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Workshop on School Drug Testing

Sharing by Project Officer of Trial Scheme on School Drug Testing in Tai Po District

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Workshop on School Drug Testing

KY CHENG Project Officer of Trial Scheme on School

Drug Testing in Tai Po District - School Year 2009/10 - School Year 2010/11

Senior Executive Officer, Home Affairs Department of HKSAR Government

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Project Officer’s Sharing

Based on experience of Tai Po Trial Scheme There might be changes in design and/or

testing method in the future Schemes

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Purposes and Guiding Principles of Scheme on School Drug Testing

Purposes – For prevention and rendering assistance to students

Guiding Principles

- Helping students in their best interest

- Voluntary Participation

- Keeping Personal Information Strictly

Confidential

- Professional testing and support services

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Concerned Parties of School Drug Testing

School Principals Designated teachers School Social Workers Student Drug Testing (SDT) Team Counselling Centre for Psychotropic

Substance Abusers (CCPSA) Project Officers/

School Project Assistants (Future Schemes)

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Role of Project Officer in Tai Po Scheme

Observing the work of SDT Team on school visits

Compiling school visit reports, monthly compliance reports and a final report

Handling enquiries & complaints relating to drug testing

Advising schools on data privacy requirements relating to drug testing

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Main Contents of Sharing

Preparation before implementation School visit arrangements Compliance with Data Protection Principles,

Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance

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Preparation Before Implementation (1)

Compilation of Scheme Protocol Testing method and detailed workflow of drug

testing Random selection A certain proportion of participating students to

be tested once or twice a month Responsibilities of parties concerned Personal data privacy requirements

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Preparation Before Implementation (2)

School Briefings For Students (School hours) For Parents (Evenings/Weekends) Explaining details of Scheme and

implementation plan Answering enquiries

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Preparation Before Implementation (3)

Meetings and Site Visits with

Concerned Parties (1) Venues for drug testing (Interview room and

rest room)– Selection of venues (privacy concerns)– Single or double queue – Alteration work?

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Preparation Before Implementation (4)

Meetings and Site Visits with

Concerned Parties (2) Gender of Nurse, Social Worker and Project

Officer Summons method and staff involved Timetable and school calendar to SDT Team for

planning of school visits Personal data privacy requirements

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Preparation Before Implementation (5)

Meetings and Site Visits with

Concerned Parties (3) Detailed workflow of drug testing Handling of screened positive case Procedures in handling enquiries and

complaints

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Preparation Before Implementation (6)

Staff Undertaking School staff, including those escorting

students to testing venues, should have signed an undertaking to maintain confidentiality

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Preparation Before Implementation (7)

Consent Forms Voluntary participation Drug testing and Support Programme Signed by both Student and Parent Confidentiality and personal data privacy School Principal must lock up the Consent

Forms in a safe place when not in use

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Preparation Before Implementation (8)

List of Participating Students (1) SDT Team would provide an Excel template

for School Principal to input data from Consent Forms of participating students

School should use a standalone computer/laptop and under no circumstances should the data be kept in a network server or transferred through internet

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Preparation Before Implementation (9)

List of Participating Students (2) SDT Team would collect the Excel file from

school using an encrypted USB memory stick (USB) and the file in school would be deleted

SDT Team would prepare a List of Participating Students by adding a computer generated unique code (Student Code) to each participating student

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Preparation Before Implementation (10)

List of Participating Students (3) SDT Team would provide a List of Participating

Students (with student codes, name, gender, class and class no.) to School Principal and Project Officer via encrypted USBs

School Principal and Project Officer must lock up the USBs in a safe place when not in use

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One or Two Weeks Before School Visit

Notification of School Visit Before a school visit, SDT Team would

provide at least one-week advance notice to School Principal, School Social Worker and Project Officer

Test dates and frequencies must not be made known to / able to be predicted by students

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One Day Before School Visit (1)

List of Randomly Selected Students SDT Team would provide a List of Randomly

Selected Students to School Principal and Project Officer via an encrypted USB

To strengthen protection, only student codes are used

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One Day Before School Visit (2)

