title: Use of the urine drug screen in psychiatry emergency service.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigates if the routine use of the urine drug screen offers any diagnostic or management benefit in the assessment and treatment of psychiatry patients in a suburban psychiatry emergency service.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was collected retrospectively from consecutive patients 18 years and above, who presented to a large suburban hospital emergency department and had a urine drug screen ordered in the emergency department. A total of 111 patients, (with mean age of participants being 34.9 years, SD 10.2 years, minimum 18-maximum 62 years, 62.2% (69/111) were male) met the inclusion criteria.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common drug group identified was benzodiazepines (59.5%; 66/111), followed by cannabis (40.5%; 45/111). Other drugs were identified at much lower levels, including amphetamines (9.0%; 10/111), opiates (4.5%; 5/111) and methadone (0%; 0/111). For most individuals only one drug was detected (55.9%; 62/111), with equal numbers (18.9%) with either zero or two drugs identified by a urine drug screen. Fewer patients had three drugs on a urine drug screen (5.4%; 6/111) or four (0.9%; 1/111).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Qualitative urine drug screens provide limited additional information compared to history taking and has minimal impact on clinical management decisions in a psychiatry emergency service.
authors: Senior Registrar in Addiction Psychiatry and Associate Lecturer, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia oluwaseun.akosile@uq.edu.au.
authors: Wole
authors: W
authors: Akosile
authors: Professorial fellow, Mater Medical Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
authors: Brett M
authors: BM
authors: McDermott
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000652:urine*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs
keywords: emergency; history; management; psychiatry; urine drug screen