program, and your program’s contact is the one who can sort it out.
And make sure you aren’t waiting until the end of the day to pop in at a location you’ve never been to before. That’ll certainly be the time they’ve closed early, or don’t do drug screens anymore, or don’t have the right forms. Probably one of the worst things you can do in this program is not go get a drug screen done on a day you’ve been selected.
What only your own area answers
Which sites near you do this every day, and which have never seen your program’s forms. What your panel is, and what your facility charges. Whether your program restricts where you can go.
Those genuinely vary by city and by program. The difference between a good site and a bad one is the same everywhere.