BYOB at work?

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. What would you do if you caught another nurse doing this?

    • 11
      Mind your own business, this happens all the time.
    • 52
      Report it, there is no place in nursing for this activity.

63 members have participated

Need your excellent, expert advice! Recently while at work, it was brought to my attention that another nurse had brought beer FROM HOME and gave it to a vulnerable adult in our Special Care Unit as a 'treat'.

Nurse was on duty at the time and is not a friend or relative of this resident.

Resident has no doctor's order for alcohol whatsoever.

Thoughts? Actions? I was told to ignore it because this nurse has been doing this for years.

(Later I'll tell you what I did).

O

Oh my gosh, you had me crying in laughter, until at the end, you said you really didn't do all that, but I still love your way of thinking

Thank you for being you. Thank you for being able to read and comprehend when someone is just writing something to be funny. I bet you are wonderful to work with.

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Specializes in PICU.

OP:

I think for me the primary issue is you reported second-hand information. You may not have had the complete story from the CNA, and it may have been half truth. I do understand that the nurse in question likely should have used better judgement. Depending on how you approached this nurse, could have greatly impacted the response that this nurse gave you. This could be a good teaching moment for everyone at your place of employment. My big issue with you reporting this nurse is it was not you that witnessed the event and therefore makes it difficult to know what the entire story and transaction was. There may have been bits of information that people did not want to reveal.

Your response seems overly harsh, almost as if you have some other issues with this nurse. It is hard to completely understand over just written words, so I may be misinterpreting things. However, it does appear from what has been written that you may not like/care for this particular nurse and are waiting for something to go wrong.

I think that this could be a good moment for everyone at your place of employment to look at current policies, have a discussion on current practices, invite the docs to come and formulate a new plan. It should not be punitive, rather have it be a dissemination of knowledge. This way staff can come together and address issues versus feeling as though they are attacked.

Perhaps a write-up was warranted, but it should have been the CNA since that staff member had witnessed the event.

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Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
The ironic part is that you have a background in psychiatry.

The ironic part is that you completely missed that I was being sarcastic.

Sigh...delete, delete, delete. I totally get it, you want me to really, really know that you are the great defender here of the thread. You want me to fully understand that if I cross you then I will pay for what I've done. VERY interesting that you are so hostile and angry towards me for wanting things to be right in nursing and you aren't angry and hostile towards the nurse doing this.

A really good friend of mine slowly developed an attitude just like yours years ago. He was a brilliant nurse, very sharp he should have been a doctor. He was also one of the funniest people I've ever met. The day to day struggle in nursing dealing with stupid people got to him and slowly, ever so slowly he turned into a bitter, mean, critical person. He was completely burned out. He would jump to conclusions and have very harsh criticisms. He would voice his opinion loudly and often and anyone who would disagree with him was viewed as a foe and someone he should destroy.

In fact, he had all the symptoms of PTSD. Seeing enough trauma over the course of many years in nursing had greatly impacted him.

Eventually he was quarrelling with everyone he worked with and he made life for new hires absolute hell. Finally, by mutual agreement he was let go. People can only tolerate just so much of that kind of hostility in the work place and it becomes a problem. He took years off of nursing and now is a salesman which apparently suits him much better.

Just FYI.

You just topped it. This right here is the new most ironic post.

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Would report for sure. Agree who brings in beer from home?

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Specializes in Gerontology, Education.

How many nurses are giving him a beer? How many meds is he getting that should not be mixed with alcohol? Wow! Way too many reasons to let this go unreported. CYA CYA! What if he falls? What if in the fall report a CNA reports that she let you know that he's been getting alcohol? CYA CYA! Patient safety is paramount here. If there is no MD order this should not be happening. Report this suspected unsafe practice. You are mandated to do so.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Education.

But it's not our job to investigate motives or accuracy. Others are required to take over that function. Mandated reporters are legally required to ensure a report is made when abuse, neglect, or at-risk situations are observed or SUSPECTED. (Elder Abuse and Neglect Reporting - Connecticut. Mandated Reporters of Child and Elder Abuse)

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I worked for about a year in a cluster home. There were 3 houses with 8 residents in each house and most if not all had very little to look forward to in life. It's very easy in these type settings for boundaries to get blurred. There was this one guy with severe spastic CP, he was just a regular guy. He was always eyeballing the female workers and he had an admirer among the aides. His family was fine with her taking him out and as it turns out they were having sex. He was happy as hell about it, but of course that's a line not to be crossed. The family never pressed charges, the worker was fired. We were all shocked, but maybe we shouldn't have been. He was a man and he was lonely ( and stoved-up too, I guess ) Anyway, I guess my point is that I forget they are just a person who might want a beer, or to have sex but the prospects of either of those ever happening are severely limited because they are in a facility that views them as perpetual children. I'll admit that I don't know what the answer is, but it needs to be addressed because there's more to a person than their diagnosis. If they don't already, they should have some sort of a position that can address the wants and needs of this unique population.

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Specializes in ICU.
If you prevented the CNA from being fired in retaliation, then good for you. Now that all has been decided since the resident's doctor refuses to sign an order for future dispensing of alcohol, move on to the rest of your tasks.

How you going to prevent the CNA from being fired? I was a CNA, and you know if management wants to get rid of someone, they do.

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Would you even stop to ask anyone if the person brought weed? Or a diabetic cotton candy? Or saw them drinking at work? Hell just having beer at work is reportable, I don't care if you are watering the plants with it.

Anyway Yes, Formal report ASAP. Professional courtesy you can let the person know you are filing the report because you feel you have no choice(especially if you don't think they will get fired) there will be less future tension working together if they didn't get blind sided than if they find out later you were the one who reported them (and everyone finds out) but you don't have to tell them if you don't want to.

Bottom line, their desire to be the residents' buddy comes second to your need to stay employed and licensed.

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Specializes in ICU.

I stlll want to know what happened to the CNA

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I think it was generous and kind of the nurse to share her beer from home. :coffee:

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You really should come down off your nursie nurse soap box...lol We nurses on this board know what is and isn't required of us ethically, morally and legally. 😉😉 Some of us even have YEARS of experience... lmao

I do not know how far along in the disease process your patient is, however, I can tell you this: just because you are a "nurse" doesn't mean YOUR opinion of what is or isn't right for the patient is the only one that matters here. Yes, yes liability...CYA the hinnies..lol It wasn't careplanned and no order. You handled the situation wrong in my opinion... made way too big of a deal about it. You should have notified your DON so she could make the decision of whether or not it was reportable, gotten the order from MD and notified family. Issue put to rest as far as liabilities towards your "reporting it". A bigger issue could be argued that you withheld a long term comfort measure from a grown adult... even with dementia, a patient in LTC setting still have ALL the rights as a person who is not in a facility. The facility is their HOME. They have the right to drink if they want to. And as long as the beer isn't given within 4 hours of narcotics or another CNS depressant, chances are there will be no adverse event. Most adults do not get drunk off 1 beer. Really, nursing floor drama making rather sucks...

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