Bedside urine testing for fentanyl in self-reported heroin users in a tertiary Brisbane emergency department

To determine if patients presenting to our toxicology unit following self-reported heroin use had positive urine immunoassay testing for fentanyl or its analogues.

Urine samples from consenting patients were tested at the bedside for the presence of opiates or fentanyl and its analogues.

Over a 30-month period, 58 patients were recruited. All samples tested positive for opiates, but none tested positive for fentanyl or its analogues.

In patients presenting to our toxicology unit in Brisbane, we did not find any cases where the urine of patients self-reporting heroin exposure tested positive for fentanyl or its analogues.