Alcohol and drug testing for health care purposes
View connections →Alcohol and drug testing for health care is carried out for diagnostic purposes, monitoring of treatment, or, for instance, in the cases of overdose.
Published by: The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) · Government organisation
Description language: English
Coverage: All Finland
About this service
Description
Alcohol and drug testing for health care is carried out for diagnostic purposes, monitoring of treatment, or, for instance, in the cases of overdose. In social care, alcohol and drug tests are carried out, for example, in connection with child protection cases. If the testing may have social, financial or judicial consequences for the patient, the testing is conducted so that all positive screening results are then confirmed with another unaffiliated method. Drug and substance screening for Social and health care is carried out from blood and urine samples, and, if required, from other samples such as meconium, saliva and hair, using chromatography-mass spectrometry methods. Most of the methods of analysis used in the service are accredited by the Finnish Accreditation Service (FINAS) in accordance with standard SFS-EN ISO/IEC 17025 (test laboratory T077).
How to use it
The Forensic Toxicology Unit at THL delivers sampling equipment and samples upon request. We recommend testing is requested as an extensive screening for drugs and pharmaceutical substances, if it is not clear which substance/s are involved, or if the use of multiple substances simultaneously, new drugs or designer drugs is being suspected. Testing can also be requested for confirming the presence of a specific substance or a group of substances, if, for instance, the person requesting the test has done a quick drug test resulting in a positive preliminary result for a specific group of substances, and there is no suspicion of use of other types of drugs or pharmaceutical substances. For more information, go to the website or directly contact THL’s Forensic Toxicology Unit.
Conditions
Screening for alcohol, drugs and pharmaceutical substances is conducted upon the request of Social and health services’ units. Tests are not performed on private individuals. The service is subject to a fee.
Where and how to get help
Order of sampling and sending materials – alcohol and drug testing · Online service
This online form can be used to order packages of sampling and sending materials.