No Software, No Problem: Directed Audits That Actually Catch DiversionNo Software, No Problem: Directed Audits That Actually Catch Diversion
Drug Diversion Insights with Terri Vidals
Terri Vidals outlines a practical five-week audit cycle that uses standard Automated Dispensing Machine reports to spot drug diversion risk without extra software. The episode explains how focused audits, peer comparisons, and barcode scanning data can highlight suspicious patterns in everyday medication transactions.
4:22•17 Jun 2026
Catching Drug Diversion With Just ADM Reports and Smart Audits
Episode Overview
- Diversion analytics software is helpful but not essential; targeted audits using existing ADM reports are a core control.
- A five-week rotating audit focus can cover high-risk dispenses, total waste, full-dose waste, controlled cancels, and non-controlled cancels.
- Comparing activity within peer groups (same unit, role, and shift) helps highlight staff whose patterns stand out from colleagues.
- Full-dose waste and unusual cancel patterns, especially around a small set of medications, can signal potential diversion.
- Barcode scanning data, split between controlled and non-controlled substances, can reveal users who selectively skip scanning controlled drugs.
“"The auditors who catch diversions aren't the ones with the fanciest tools. They're the ones who use the reports they already have."”
Understand the complexities of addiction with insights from someone who spends every day trying to stop drugs going missing inside hospitals. Pharmacist and host Terri Vidals talks through how healthcare teams can spot diversion risk even without fancy software – and why basic reports from Automated Dispensing Machines (ADMs) still matter. Terri sets the scene clearly: "Not every facility has diversion analytics software.
And honestly, even the ones that do still benefit from old-fashioned targeted audits." Instead of chasing new tech, she shows how you can work smarter with what you already have. The approach is simple: use ADM user-level reports and run a rotating, five-week audit cycle that steadily shines a light on risk patterns. You’ll hear how to focus week by week: high-risk controlled substance dispense volume, total waste volume, full-dose waste, cancels on controlled substances, and cancels on non-controlled substances.
Terri explains why comparing staff within peer groups is key and why "pulled and fully wasted is one of the cleaner diversion patterns." She also flags an often-missed angle: barcode scanning. The red flag isn’t just low scanning overall, but the person "who scans their non-controlled substances reliably but skips scanning their controlled substances." This episode is aimed at healthcare professionals in hospitals or clinics who worry about diversion but feel limited by budgets, software gaps, or time.
Terri offers reassurance and structure: "Build the habit before you build the scale." Her message is that consistent, small, well-aimed checks can be just as powerful as any high-end analytics platform. If you’ve ever wondered whether your organisation is really looking in the right places for diversion risk, this practical walkthrough might give you a fresh way to use the data you already have. Are your current checks asking the small, specific questions that reveal patterns hiding in plain sight?
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