FAQs – General

How long has the DRUID app been available?

The DRUID® app has been available since 2016, and since then it has been downloaded over 20,000 times. DRUID’s management portal, DRUID Enterprise, has been available since 2020. 

How long does the test take?

DRUID users can select between tests of 2 durations: the 1-minute Rapid DRUID Test, best suited for commercial use, and the 3-minute Benchmark DRUID Test, best suited for uses requiring greatest precision.

How does the test work?

The app was developed to detect and measure an individual’s cognitive and psychomotor capabilities. Each DRUID test takes several hundred measurements of key neurophysiological indicators, including reaction time, hand-eye coordination, decision-making, time estimation, and balance. The measures are integrated into an algorithm that scores individuals against well-established cognitive and motor impairment indicators. High DRUID scores indicate impairment, lower scores indicate less, or no, impairment

On what devices does the app run?

DRUID is a mobile app compatible with all iOS and Android telephones and tablets.

Is there an enterprise version available?

Yes. DRUID Enterprise is a cloud-based management portal and database which records and stores all DRUID test scores in real time, allows analysis of individual or groups scores over any period of time by filtering for age, score, work shift, location, or any other variable, and provides administrative functions including automated alerts, scheduling, and data downloading. 

What does it cost?

The DRUID app is free on an introductory basis for personal use for 14 days, then $1.99 per month or $14.99 for a year’s subscription. The price for DRUID Enterprise is based on the number of Enterprise users, frequency of usage, and the duration of the subscription. 

Does the DRUID app detect the presence of drugs or alcohol?

DRUID detects impairment from any cause, including from drugs, alcohol, fatigue, illness, injury, chronic condition, or severe emotional stress. DRUID does not detect whether drugs or alcohol are bodily present, nor does it identify the cause of the impairment. 

Is the test accurate?

DRUID’s accuracy has been calibrated against well-established standards measuring the impairment caused by elevated levels of blood alcohol (BAC). DRUID is the only impairment technology that has three peer-reviewed scientific studies published validating its accuracy. Researchers around the world - including from Colorado State University, Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, University of Colorado, Swinburne University (Australia), Washington State University, University of Massachusetts, Utrecht University (Netherlands), and others - are currently using DRUID for their own impairment research as a quick, objective, quantitative, inexpensive, and accurate impairment testing device. Research conducted under a grant to Impairment Science by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine concluded in a study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that DRUID app “was the most sensitive measure of impairment when compared to the other cognitive performance tasks administered.”

If a DRUID test indicates impairment, does it mean that the Test-taker has done something illegal?

No. DRUID detects impairment due to any cause, but it is does not detect or identify the specific cause. If a DRUID test indicates impairment, it could be from any cause. including drugs, fatigue, illness, chronic condition, severe emotional stress, legal or illegal drugs, or alcohol.

Are false Positive scores possible?

False positives can only occur under two circumstances. One, the first few times you take the test, if your scores are elevated, you may not be familiar enough, or have practiced enough, to be proficient. All new users initially need to practice DRUID 1-3 times in order to establish a normal unimpaired score. The app guides you through these practices. Two, a falsely elevated score may be caused if the user is distracted or interrupted during a test, or is jostled during the balance portion of the test. If so, simply take the test again. If the score remains high, it’s likely that you are impaired. 

Can DRUID Baseline Scores change?

The DRUID baseline score is a rolling average of the individual’s unimpaired DRUID scores. Once well established (usually after 1-3 practice tests), a baseline score remains remarkably consistent, making it a reliable comparison point against which to assess whether any current score deviates from “normal.” Because of the random nature of the stimuli presented by the DRUID tasks (except the balance task), familiarity over time with the test (after completion of the practice tests) has only minimal effect on baseline score. Indeed, the more you do the test, the more accurate is your baseline. Repeated test-taking with DRUID does not create a “learning effect” that corrupts the score’s validity. 

Baseline score is, however, subject to change. If a user suffers from a chronic condition affecting cognition (such as stroke, depression, or chronic use of alcohol or drugs), or from an injury affecting balance (such as concussion, or injury to foot, ankle, knee, hip, or back) baseline score will reflect those setbacks and will adjust to a “new normal.” Users suffering such chronic conditions or injuries can use incremental changes to their baseline to assess their cognitive or physical improvement, decline, or stability.

