Welcome back to the show. Today we're diving into a critical but often overlooked aspect of drug diversion investigations - the role of infection prevention. While most facilities focus on the regulatory and criminal justice aspects of diversion cases, there's a vital public health component that frequently gets pushed to the sidelines until it's too late.
My guest today is Michelle Nation, a nurse with extensive experience in infection prevention. Michelle has witnessed firsthand how the disconnect between diversion response teams and infection prevention departments can leave patients at risk and facilities scrambling to address preventable outbreaks. She's been advocating for a more integrated approach that brings infection prevention expertise to the table from day one of any diversion investigation.
While we've all read about the serious cases documented on the CDC website where infection prevention ultimately played a crucial role, by then the damage was often already done. In this episode, we explore how facilities can bridge this gap proactively, what the patient notification process should look like, and why every diversion response team needs an infection preventionist at the table from the very beginning.