I am really struggling with this situation..i hope to get some advice or support on this. Here is what happened.
I am currently covering for our DON who is out on leave. i also work as a nurse manager. I was working on monthly "change over" for the long term care facility i work at. i found two residents in a row that had "new order" for certain narcotics that showed up on the change over. But...when i looked in the chart, mar, narc drawer, and narc book, i found no evidence of these residents having such drugs. One of the residents was alert and oriented and she never took anything but vicoden for pain and that pain lately was at a minimum. she denied ever taking "oxycodone"..same with her roomate..who also had a "new order". So i called pharmacy thinking it was a mistake. Well it wasn't a mistake. They faxed me the original "schedule II" orders. i soon discovered who did it. It was a fellow nurse manager. I still tried to give the benefit of the doubt and thought she made a mistake and forgot to put it on the charts. (I always try to assume the best about people..plus we were kind of friends). she is notorious for leaving stuff that should be in charts all over her desk so i started looking for the originals. Well..not only did i find the originals..but i found many others. as acting DON..i felt obligated to look into all of them..and i found that no one had orders in the chart, mar, no drugs in the narc box, and no count sheets in the narc book. All of these orders were "drop ships" instead of regularly sheduled for evening delivery. I called the pharmacy back and they were able to give me proof that the drugs were sent (most of them were oxycodone). Some of them were signed by floor nurses but when they discovered that the resident had no order..they went to this nurse manager and she said she would take care of it. They never questioned her. Pharmacy still saw these as current orders and none were sent back. I discussed with our administrator and she had her suspended pending further investigation. The doctor who supposedly "signed" these orders was on vacation so we couldn't ask him yet..When they checked her desk after suspension they found more orders. several were for a certain drug that she denied ever hearing of when we questioned her prior to suspension. (she denied everything of course). There were also blank "signed" by the doctor schedule II forms. until the doctor comes back we can't really tell if he did it or if she was practicing his signature.
Well..the bottom line here is..it all points to her. all statements from other nurses point to her. But I am Devastated!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i feel scared for telling on her, especially since i trusted her and used to befriend her. What if there is some logical explaination for this? ( i know that sounds stupid at this point...but i am a nervous wreck!)
The BON is coming to investigate, as well as board of pharmacy. The pharmacist consultant and administrator all feel "proud" of me for bringing it to their attention. I am not proud at all..i feel sick to my stomach and can't sleep. it hurts because she already has a bad home life and a baby at home and another on the way..What if i ruined her life if it turns out she really didn't do it?
