Any clinician with access to an abused drug can potentially divert the drug illegally. Identifying drug diversion can be difficult.
Commons ways that a clinician who is diverting drugs is detected:
(1) change in behavior or personal appearance
(2) discrepancies in drug records
(3) prescription trail
(4) unsavory contacts
Some clinicians are quite adept at covering their tracts. Devine et al used intensive auditing of drug usage records versus usage of peers:
(1) drug amount per kilogram body weight
(2) drug amount per case
(3) drug amount per kilogram body weight per minute
Random testing for drugs of abuse would seem an obvious method to detect drug misuse.