On September 26th through the 28th, Neil Rolland, Leighton Wiley, Denise Hickey (MSN, RN), and Adam Beeler (PharmD, MS) attended the International Health Facility Diversion Association (IHFDA) Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The event included multiple different presentations from hospitals and drug diversion systems around the country. Trexin was an exhibitor with a booth where participants, presenters, and other exhibitors could stop by and learn more about what Trexin does and how we could help them.

Keynote speakers shared personal stories, professional insights, and suggestions of how to prevent drug diversion and recommendations on how to detect it. All the Trexin attendees found the conference beneficial and eye opening to the devastating reality of diversions occurring in healthcare systems.

Keynote Speakers Included:

• Steve Orebaugh (Anesthesiologist, UPMC) – The Stairs on Billy Buck Hill
• Adam Beeler (PharmD, MS) – The Discovery of a Complex “Look-a-like” Medication Swap Diversion Scheme and the Associated Outcomes
• Amanda Hays & Beck Doerhoff – Just or Unjust: How Organizational Culture Impacts the Healthcare Worker with Substance User Disorder During a Drug Diversion Investigation
• Cory Luper, Mike Carico, Terri Vidals, & Bethanie Gamble – Diversion Investigation Interviews
• Sharron Coffie & Elizabeth Daniel (PharmD, BCPS, BCCCP) – Enhancing a Drug Diversion Prevention Program: The Impact of Guidelines & Lean Tools
• Alexandre Raymond, Cindy Mousa (MSHCM, SHRM-SCP), & Stephen M. Webster (PharmD, MSBA) – A Second Chance for Success & Alternative to Discipline
• Christoper Evans (PharmD) & Shirley A. Pickering (ASN) – Experience from Cross – Program Multidisciplinary Team Investigations of Injectable Drug Diversion in Tennessee to Raise Awareness of Bloodborne Pathogen Transmission, 2020-2021
• Susmita Shankar, Danielle Neal, Leah Mitchell (PharmD, MBA), & Karen Kist (MSN, RN, CPN) – Medication Waste Testing
• Fara Bowler – The Six Rights of Wasting: Decreasing the Opportunity for Diversion
• Maureen Burger & Colleen Connelly – The Value of Routine Cycle Counts
• Tom Knight – NIH Founded Research Summarizing the Value of Drug Diversion Software in Health Systems
• Dwayne Jeffcoat – What to Expect: DEA On-Site Inspection

In addition to the keynote speakers, the event held poster sessions as well as allocated breaks with the exhibitors. During the poster sessions companies such as Anigent, BD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Allina Health, and Tampa General Hospital, presented their research, methods, and results during a drug diversion implementation process.

Key Takeaways:

• Implementing a drug diversion system can massively decrease the number of diversions that occur within a facility, as well as stabilize and organize tracking
• We learned about the lengths employees at these healthcare facilities will go through to commit a diversion and what to do to identify the signs
• Drug diversion can occur anywhere controlled substances are manufactured, received, dispensed, administered, and wasted
• The changes COVID-19 brought into healthcare facilities increased the number of diversions because of the high amount of travel nurses and float nurses that hospitals added
• Professional collaboration leads to improved organizational culture of awareness, shared goals for diversion prevention framework and governance, develops creative solutions and expands on current processes, and enhances tools and standard processes utilized

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