Getting Percocet thru a Port-a-cath!!!!

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

Last night I accesed a port with a 20 g Huber needle, I had excellent blood return and it flushed great and I connected her IVF's. Well, 5 minutes later it was occluded. I was in another patients room so my CN went in to assess it. The CN noticed that the tubing had blue material in it, it was brought to the patient's attention. Of course "she couldnt see anything". The CN came to get me so I could go take a look at it and remove it. When I entered the room, the patient had already rushed and removed the needle herself and placed it in the sharps container before I could see it. She said that the CN told her to remove it! Now pleeeeaaaaaase, come up with something better than that! Now, I had admin Percocet just 5 minutes prior to all this transpiring. She had crushed that percocet and pushed it in her port! (she used to be a nurse, but her license had been suspended. Im suspecting drug abuse). She HAD to dig a flush out of the trash to do this with. Well, we pulled that needle out of the sharps container along with the previous one. Both had dried material in them. We saved them to show the physician on rounds this morning. But I left before they hit the floor. All night long, I was pushing Dilaudid and Phenergan. Finally I made her NPO. I told her that if she is that sick, then she doesnt need to be eating. (her admission was abd pain and n/v). The physician knows, he had written an order previously in all caps and LARGE print..."NO IV NARCOTICS", but then changed it the next day. I felt like a legal drug pusher last night. Then I had a cancer patient who was in miserable pain, with minimal pain control meds. I hate my job!

[TazziRN, RN]

Sounds like you need to get into another area of nursing.

I hate it when pts lie.......

[EmmaG, RN]

What an idiot. I hope the port is permanently damaged and no doc agrees to replace it.

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

What an idiot. I hope the port is permanently damaged and no doc agrees to replace it.

Well, looking at her H&P, she has had MULTIPLE PICC lines and ports with a hx of DVT's Just wondering if her habits have anything to do with that.

[TazziRN, RN]

Be a safe bet that the history fits

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

She'll probably get sepsis/endocarditis/infected port and get really really sick one of these days. Sad story.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

document, document, document, cover your butt when you have patients like this.

And stop feeling guilty for other peoples poor life choices. You are not a drug pusher. Just a nurse trying to do their job.

Don't take other peoples bad life choices personally. We help the ones we can and let the other go.

Thanks for sharing the story. Now I have something new to watch for with my patients that I never would have thought of.

Isn't this a great web site?

[DjMiG, BSN, RN]

HOLY FREAK!

So let me get this right, She CRUSHED a Percocet and then proceded to give it via the Port-a-cath? That must have been a very fine crushing! Is it me or wouldn't you be expecting some major complications from doing something like that?

Anyways, I'm really curious as to the status of the client post "Percocet Push".

[Jolie, BSN]

She'll probably get sepsis/endocarditis/infected port and get really really sick one of these days. Sad story.

And then Medicare, Medicaid or her insurance company will fail to pay for her "hospital aquired" complications.

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

That is why you should always stay and watch them swallow their meds.... sometimes you think you can trust your patients and you can't. That is really sad.

[rph3664]

Well, looking at her H&P, she has had MULTIPLE PICC lines and ports with a hx of DVT's Just wondering if her habits have anything to do with that.

Munchausen's Syndrome, perhaps?

[oramar]

That is sooooo dangerous. Just goes to show you how out of control drug abusers can get.