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Fire/EMS tightens controlled-substance controls and adopts new tracking software after audit
Summary
Following an internal audit, the Garland Fire/EMS department said it has limited vault access, improved off-site inventory tracking and adopted Operative IQ to provide cradle-to-grave tracking consistent with recent DEA guidance; some policy/manual work remains ongoing.
Chief Lee told the audit committee the department has implemented multiple steps to tighten control over controlled substances after a recent audit, and that the unit has adopted new software and processes to meet updated DEA guidance.
Chief Lee summarized several operational changes: removing nonresponding personnel from vault-access lists, reducing the number of staff with access to EMS supply rooms and the narcotics room, changing PIN-length practices and coordinating a system reset, moving inventory tracking from a legacy in-house system to Operative IQ, conducting daily reconciliation and barcode-based vial tracking, and destroying or returning expired medications under DEA reverse-distributor procedures. "Operative IQ is totally compliant with those new regulations ... We can see where that that narcotic is at all times," Chief Lee said, describing the cradle-to-grave visibility the new system provides.
He said the department will continue to develop a controlled-substances program manual aligned to the DEA rule revisions and to refine access roles, reporting and automated reconciliation. Several milestones — access adjustments, reconciliation processes, expired-medication destruction and electronic vial labeling — were described as complete; program manual development is ongoing.
