Tips on how NOT to appear like a Drug seeker

Specialties Emergency

Published

Having read through some of the threads regarding Drug seekers in the Emergency Department I must admit I now feel quite nervous of being misperceived in this way. I take medication which causes some urinary retention and increases my risk of Kidney stones. Hopefully this will never happen, but if it does and I need to present to the ED, what advice (on behaviour and what to say for example) can people here give me so I don't get wronly perceived as a Drug seeker. Taking into consideration I am a former Heroin addict, sensitive to NSAIDS and can't take Ibuprofen or Aspirin type medications due to asthma.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
As for why I did pose the original question, well I think anybody who reads these boards and hears how people are so quick to pass judgement on who is a drug seeker and who is legit (not saying everybody but there is a certain element here) and then read about other peoples bad experiences as being mistaken for a drug seeker, would be extremely naive to think that they don't have to worry about being perceived as a drug seeker.

Understandable.

0 Votes
Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
I agree that only someone who is seeking would worry about how not to look like she is seeking.

Guess i'll be a seeker the next time i'm in severe pain. :rolleyes:

0 Votes
Specializes in ICU, ER, HH, NICU, now FNP.

Judgement as to whether someone is drug seeking or not should be reserved for AFTER the appropriate assessment and workup is done. That way people who are in real pain wouldnt have to worry about being taken seriously. the largest part of the problem occurs when a patient comes in in pain and the provider makes a snap judgement before actually assessing the patient. THAT is a problem.

As for the searches - they take a few days to show up - but I suppose you are right - there are plenty of other places and threads that have lots of the same info.

0 Votes
Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
the largest part of the problem occurs when a patient comes in in pain and the provider makes a snap judgement before actually assessing the patient. THAT is a problem.

And it sounds like that's what the OP is trying to avoid.

0 Votes
Specializes in RN, Cardiac Step Down/Tele Unit.

A right?? Healthcare in itself isn't even a right!! It isn't in the bill of rights or the constitution. Is providing care morally and ethically responsible for a civilized society, yes. But not a one of those "inalienable rights" with which man was "endowed by his creator".

Imagine this.... We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal... endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights to include life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, a prescription for Percocet, and a shot of dilaudid".

I have often thought of JCAHO's role in the demise of healthcare in general. They have created more havoc and more paperwork than any one organization has a right to create. But they still can't dictate provider practice. Maybe that is in the works for next year.

As a comsumer of healthcare, I am glad there is an organization that is focused on quality and safety outcomes. As a furure nurse, if that causes me a little more paperwork (or a lot more), so be it.

My first trip to the ER was recently and was for pain control. I had N/V/D with severe upper abdominal pain. The guesses were gallbladder or kidney stones, but thankfully it was neither. I am pretty stoic when it comes to pain, and I have a feeling the nurse felt much like you do about pain control. Thankfully the MD did not and I was given toradol IV which helped alot. Had the nurse taken the time to talk to myself or my husband, she might have found that I do not like to take meds of any kind and it is a testament to the severity of my pain that I was in that I was in the ER at all! I pray that if I am ever in that situation again, I will not be faced with providers who do not feel that I have a right to have my pain relieved.

0 Votes

Question for people out of interest....would you have slightly more respect for a drug seeker if they just came out and honestly said that they were in withdrawal and needed something to help them out?

We treat withdrawal differently with clonidine patches and such, we have given ativan depending on your symptooms, no other narcotics. Someone withdrawing shows signs (nausea vomitting,shakes,shivers and diaphoresis Elevated BP and heart reate and temp to name some). No it is not a good idea to give someone who can't get a fix on the outside narcotics.That makes us his pusher.

0 Votes
Specializes in Emergency.

The nurse that didn't have time to talk to you or your husband about your "pain" was probably doing the documentation and paperwork from her last 10-15 patients that was required by JCAHO. This paperwork had also probably prevented her from getting a meal break or a bathroom break for the last six hours. I'd like to see if you are of the same opinion after you have been a nurse for several years and you see how in the real world doing all that REDUNDANT paperwork prevents you from giving the quality of patient care that you would like to be able to give.

0 Votes
Yes, which is exactly why I identified myself as a former Heroin addict in my initial post :rolleyes: ....don't you think if I was trying to get information on how to appear legit so I could scam drugs I would have left that particular piece of history out of the equation :rolleyes: :madface:

Willow, you need to ignore the idiocy of some of the posts. It seems like most are truely responding in a caring and interested way. A couple of these posts just prove why you are concerned to begin with. My husband is a chronic pain sufferer and has been treated badly too. I pray that those standing in judgement never have to endure what you and he have. :( :madface:

0 Votes
The nurse that didn't have time to talk to you or your husband about your "pain" was probably doing the documentation and paperwork from her last 10-15 patients that was required by JCAHO. This paperwork had also probably prevented her from getting a meal break or a bathroom break for the last six hours. I'd like to see if you are of the same opinion after you have been a nurse for several years and you see how in the real world doing all that REDUNDANT paperwork prevents you from giving the quality of patient care that you would like to be able to give.

Excuse me, was that directed to me? I assume it was so I will just clarify that no I was not complaining about Nurses who couldn't give me the level of care I required because they had paperwork or other duties to do. They were not actually doing any paperwork or any other sort of nursing type work, if they had have been I would have been quite understanding as yes I do realise I am not the only patient in the ER, they were standing in full view of me drinking cups of coffee, pointing, laughing, whispering and makiing references to junkies and drugs whilst rolling their eyes. I think under the circumstances I have every right to be disatisfied with my treatment. Also why did you put the word pain in inverted commas, that to me implies that the pain is not legitmate in your eyes....just because I am a former heroin addict (who btw has been completely clean for over 4 years now) does not mean that I have never had any legitimate severe pain and the incident I was talking about occured several years before I had ever even touched Heroin or any other narcotics.

0 Votes
Willow, you need to ignore the idiocy of some of the posts. It seems like most are truely responding in a caring and interested way. A couple of these posts just prove why you are concerned to begin with. My husband is a chronic pain sufferer and has been treated badly too. I pray that those standing in judgement never have to endure what you and he have. :( :madface:

Thank you. Most of the responses have been very helpful and supportive but yes there are those who have responded that I have to think are they that quick to judge in real life. I thought everyone should be treated as an individual when it came to healthcare, not automatically lumped into one category titled "drug seeker" without the person even knowing the whole story. I can understand that it would be very frustrating to be confronted with people wasting time and resources to try and scam drugs but does that mean that that disruption and frustration should then be extended to all legitimate pain patients, obviously not. I think for some people (not specifically anyone here) it is an ego boost, a way for them to play the I am superior to you card by being so judgemental and only providing or advocating for treatment of those patients who meet their own personal code of morality.

0 Votes
I think for some people (not specifically anyone here) it is an ego boost, a way for them to play the I am superior to you card by being so judgemental and only providing or advocating for treatment of those patients who meet their own personal code of morality.

100% agree!! Well said!!

0 Votes
Specializes in Med-Surg so far.
In the migraine example if we refer you to the neurologist see the neurologist, narcotics dont abort a migraine anyway they just mask the pain and alow you to sleep.

Rj

I don't know about that...if I take a narcotic at the start of a migraine, it will clear up my visual disturbances as well as the pain. Works better for me than the migraine meds I was prescribed.

*shrug* Just my two cents...fortunately mine have tapered off lately. If not, I'd be looking to DO something about it instead of popping Percocets when they started.

0 Votes
+ Add a Comment