Nursing Supervisor escorted two druggie nurses off hospital grounds last month

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

He told me it happens fairly regularly and that last month two RNs were caught diverting and he had to escort them off the the premises. When he was involved in the union, he specialized in coordinating the defense of these types. He told me it's a lot more common than he ever imagined.

He said the common profile of a drug using nurse is one of a highly functional worker who is admired by many, and that it often comes as a total surprise.

One woman told me that it's more common in ICU and ER settings. I'm not sure about people who work with pts who are on large amounts of narcs, such as hospice or oncology. Has anyone read any reliable statistics on nursing speicalities that are more prone to have drug using and/or stealing nurses?

It's disconcerting to hear about.

[Atheos]

I am no expert so this is just my opinion.

I don't think the answer is in which job or specialty. I don't think you will find stats for that. I think the question is which people are susceptible to this. I think certain people are susceptible to this and the are also people that happened to be drawn to these certain specialties. It translates to other careers as well.

You see more drug abuse in high stress jobs and specialties. I am inclined to believe however that the people that are drawn to these environments are also people that are drawn to this problem.

Of course, my evidence is purely anecdotal and based on personal research and observations.

[BaRNs]

There was actually a large pooling of information on this topic done by encyclopedia.com in the late 90's. They gathered from over 5,000 sources and our instructors used it in our classroom when we studied this issue in school. If I remember right it said things like psychiatric nurses were more likely to report there own drug use because they were more likely to view the ensuing treatment as acceptable and beneficial. It showed that there were higher incidences of abuse among ER/CC specialties than on medical units, but stated it was more likely related to the personality type of the people that sought those specialties.

I have seen a few nurses fired (from different units) for diverting and I could see it coming a couple times and a couple I had no idea. One was actually a case where an RN was diverting opiates for her aging cat...no joke. You can't tell.

[NursingAgainstdaOdds]

I have seen a few nurses fired (from different units) for diverting and I could see it coming a couple times and a couple I had no idea. One was actually a case where an RN was diverting opiates for her aging cat...no joke. You can't tell.

I'm sorry, but that is hilarious! :chuckle

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

The whole conversation with the nursing supervisor was interesting and shocking to me. Somehow, stealing narcs at work seems to me to be the ultimate taboo. I just had no idea it was as common as he described.

Also, I would guess that for every person caught, there are several out there getting away with it...

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

I had an incident during my clinicals where I couldn't get a drawer open on the med cart. Well, knowing me, apply maximum force and giving the cart a good smack seemed like a great idea. The drawer comes flying out, meds rained everywhere, bottles rolling in all directions. One of the nurses on the unit (when she stopped laughing) helped me pick up the mess, then said, "oh, and check your pockets and down your scrub front, too." I did, and when I shook my scrub top, one of the patient's tabs popped out on the ground. I about died, thinking "she's going to think I was diverting meds!" She told me that most people who divert aren't going for the protonix....

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I can believe that there are plenty that get away with it, and it is no surprize to me that it is commonplace behavior (but sorry to see it has come down to this).

I have also read that these are high functioning nurses that almost never call in sick, usually work the noc shifts and are extremely dependable. I never met one, yet (that I am aware of, anyhow).