There is a story out of Fresno, CA of a nurse that was stealing Fentanyl. He is accused of stealing over 400 vials of it while he was to be on paternity leave. What is interesting is that he was coming into the hospital taking just a few vials each time to make it appear that he was getting it for patients.
(Side Note: with HelioMetrics Rx Diversion, one of the items we add into the analysis is time and attendance information. This would have helped catch him the first time he diverted, when he was out of office for paternity leave, long before 400 vials went missing.)
As with most diverters, “co-workers told investigators there was never any indication that he was abusing drugs. In fact, his performance reviews were always good or better and he was once nominated for an award for his service. “
While the investigation was ongoing, his nursing license remained valid, even though he was fired from the hospital.
Now jump forward a few months… He still had his nursing license and he got a new job at a doctor’s office. Not shocking, he started to steal again and got caught. This time he was taking fentanyl and morphine. But the one thing he did different is he tried to cover his tracks. He took saline to try to “replace” the drugs.
This cover-up now becomes a patient safety concern and a liability risk for the doctor’s office.
An ethics question: when is it OK for the board to remove his license? Right away after the first diversion is found, or how long do you have to wait? What if a patient was seriously harmed at the doctor’s office that hired him after getting fired from the hospital?
How well do you check the background of your staff?