Assuming no chronic condition or physical injury, however, a baseline score is difficult to improve. Your best score represents your cognitive and physical limits. A sudden and significant improvement in current score versus baseline likely indicates cheating. But cognitive and physical limits can, over time, be overcome. Athletes do it all the time. Diligent commitment to exercises that improve hand-eye coordination or balance - skills tested by DRUID - can lead to incremental improvement in DRUID score. Thus, DRUID’s use by serious athletes seeking to monitor their performance and improvement. Because such improvements are subject to the law of diminishing returns, a measuring device sensitive even to small degrees of change, as is DRUID, can be particularly useful to individuals, like athletes, wishing to push their limits.

Is cheating possible?

Currently, for workplace safety uses, DRUID should be deployed in a supervised setting. Where there is supervision, even when tests are taken together by a relatively large group of 50 workers, or more, cheating is highly unlikely. Anti-cheat features are currently being built into DRUID, and will be available soon, so that testing for workplace safety purposes can occur anywhere, anyplace, anytime.

What should I do if one of my employees has a DRUID score indicating impairment?

DRUID is a tool that should be used as part of an overall employee safety program. An elevated DRUID score, particularly one that’s significantly elevated above the employee’s DRUID baseline score, may indicate that person is not fit for duty. An elevated DRUID score should trigger a company supervisor to assess the individual’s fitness-for-duty based on discussion and observation. DRUID is one of multiple indicators that should lead to a decision whether an individual is fully capable of performing their duties at that time. What action, if any, should be taken by an employer should be consistent with company policies already in place. 

Are Unions open to impairment testing?

The key to union acceptance of impairment testing is education. Unions are receptive when they understand that impairment testing, emphatically, is not drug testing; it does not, and cannot, identify the cause of the impairment; it is, instead, fit-for-duty testing. The test, as such, is non-stigmatizing. Its objective, quantitative measurement helps mitigate the subjectivity of their supervisors, necessarily part of all impairment assessments. It contributes to re-aligning the employer-employee relationship away from punishment toward mutual concern for the employee’s well-being. It promotes problem-solving, rather than mere disciplinary measures, and in that way promotes employee retention. Because the focus is on fit for duty, employees, particularly those in safety-sensitive jobs requiring worker collaboration, are comforted that, with impairment testing, they are at less risk from the impairment of their co-workers. In short, impairment testing is to the benefit, not detriment, of the union employee.

The United Electric Workers union has stated that: “The union should bargain for language that says what is unacceptable is on the job impairment. We want testing that shows on the job usage [of drugs] or impairment, not off the job usage… we want language that says that rehabilitation is primary, not punishment.” (Original emphasis) (https://www.ueunion.org/stwd_drugalcohol.html) 

See ‘Assessing Fitness-for-Duty of Shift Workers in Undergroud Mine’ for a case study of how a union and management agreed to go forward with DRUID impairent testing.

What Data in DRUID Enterprise is accessible to Impairment Science, Inc.?

Whatever data a DRUID Enterprise licensee and its users have entered into the system is accessible to DRUID’s developer, Impairment Science, Inc. At a minimum, accessible are user names (whether pseudonymous or actual), user ID, the user’s DRUID scores, whether the score was derived from a 1-minute Rapid DRUID Test or a 3-minute Benchmark DRUID Test, and the date and time the test was taken. If the licensee enters other data such as age, gender, department, or data using Enterprise’s “tagging” function, those data will be visible as well.

Data privacy is of the utmost concern to ISI. All ISI employees and consultants are bound by stringent confidentiality agreements. In order, however, to continue to make improvements to the DRUID ap, ISI’s subscription agreement provides ISI with the right to use the licensee’s de-identified data for ISI’s own research and development purposes only. ISI maintains a licensee’s data indefinitely, but will destroy it at any time upon written request.

Who owns the data stored in DRUID Enterprise?

All data stored in DRUID Enterprise by a licensee is owned by that licensee.

Are test scores and personal data secure?

DRUID and DRUID Enterprise conform to standard security protocols and data privacy practices. User information is stored on a secure, encrypted database system. Contact us to request detailed information on our security practices.

What is the National Safety Council’s stance on impairment testing?

“Impairment is often a hidden risk that prevents workers from being at their best and able to perform safely. On the roadway and at work, impairment can kill. It also impacts business’ bottom line… NSC is calling on employers to take a broad approach to addressing workplace impairment. Specifically, NSC urges that employer policies and procedures define workplace impairment as anything that could impede one's ability to function normally or safely – from chemical substances, such as alcohol, opioids or cannabis, to physical factors like fatigue, as well as mental distress and social factors like stress. Most employers surveyed – 93% – agree with this broader description.” https://www.nsc.org/impairment