THUNDER BAY — The Ontario College of Pharmacists has temporarily suspended the registration of a former pharmacy technician at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre because she misappropriated prescription narcotics for her personal use.
The case prompted the hospital to increase its surveillance of the narcotics it keeps on hand for patients.
In a ruling issued in writing last week, the discipline committee of the College of Pharmacists said the worker's conduct over a period of four months in 2016 was dishonourable and unprofessional.
The college initiated an investigation after the hospital notified it that 156 Oxycodone and Oxyneo tablets had been misappropriated from its pharmacy.
The technician told management she had taken them for her personal use to self-medicate for shoulder pain and insomnia. She was placed on sick leave and was subsequently terminated by the hospital.
However, a college discipline panel found that there were mitigating factors in the case, including:
- the worker's cooperation with the hospital and the College
- her clear acceptance of responsibility
- the fact that the painkillers were misappropriated over a relatively short period of time when the worker faced "difficult personal circumstances"
- it was her first offence
- she had already sought counselling
According to the college committee, the woman said she didn't consume all the tablets, never took narcotics while at work, and has not taken any for over two years.
The committee delivered an oral reprimand stating, in part, "The practice of pharmacy is a privilege that carries with it significant obligations to the public, the profession and to oneself...We acknowledge your acceptance of responsibility for your actions and your cooperation during this process. We believe that you have learned from this process and are confident that we will not see you before the discipline committee again."
In addition to suspending the woman's registration with the college for five months, she was ordered to take remedial training with a professional ethics consultant, and provide any pharmacy she may apply to work at over the next two years with a copy of the committee's ruling.
As a result of this case, the Health Sciences Centre has improved its scrutiny of pharmaceutical usage.
Executive Vice-President Dr. Stewart Kennedy told Tbnewswatch the hospital already had a monitoring system, and that "the system worked."
"When we see any suspicious behaviour, suspicious data, we do act on it," Kennedy said.
In this instance, a review of procedures resulted in the implementation of electronic monitoring of narcotics.
Kennedy described the system as using "a tab" on bottles of narcotics that tracks them when they leave the pharmacy and when they are returned.
"That gives us a more timely monitoring system...we know exactly when narcotics come back," he said.
