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Drug tests for college athletes tracked via handhelds

13.02.2006
When it comes to accurate drug testing of college athletes, the National Center for Drug Free Sport Inc. relies on handheld computers instead of paper forms to track data on 25,000 tests a year. Use of handhelds at track meets and other National Collegiate Athletic Association events started in 2002, replacing paper forms used to record testing information, said Frank Uryasz, president of Kansas City, Mo.-based Drug Free Sport, in a recent interview.

Last year, Drug Free Sport upgraded to more durable handhelds that it believes won't become obsolete as soon as many consumer-grade handhelds, Uryasz said.

The more durable handheld is the Dolphin 7900, a 17-oz. device from Hand Held Products Inc. in Skaneateles Falls, N.Y., which is equipped to capture an athlete's digital signature and to scan bar codes affixed to test sample containers.

The National Center for Drug Free Sport uses Dolphin 7900 durable handhelds from Hand Held Products Inc. to track drug tests of college athletes.

The Dolphin, which starts at US$2,500, is loaded with SCAN II software from Technology Solutions Group Inc. in Lenexa, Kan., an integrator and partner with Hand Held Products. The software is loaded with athletes' names and other data before an event and supplemented with keypad and scanned bar-code input at the sampling site, usually in the stadium. Testing of the samples is handled by independent laboratories, with athletes' names and other information kept separate.

In the future, Uryasz said, Drug Free Sport plans to use the Dolphin's image capture ability to take a photo of the athlete to ensure further legitimacy of the tests.