Test Sequence List (1) Upon receiving the List of Randomly

Selected Students, School Principal would retrieve the selected students’ data from the List of Participating Students and prepare a Test Sequence List showing the time/lesson for SDT Team to conduct drug testing with each selected student

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One Day Before School Visit (3)

Test Sequence List (2) School Principal would avoid arranging drug

test for a student at a lesson he/she is doing a test or dictation

A standalone computer/laptop should be used in preparing the Test Sequence List

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School Visit (1)

Checking of Test Sequence List At the beginning of school visit, Project

Officer would countercheck the Test Sequence List prepared by School Principal against the list prepared by him/her to ensure data accuracy

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School Visit (2)

Checking of Venues and Route Prior to drug tests, Project Officer would

check the room settings and the route leading to the interview room to ensure that selected students’ privacy is well protected

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School Visit (3)

Summoning Selected Students When ready, Social worker of SDT Team

would give a calling slip (with name, class and room no. of a selected student) to a school workman who would escort the student to the Interview Room

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School Visit (4)

Screening Interview (1) Project Officer would countercheck the

selected student’s identity Project Officer would remind the student of

the purpose of collection and use of personal data related to the Scheme and parties to whom the data may be disclosed

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School Visit (5)

Screening Interview (2) Social Worker of SDT Team would briefly

introduce the purposes of the Scheme and remind the student that his/her participation is voluntary

Social Worker should put the student at ease and address his/her concerns

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School Visit (6)

Screening Interview (3) Nurse of SDT Team would ask the student

about his/her health condition, particularly whether he/she has taken medicine recently (Some medicines might affect screening test results)

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School Visit (7)

Screening Interview (4) Nurse would assess whether a student is

suitable for drug test For not suitable cases, Project Officer would

record the reasons such as the medicines taken in School Visit Report to facilitate School Principal in informing students’ parents of the test results

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School Visit (7)

Collection of Urine Specimen Nurse of SDT Team would give the student a

container with cover, advise him/her on how to collect urine specimen and tell him/her to provide urine specimen of half-cup full

Student would provide urine specimen in a rest room for privacy and nurse would stay outside of the rest room

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School Visit (8)

Screening Test (1) Nurse would conduct the screening test

using a testing kit in front of the student and Project Officer

Nurse would inform the student of the five drugs to be tested

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School Visit (9)

Screening Test (2) If the test returns a positive result, nurse

would use another testing kit of a different brand to conduct a second test on the same urine specimen

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School Visit (10)

Result Notification (1)

(a) Negative Case

(b) Not Suitable Case

(c) Not Able to Provide Specimen Case Nurse would inform the student of the test

result

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School Visit (11)

Result Notification (2) Project Officer would remind the student –

– He/she may be randomly selected again– Being selected for drug testing and the test

result are his/her personal data– School Principal would inform his/her

parent of the test done and the result Student may return to class

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School Visit (12)

Result Notification (3)(d) Refused/ Withdrawal of Consent Project Officer would remind the student –

– School Principal or the designated teacher would inform his/her parent of his/her refusal

– His/her parent should give a written notification to School Principal to withdraw from the Scheme

positive case, Social Worker would provide on-the-spot counselling to the identified student

Project Officer would record the test result in School Visit Report

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School Visit (13)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (1) Project Officer would explain to the student that

since the screening test returns a positive result, the remaining specimen would be sent to Government Laboratory for a confirmatory test

Project Officer would immediately inform School Principal of the screened positive case

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School Visit (14)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (2) Nurse would divide the remaining specimen

into two containers and affix a security seal to the cover of each container

Nurse would write the student code on the containers

Student, Social Worker and Project Officer would sign on the security seals

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School Visit (15)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (3)

Social Worker and Project Officer would sign a Request Form for a confirmatory test

Nurse would put the two containers and the Request Form into a plastic bag and affix a security seal to the plastic bag

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School Visit (16)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (4) Student, Social Worker and Project Officer

would sign on the security seal of the plastic bag

Social Worker of SDT Team and School Social Worker would provide on-the-spot counselling to the student

If appropriate, the student may return to class

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School Visit (17)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (5) School Principal would notify the student’s

parent of the screened positive result and explain the established procedures to be taken, such as confirmatory test and support services (if confirmed positive)

