Code N: The Intervention Process

Abstract

This is the final article in a six-part series on diversion of controlled substances in an acute health care setting. This series is meant to accompany the recommendations in the Hospital Pharmacy article “Controlled Substance Diversion Detection: Go the Extra Mile” for a comprehensive analysis of all aspects of controlled substance handling. 1 This series focuses on preventing diversion from automated dispensing cabinets, the operating room, and at all handling points within a pharmacy. The objective of the series is to provide practical recommendations to aid pharmacy managers as they seek to prevent or detect diversion. Experience is the key to diversion detection; however, a pharmacy should not have to experience its own diversion in order to learn from it. The collective experience of pharmacy leaders at the Ohio State University Medical Center and the University of Kansas Hospital are gathered to assist other pharmacy leaders in the hopes that they do not have to gain this experience firsthand. The fourth and fifth articles of this series described the investigation process and features of software packages that can aid in investigation, respectively. This article will describe the intervention process. An intervention, if warranted by the investigation, is the next step and a logical conclusion to this series.