Narcotics control in anesthesia training
G. R. Adler, F. E. Potts 3rd, R. R. Kirby, S. LoPalo and G. R. Hilyard
Recent studies document that substance abuse is a significant problem among
anesthesia personnel. We have developed a system to better control the
accountability of narcotics and other potentially addictive drugs. The
system consists of a three-phase approach: (1) an individual anesthesia
cart/narcotics box; (2) computer analysis of drug usage; and (3) an
anesthesia drug audit. A standard stock issue of drugs is maintained by
each resident. Drugs are issued daily to those residents administering
anesthesia. Each drug transaction is recorded by the resident according to
the patient's name, hospital number, type and length of the surgical
procedure, type and amount of drug used, and the amount of each drug
discarded. A weekly computer-generated report shows individual usage trends
for each drug and a summary of "high" users for that period. The computer
does not "flag" an individual as a drug abuser, but monitors trends in
controlled substance usage. Those residents having a significant alteration
in their drug usage pattern that is not explained legitimately are
comprehensively audited.