If necessary, School Principal would invite the student’s parent to a meeting on the day

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School Visit (18)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (6) Nurse or Social Worker would then deliver the

specimen to the Government Laboratory for a confirmatory test

After confirmatory test (usually takes a few working days), Government Laboratory would inform Project Officer of confirmatory test result via secure communication, who would inform School Principal

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School Visit (19)

Handling of Screened Positive Case (7) School Principal would inform the student’s

parent of the confirmatory test result If the result is Negative (False-positive), all

support services will be aborted If the confirmatory test result is Positive,

CCPSA would coordinate support services for the student. The parent may request a review

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School Visit (20)

School Visit Report (1) Project Officer would compile a school visit

report in duplicate after each visit, one copy to School Principal and another copy retained by Project Officer

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School Visit (21)

School Visit Report (2) The report would inform School Principal-

– whether SDT Team has complied with the Scheme Protocol

– testing results of selected students For confidentiality, only student codes are

used

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School Visit (22)

Interview with School Principal Project Officer would present the School Visit

Report to School Principal after each school visit

School Principal would be reminded to shred all papers with students’ data relating to drug testing (e.g. Test Sequence List and calling slips) immediately after every visit

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School Visit (23)

Notifying Parents of Test Results School Principal would inform the students’

parents of the tests done and the test results

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Other Project Officer’s Duties (1)

Monthly Compliance Reports Summarizing results of compliance checking

and incidents for attention in that month to School Principals and the Government

Final Report Compiling observations and recommendations

to School Principals and the Government related to the Scheme

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Other Project Officer’s Duties (2)

Handling Enquiries and Complaints Handling enquiries/complaints related to the

Scheme from School Principals, teachers, parents or participating students and making referral to concerned authorities for follow-up

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Other Project Officer’s Duties (3)

Advising Schools on Data Privacy Requirements

To remind Schools to comply with the six Data Protection Principles in the running of the Scheme

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (1)

DPP1- Purpose and manner of collection of personal data (1)

Scheme Protocol and consent forms would set out the purpose and manner of collection of personal data under the Scheme, the persons to whom their personal data might be transferred, and their rights to access to or correct their personal data

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (2)

DPP1- Purpose and manner of collection of personal data (2)

Briefings would be held for students and their parents to address their concerns and worries

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (3)

DPP1- Purpose and manner of collection of personal data (3)

Consent forms should be designed in a way that only the necessary personal data (name, gender, class, class no. and consent to participate in the Scheme or not) are collected

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (4)

DPP2- Accuracy and Duration of Retention (1)

School Principals should take every step to ensure the accuracy of the List of Participating Students and promptly update it with SDT Team when there are students join or withdraw from the Scheme

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (5)

DPP2- Accuracy and Duration of Retention (2)

Personal data collected would not be kept longer than necessary. All data, consent forms and other documents related to the Scheme kept in schools would be erased or destroyed after completion of drug testing

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (6)

DPP3- Use of Personal Data Personal data collected under the Scheme

must not be used for other purposes

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (7)

DPP4- Security of Personal Data (1) Only concerned parties as listed in the Protocol

could access personal data of the Scheme All personal data of the Scheme held by school

would be stored in an encrypted USB Memory Stick (no personal data of the Scheme are kept in computer/laptop or network server)

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (8)

DPP4- Security of Personal Data (2) A standalone computer/laptop should be

used to process personal data of the Scheme

Consent Forms and School Visit Reports are stored in a secure place by School Principal

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (9)

DPP4- Security of Personal Data (3) School staff, including those escorting

students to testing venues, should sign an undertaking to maintain confidentiality

To strengthen protection, only student codes are used in the List of Randomly Selected Students and School Visit Reports

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (10)

DPP5- Information to be generally available

The Scheme Protocol is a document open for public access

School Principals should put in place their personal data policies and guidelines in handling collection and use of personal data

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Compliance with Data Protection Principles (11)

DPP6- Access to Personal Data Consent forms set out clearly the rights of

students and their parents of access to and correction of their personal data by making a request to School Principal

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ENDTHANK YOU