Help, My peer is using same med cups all week!

[bughouser]

I suspect the NOC RN uses the same med cups over and over. I have never seen this practice done before. We do a med pass of about 60-70 patients and this RN even stacks the cups up when he/she is done and hides them somewhere in our med room. At first I thought he kept them to help him do an audit or something. But then, on a shift I had late charting to do I noticed this nurse grab them put them on the med cart- and start going through out computerized MARs. (I am still notsure where they are hiding) He had one sitting on the MAR page and I said- Are those old cups-you cant reuse them, they are dirty! This RN took the entire cart to another room. All bent like I am some type of clean freak- Am I going nuts here or is stashing stuff away in a med room/ reusing med cups a bit weird?

PS- I will print your comments and leave them in his box- BUG

[anne74]

Did this person ever take microbiology? Are you kidding me? This totally goes against any common sense - even non-medical people should know not to reuse these cups. Does he think he's saving money or something? Those cups are probably less than 1 cent a piece - and way cheaper than the cost of treating the viruses and bugs he's spreading. Not too smart.

[Ms.RN]

just for your information, my patients stick their tongue out and lick inside of the their med cup when they are taking their medication to make sure there aren't any medications left inside the cup. would you give it to someone else? :barf02:

[RNLULULABAMBA]

Wow! Your Fellow Nurse Is Doing More Harm Than Good To The Poor Patients. He Needs Some One To Talk To Him, And He Needs To Attend Infection Control Class.

[nurse4theplanet, RN]

I don't know what bothers me more...how gross this is or how weird this guy seems...... I am picturing him looking wild-eyed over his shoulder as he counts, stacks, and restacks his 'special' stash of disposable med cups and quickly hides them when he hears footsteps coming, giggling to himself.

Okay, now I am creeped out.

And what's even funnier, is that you want to actually print this out and leave it for him to read about how weird we think it is instead of just confronting him face to face and asking, "Hey, I noticed you save and reuse your med cups? Is there a specific reason you do so? I am asking, because I am afraid it might be an infection control issue."

:lol_hitti

[JessieC777]

I am picturing him looking wild-eyed over his shoulder as he counts, stacks, and restacks his 'special' stash of disposable med cups and quickly hides them when he hears footsteps coming, giggling to himself.

:rotfl: OMG I just totally pictured that

[sanctuary, BSN, MSN, RN]

It may be a form of OCD. There is a form called "Hoarder OCD" where people save lots of the same thing (shirts, sox, old newspaper) and can be quite illogical about it. They know that it is "wierd" but can't stop themselves. Meds and therapy help. Otherwise, a visit from licensing may do the trick. Tell the DON, then the accrediting board. But, BLECH...

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Or, conversely, you can sneak away the cups before he puts them back, glue them into an igloo, and present them to him with love :flowersfo

[sanctuary, BSN, MSN, RN]

I saw a really nice Christmas decoration made of old med cups... I think they were glued into a ball.... nope, just report him, and throw them away.:barf01: