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Five ways staff steal drugs

Healthcare Security Weekly, September 12, 2004

Drug abusing staff can cost hospitals millions of dollars.

According to David Sells, Jr., director of security services at Presbyterian Health Service Corporation in Charlotte, NC, in the book "The Theft Prevention Guide for Hospitals, Nursing Homes, and Assisted Living Centers," here's five ways staff divert drugs thefts:

* Straight theft of the drug from the narcotics cart or cabinet.

* "Short shooting," in which the person signs out the proper medication dose for a patient, but gives the patient only a portion of the dose, injecting the remainder of the dose into himself or herself. The staff member then charts that the patient received the entire dose.

* Signing out a medication for the patient and charting that the patient received the drug, when in actuality the staff member has taken the drug.

* Substitution of saline for the narcotic in the syringe. The staff member will inject the real narcotic into himself or herself and place the altered container back in the narcotics cabinet for another, unsuspecting staff member to give to the patient.

* Phony wasting. A nurse will sign out a larger-than-needed dose for a patent-for example, 10mg of morphine-when the standing order is for 2 mg. The nurse will give the patient the 2 mg and inject the remaining 8 mg into himself or herself. The nurse will then refill the syringe with 8 mg of water. The dishonest nurse has another nurse witness the wasting of 8 mg. The witnessing nurse has no way of knowing that the substance wasted was water. The diverting nurse will then chart that he or she gave the patient 2 mg and wasted the 8 mg of morphine.

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