Drug Diversion – Can AI Monitoring Solve This Growing Issue?

The following is a guest article by Claire Reilly, Director of Clinical Operations at Imprivata and former Emergency Room Charge Nurse. Although often overshadowed by major news and events, drug diversion – the rerouting of medications intended for patients by healthcare staff and is actually theft – has been a persistent problem in all healthcare settings. Pharmacies, doctors’ offices, hospitals, and care homes are all places drug diversion can occur if prescribing is not carefully monitored and managed.    In recent years, multiple factors have combined to create a perfect storm for drug diversion. Healthcare workers were already overworked and struggling to reduce diversion when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit almost three years ago. With hospitals overwhelmed and under resource constraints, less focus was directed toward improving workflows and prescribing processes as clinicians and nurses struggled to manage and care for the influx of COVID-19 patients. In addition, increased stress and burnout has led an increased number of healthcare staff to divert drugs as a coping mechanism. Considering the pressures they face doing such challenging and taxing work, this isn’t unrealistic. In fact, according to some U.S. studies, it’s estimated that 10-15% of healthcare workers will abuse drugs or alcohol at some point in their careers.  But outside hospital walls, demand for prescription drugs is growing too. Drug overdoses were on a steady decline up until 2020....
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: AI/Machine Learning Analytics/Big Data Clinical Healthcare IT Regulations Adderall Alcohol Abuse Artificial Intelligence Big Data Technologies Claire Reilly COVID-19 Drug Abuse Drug Diversion Drug Overdoses EHR Electronic Hea Source Type: blogs