[anonymurse]

Originally Posted by superchicken4000

It is sad to steal the drugs of a patient and to make the patient have to suffer only so the nurse can get her high.

You might want to check out the disease model of addiction.

[chase4myheart]

Originally Posted by superchicken4000

It is sad to steal the drugs of a patient and to make the patient have to suffer only so the nurse can get her high. It is quite obvious that the only reason the patient is taking the medicine is because they are in alot of pain. Not to mention the psycological problems the patient will have to face after leaving the hospital for the wrong doing of the nurse and the neglect they received, ecspecially after you consider the hospital stay alone for 10 days cost almost $70,000. Most patients know when the nurse hasn't been giving them their meds. , but what can they do. File a greivence , but that doesn't help them while they are in the hospital. That only brings more stress after they leave for home and are trying to recover. For $70,000 you would think they would receive good care. But they don't . Only during the day never at night. Why ? because the night shift nurse is stilling their meds. and is to high to do her job properly.

Can you please tell me where it is written that only night shift nurses divert meds? I'd really be interested in knowing where you obtained that information.

[cathymorgan61704]

Hi. I am new to this site, looking for a forum to discuss nursing and drug addiction. I know too well the dangers of working with an addiction to the very meds you have total access to. I too was fired twice for diverting and am now making a 3rd attempt at recovery. My license is suspended but now at this point getting better is more important to me than anything. I know I can never have that access to the meds again. And you are right when you say you don't think of the consequences or anything else; you can't because your brain is saying I need this now or I will die. And anyone who has experienced w/d knows exactly what I mean. I am still in desperate need of help and am more than willing to listen to anyone who can give me advice. I am in my states monitoring program and going to IOP and AA meetings. My drug of choice was pain meds. I did give my patients good care and never took meds from the patients that were truly in pain and needed them. I know from experience the stigma that is placed on nurses because they are supposed to help people and once labeled a drug addict, many are seen only as a common low-life thief, etc. But this is not the case. It is truly a disease that takes control of the addict at the time and you are not thinking rational at all--it is kind of like a survival mode. But I have had sober time in the past and know it can be for me again. I hope my ramblings are making sense here, but after 2 major relapses, I am still in need of major help and thank you for listening 2 me.

Cathy

[Cattitude]

Originally Posted by superchicken4000

It is sad to steal the drugs of a patient and to make the patient have to suffer only so the nurse can get her high. It is quite obvious that the only reason the patient is taking the medicine is because they are in alot of pain. Not to mention the psycological problems the patient will have to face after leaving the hospital for the wrong doing of the nurse and the neglect they received, ecspecially after you consider the hospital stay alone for 10 days cost almost $70,000. Most patients know when the nurse hasn't been giving them their meds. , but what can they do. File a greivence , but that doesn't help them while they are in the hospital. That only brings more stress after they leave for home and are trying to recover. For $70,000 you would think they would receive good care. But they don't . Only during the day never at night. Why ? because the night shift nurse is stilling their meds. and is to high to do her job properly.

So, you're a pre-nursing student, you join this wonderful forum and your very FIRST post ever is to hand slap?
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt though, I really am and try and educate you a bit. Have you even read through the thread yet? Or just a few posts? It DOES make a difference.

Most nurse addicts actually do NOT steal their patients meds, it happens but not as often as you'd like to think. And when it does, YES it is sad. It's sad that someone is that sick they would resort to stealing pain meds from someone in pain. Can you imagine how sick someone must be to do that?

I'm not sure why you think that only night nurses are addicts but let me assure you that addicts are NOT limited to the night shift. It sounds like you may have some personal experience with this. It's unfortunate and hopefully nothing like that will ever happen again. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing. Nurses that steal and/or use drugs often do not forgive themselves or take forever to do so.

Fortunately, I did not take meds from patients. All of my patients received their ordered meds and there was never one single complaint against me. But that does not make me better than the nurse that did steal from a pt. We are both addicts. I can only tell you that in a using state of mind, almost nothing matters. The mind is so sick and overcome with the obsessive thoughts of drugs that you can't think of right and wrong. It just doesn't matter. It IS terribly sad. I feel horrible for the patients that are short changed, I do. But condemning the addicted nurse is not going to help those patients. What will help is a good, solid treatment plan.

try reading back through the thread if you truly care. One day you may have an addict as your patient. How will you give good care? How will you be compassionate? Can you?

