In this Quick Take, I'm addressing a concerning trend I'm seeing across healthcare facilities - the practice of concluding diversion investigations based solely on software analytics and audit data, without ever speaking to the healthcare professional involved.
Too many facilities are looking at their monitoring reports, conducting deep-dive audits of documentation and waste records, and then making a determination that unusual patterns are simply "practice issues" rather than potential diversion. But here's the problem: you can't possibly know that without having a conversation with the individual.
This shortcut approach creates significant safety risks and misses opportunities to identify both actual diversion and legitimate practice concerns that need addressing. Every facility needs to evaluate their investigation process and ask themselves: who is making the decision about whether to interview staff, and what criteria are they using?
The interview process doesn't have to be adversarial or make staff feel targeted. When done correctly, it's simply a professional conversation to understand the full picture behind the data. But skipping this critical step entirely? That's a gap that puts both patients and facilities at risk.