Polygraph testing--a comprehensive literature review of an ethical dilemma

The purpose of this article is to provide pharmacy educators with knowledge regarding the polygraph. These facts are valuable in training and counseling students and are prerequisite to making informed decisions as leaders in the profession. Businesses lose six-billion dollars annually to employee theft. One in four U.S. employers currently use the polygraph on employees, and pharmacists are frequently subject to the procedure. Several U.S. corporations report the lowest loss rates in the industry without resorting to the polygraph. They utilize traditional techniques of security, accounting, and personnel administration. Patterns of nonspecific autonomic responses modified by race, sociability, moral development, interpersonal climate, education, pain, and exercise level, indicate that the procedure is not valid. The procedure yields approximately 11 percent false positive and 2 percent false negative results. No licensure is required in 24 states, and 40 states allow employers to use the technique at will. NACDS and NARD support of the polygraph, while the APHA and the Retail Clerks Union oppose it.