Ethical question...give their alcohol back or not? - Page 3

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  1. Sep 23, '12 by
    All personal belongings in our facility are stored with security. We don't pre- sort them. Security is responsible for disposing inappropriate items such as drug paraphernalia. You should check facility policy. This is not an "ethical" debate, if you think it is then you need to revisit the definition of codependent behavior and share it with your fellow nurses on duty. :-)
    jt43 likes this.
  2. Sep 23, '12 by
    I would think a policy exists to get you out of this ethical dilemma, & I would find out. Legal or not, I would think alcohol would not be permitted in the facility. Therefore, it seems appropriate that personnel, such as security, should be notified. It also seems appropriate for personal property to be confiscated if it is not permitted, but whose role is it to carry this out? I'm really not sure either of the 2 suggested actions listed would be beneficial to the patient or the nurse. Just takin' a stab at it here, but I think I would:
    1) Seek clarification on hospital policy from my supervisor or someone else who usually knows what they're talking about
    2) As a nurse, use interventions like providing education & referrals to rehab & support groups like AA, etc. that would be more likely to impact what the patient does when he/she leaves the hospital, rather than pouring their ETOH down the drain.
    SSUStudentNurse23 and Pnkmdgt like this.
  3. Sep 23, '12 by
    I draw a line in sharpie at the level of the booze and then goes back with the pt belongings. That way we can show exactly where it was when they entered.
    FMF Corpsman and Wet Noodle like this.
  4. Sep 23, '12 by
    You May be surprised if you check your hospitals policy book. I would bet that there is NO POLICY regarding patients having alcohol in their room or possession. I have seen many tomes families visiting patients and the bring in a bottle of wine to drink.
  5. Sep 23, '12 by
    I wouldn't throw it away, but I would store it with security. Don't need staff drinking on the clock :-P just kidding.
    chevyv likes this.
  6. Sep 24, '12 by
    Quote from edmia
    Throw it away. They can buy more alcohol when they get out. Alcohol is not allowed in the hospital.
    Really? In the lab we handled 100% ethanol. That's 5x the concentration of vodka. Were we breaking the law?

    A patient is not allowed to have his $100-a-pill bottle of chemotherapy medication in the hospital either. Do you dump it down the toilet? Don't the same rules apply? Even if the patient comes through the emergency room?

    Quote from edmia
    Unless they have an expensive, unopened bottle of wine or something like that. Then have family take it home, but cheap half pints falling out of their pant pocket as EMS wheels them in?
    Are you the one to decide which vintages make the cut?

    Quote from edmia
    Straight to the garbage.
    Are you on some kind of WCTU power trip? One of these days you will be called on the carpet for theft/vandalism of patient property — and rightly so. You are not the hospital's moral lawman.

    If you're posting from Saudi Arabia, I take it all back — different culture, different legal system.
    FMF Corpsman and SSUStudentNurse23 like this.
  7. Sep 24, '12 by
    Quote from Wet Noodle

    Are you on some kind of WCTU power trip? One of these days you will be called on the carpet for theft/vandalism of patient property — and rightly so. You are not the hospital's moral lawman.

    If you're posting from Saudi Arabia, I take it all back — different culture, different legal system.
    I guess the police will have to take me and every other ED nurse and EMS I ever dealt with then! I'm not talking from Saudi Arabia but definitely from a harsh urban environment where ETOH abuse is rampant and frequent fliers in the ED puking, defecating, and urinating on the hospital floors don't get any special treatment. Not a moral issue at all, just practicality. Don't get so upset ;-)

    Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com
  8. Sep 24, '12 by
    Quote from edmia
    I guess the police will have to take me and every other ED nurse and EMS I ever dealt with then! I'm not talking from Saudi Arabia but definitely from a harsh urban environment where ETOH abuse is rampant and frequent fliers in the ED puking, defecating, and urinating on the hospital floors don't get any special treatment. Not a moral issue at all, just practicality. Don't get so upset ;-)
    By your criteria, you'd toss out the Beaujolais nouveau, but keep the '82 Bordeaux? If I fell down on my way out of the wine store an was taken to the ER with my bottles, I would not be happy if you poured out my wine. In fact, I'd make a big stink about it, even if it were a perplexing 1995 Medoc. Or even if it were my bottle of rotgut.

    The hospital is neither the place for the morality police nor for wine and spirits critics.
    FMF Corpsman and SSUStudentNurse23 like this.
  9. Sep 24, '12 by
    I'm going with A.
  10. Sep 25, '12 by
    Oops, double post, sorry all
    Last edit by chevyv on Sep 25, '12 : Reason: double post