[Cattitude]

Originally Posted by cathymorgan61704

I hope my ramblings are making sense here, but after 2 major relapses, I am still in need of major help and thank you for listening 2 me.

Cathy

Hi Cathy,

Welcome to All Nurses! Hopefully you find your way back to this thread, there are several recovering nurses on the forum. We have hoped for our own little area of the forum but to no avail. So we have a thread for now.
I'm in recovery for opiate addiction, you name it , I've done it (no street drugs). I am not in a state monitoring program yet, they are aware of my status. I am in a nurse recovery program through a hospital that I went in to on my own. I also attend nurse support meetings through my state's nurse's association.
I also do NA and Al-Anon as well.
Feel free to PM me!

[JohnBearPA]

Originally Posted by superchicken4000

For $70,000 you would think they would receive good care. But they don't . Only during the day never at night. Why ? because the night shift nurse is stilling their meds. and is to high to do her job properly.

You've got to be kidding here, right? Only receiving good care during the day shift? Are you speaking from personal experience or do you have any data to back that up? I've worked with several nurses that were caught diverting, at several different facilities, and let me tell you, they were all on dayshift except one that was on evening (3-11) shift. Addicts aren't always on the night shift my dear. Also, the absolute "never" really irks me. There are also great nurses that work nocs, and bad nurses that work days. How anyone can make a blanket judgement like that amazes me. My guess is that either you were a pt and had a night shift nurse that you didn't like very much for whatever reason, or you're a nurse that doesn't like the night shift nurses you work with. Either way, a bit of advice, please don't generalize things and lump all nurses in one category or another. Oh, and by the way, I'm a dayshift and evening shift nurse that absolutely loves the nurses that I follow, because they really have their act together and make my job easier in the morning! Night-shift nurses rock!

Oh, just realized you're a pre-nursing student. I really would like to nicely suggest that you take a good look at your attitude, and learn not to generalize dear, because the way you seem to be going, you'll have a hard road ahead of you. When you're a nurse for a while, you'll understand what I mean.

[Lacie]

Originally Posted by JohnBearPA

Oh, just realized you're a pre-nursing student. I really would like to nicely suggest that you take a good look at your attitude, and learn not to generalize dear, because the way you seem to be going, you'll have a hard road ahead of you. When you're a nurse for a while, you'll understand what I mean.

Well put, JohnBear! You'll learn and fall very hard if you dont keep an open mind pretty much on any controversial issue particularly this one. I smell a troll on this one.

[superchicken4000]

Yes as a matter of fact I am speaking from personal experience. $70,000 latter and the biggest nightmare a person can incounter during a hospital stay .

[TCRNCOB61]

Your post was so well put Cattitude!! Drug addiction is so much more than just about taking drugs then getting off them!! I think that nurses that have a good recovery program going (myself included) can be and are great caring nurses. We have much to prove that we can practice nursing safely and that makes us better nurses in my book. I have seen a few nurses on EVERY shift that could use a good recovery program in their life, not because I think they are using drugs, but because of what maybe happening in their life.

Recovery has saved my life, made me a better person and I like ME now.

Thanks for letting me share! JFT

Theresa

[JohnBearPA]

Originally Posted by superchicken4000

Yes as a matter of fact I am speaking from personal experience. $70,000 latter and the biggest nightmare a person can incounter during a hospital stay .

Sorry to hear that you had a bad experience, but you seem like you have a voice and a mind that's capable of realizing you weren't recieving the care and meds that you should have, so you should have said something either at the time, or shortly thereafter. Seems to me like you're making yourself the victim here, and not only that, but generalizing ALL nurses because of one or two that you've had personal contact with, at one brief time, at one facility.

If I was in your position, I'd ask the hosp to see my chart, see what times I should have recieved meds, and see if I did or didn't get what was prescribed. If I was, in fact, not given appropriate care, I'd file a grievance with the hospital, and if I was very VERY sure the nurse was diverting, I'd file with the state BON against the nurse in question. Your chart is a legal document, available for your perusal, or your attorney's if you so choose. Also, your med schedule is set by your MD, so he also may be a resource to you.

It's like people that don't vote, yet b*tch about the outcome of the election. If you don't take an active part, you lose the right to complain and play the martyr later. YOU are responsible for the wrongs that happen to YOU, and if you choose to just complain and generalize all people in one profession that work one particular shift, be ready for some fall-out.

Best of luck to you, and hopefully you'll follow thru on this and make sure this doesn't happen to other people.