Visitors putting your patient at risk?

Nurses General Nursing

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Have any of you had patients visitors sneak them things that are harmful to their health when they know specifically the patient is not supposed to have it? For instance- sneaking an influzema(sp)

patient a cigarette?

Sleepyeyes

1,244 Posts

Yes, in LTC there are always the enabling relatives/friends who bring in ETOH for the alcoholic or sugar for the noncompliant brittle diabetic or cigarettes for the smoker....

Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.

Young children in to see grandpa with leukopenia....

Cookies for the diabetic....

EggMcMuffin for the CHFer....

Sub sandwich for the post op ileus....

nilepoc

567 Posts

How about heroin fixing your comtose relative in the ICU?

Or anti bruising medicine given to a person awaiting aortic arch repair? (think blood thinner)

Fried chicken dinner for fresh heart transplant patient.

I have actually seen these and many more.

shay

829 Posts

Yup. A thousand times. Drugs and food make the top of the list.

fergus51

6,620 Posts

Caught a junkie injecting his pregnant girlfriend with heroin once, not to mention all the alcohol. We confiscate it usually and then joke we should save it for the Xmas party.

perkines

9 Posts

Had a pt come with severe pain, ascites. She is admitted to med floor and given iv meds every 2hrs for pain. Dr orders drug screen on her. It is positive for alcohol, marijauna, and benzo's. She totally denies using any of this. Dr decides to do cholecystectomy and she goes to surgery. She starts having some problems post-op. They do another drug screen and this time she is positive for cocaine. The Dr rights an order to search her belongings and in two purses the find a 1/4 ounce of pot numerous amounts of pills rolled up bills and cut straws. She ends up in icu on a vent. Husband says he is going to sue for illegal search on her belongings. (police have not even been informed of the drugs) Well she is eventually sent back up to the surgical floor and when asked why she brought all these drugs into the hospital she says because she didn't want her teenagers to take them while she was in the hospital. Husband brought all the stuff in for her and she had been using the cocaine for 2 days before surgery---Stupid people--stupid families

nursedawn67, LPN

1,046 Posts

Specializes in Geriatrics, LTC.

I've seen them bring in meds for their loved one to keep in their drawers so that they can take it whenever they want....never mind that we are already giving them meds!

Or the visitors that give whole foods (such as peanuts and candy) to the resident with the swallowing/aspiration precautions that are on puree diet and thickened liquids!

Specializes in Trauma acute surgery, surgical ICU, PACU.

17 y/o male pt, had been drinking & doing drugs with his buddies - stole a car and went for a joyride. Major accident ensued. His "friends" abandoned him in the vehicle and ran off. My pt was found to have multiple fractures and a closed head injury.

So he's in our ward, the slow slurred speech and stare of a closed head injury evident for all to see....

His friends return and bring him some pills of something (I dunno what). Pt is loopy for rest of the afternoon.

Some friends. :rolleyes:

kids

1 Article; 2,334 Posts

Originally posted by greer128

I've seen them bring in meds for their loved one to keep in their drawers so that they can take it whenever they want....never mind that we are already giving them meds!

...

OK, I confess I have in desperation taken, to my Mom in the hospital:

...her Proventil MDI that is truely PRN (at home and on the admit orders)...severe asthma, in for pneumonia...because the RTs kept saying she wasn't wheezing and didn't need it or insisted on doing nebs when she asked for MDI...never mind that the amount of albuterol in the nebs made her feel like crud and shot her HR into the 200s (2 puffs Q 30 min did the job without the s/e).

and

the Darvocet N-100 that she took 1 BID for her arthritis with great pain relief because the IM Doc who was doing vacation coverage for her PCP of 20 years, and had never laid eyes on her before insisted that Darvocet was worthless and ordered Vicodin, which she wouldn't take because she didn't like the way it made her feel.

nursegoodguy

153 Posts

It's always something to do with drinking or drugs... Very Sad!

OrthoNutter

169 Posts

Worst thing was a bottle of Agarol...the patient was demented and the family member made her drink the whole damn bottle because she hadn't gone to the toilet in two days. And then she was jumping up and down because grandma had such bad diarrhoea.

I honestly wanted to smack this girl's head straight into the wall and leave it there as a permanent reminder to all other stupid relatives.

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