Please I need some help

Nurses General Nursing

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Ok,

So, last night the nurse I was giving report to told me that after I left last week one of our patients was found unresponsive with pinpoint pupils and that I must have given him a narcotic or he got somebody else's pills. This pt doesn't get any narcotics and I know for a fact he got only his pill. I said to this nurse well, did you look for signs of a stroke or and then he cut me off and said that's the only thing it could be and the dr agreed with me so we gave him narcan and he was fine 15 min later. So, what I want to know is couldn't pinpoint pupils and unresponsiveness point to something besides a narcotic overdose, especially for alzheimer pt's? Please help, I feel like I'm being accused and need to defend myself. Thanks

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Without a drug screen they can do nothing to you. Yes, pts could have those symptoms for other reasons and the response after the narcan could have been coincidental. If that's what it's usually like for you I would seriously consider another department or facility! What a jerk he was for telling you that!

You may want to think about going to your nurse manager and talking to him/her about this too, what that nurse did was WRONG.

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.
Without a drug screen they can do nothing to you. Yes, pts could have those symptoms for other reasons and the response after the narcan could have been coincidental. If that's what it's usually like for you I would seriously consider another department or facility! What a jerk he was for telling you that!

You may want to think about going to your nurse manager and talking to him/her about this too, what that nurse did was WRONG.

I agree

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

I dont know what kind of facility you work but if this was an alzheimers patient isnt it very possible he got ahold of someone elses pills? I know people are supposed to be careful but like many alzheimers patients they pocket pills,, cheeck them and then spit them out. Is it possible that is what happened and he found them and took them? You never know where he was or who gave him what. Including another patient that didnt swallow their own pills hande them to him as he walked by and he just put them in and swallowed.

I agree with the above poster that they cant accuse you of anything without proof. It also makes me wonder if someone is trying to cover their own butt. How long after you left did they find him? There are a lot of variables there that i would want some answers for before they accused me of something like that.

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I agree. Why wait a week to bring this to your attention?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

What I love about Narcan is the response and recovery takes only a minute or two.....not 15 minutes.

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Pinpoint pupils can also be found with different types of comas/ closed head injuries, neuro stuff, etc.

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That's exactly where my mind went was to something neurological. Also, I talked to our ADON about it and I read the note in the pt's chart last night. Really it just sounds like he woke this guy up out of a dead sleep and gave him IM narcan. After talking to the ADON I think they're looking into some things he's been doing and so I think maybe he was trying to put something onto me. I feel much better about it today, but it's still frustrating

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I was be very cross to be told that and especially in report. The guy's obviously an idiot

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