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Mary Beth Strohl, 35, of Pottsville, and Maribel Cronin, 50, of Catawissa, were admitted Wednesday to the program for one year. President Judge Thomas James Jr. also ordered Strohl and Cronin to complete 20 hours of community service.
A former Geisinger Medical Center registered nurse, Strohl was charged with removing hydromorphone and fentanyl for her own use, including taking hydromorphone from a patient’s pump.
Duane Musser, of the state attorney general’s office, charged Strohl with obtaining and possessing the narcotics from the Onmicell and Continuous Ambulatory Dispensing Devices in Geisinger’s Hospital for Advanced Medicine Dec. 6 to Dec. 24. He also charged her with removing drugs for patients not assigned her, who had a medical order discontinued, and for patients not prescribed the narcotics.
Musser was told by Geisinger Health System Security Manager John Oast that Strohl was suspected of diverting drugs on the fifth floor of the adult intensive care unit.
Geisinger uses an automated narcotic dispensing instrument called Omnicell accessed by a nurse after identification of a user’s fingerprint. Once verified as a valid user, Omnicell records the date and time of a request with a recorded history of the information made. According to Musser, a null transaction occurs when an Omnicell drawer is opened giving access to only the specific pocket containing the requested medication and nothing is removed. A controlled substance could be removed and returned through a subsequently null transaction or while the pocket remains open.
He said Strohl made several null transactions from Dec. 6 through Dec. 24, on which date Geisinger asked her to submit to a drug screening. Musser obtained a search warrant for the results March 21 with the test positive for codeine, hydrocodone and fentanyl.
The state attorney general’s office also charged Cronin with removing painkillers from the Omnicell system and failing to document the administration, return or waste of the controlled substance from April 29 through June 22.
Cronin was employed as a licensed practical nurse on the sixth floor of Bush Pavilion at Geisinger Medical Center.
A routine audit for April, May and June showed numerous suspicious occurrences of her having diverted the drug oxycodone, according to court documents.
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