Nursing students on drugs

[twintoo]

Hello all, A friend of mine from nursing school advised me the other day that she had someone admit to her that they were smoking pot everyday in their car before coming into class. She also had another one admit they are going into nursing for the free rein of narcotics they think they will come into contact with. She is not going to report any of this to any instructors, not even by slipping a note in the mail box of any of the instructors.

She did say that if these people ever came to clinicals and admitted that they were high or whatever that she would make no buts about it and would report them. So what would you do? Would you report them or would you keep quiet and let them get found out on their own?

~twintoo

[PJMommy]

Originally posted by LydiaGreen

Prescribed or not, a nurse should not be taking ANY narcotic and working... and a student should not be doing clinicals in these circumstances either. We, as students, were told that tylenol or advil was fine, even the cold and flu pills as long as they were the non-drowsy kind but NO narcotics period. If you need a T3 or anything else that strong or stronger, then you shouldn't be there. No exceptions for nurses, and no exceptions for students.

Interesting... You are in Canada, correct? I brought this up in an ethics discussion in class one day. There is NOTHING that says a nurse can't take her Percocet or whatever if it is legally prescribed - and then go to work. Nothing! I brought up the point that air traffic controllers and pilots have all these very hard and fast rules about the safety of airline passengers. For example, it is the rule that they must have something like 8 hours off between shifts and they can't work more than 16 hrs in a row, etc. etc. They cannot take anything stronger than Tylenol or Sudafed and, if they do, they cannot work "the floor". Nurses (and doctors for that matter) in the U.S. have no such rules governing them. Obviously, illegal narcs are not allowed. But, anything...obtained legally...can be used as long as the nurse is not obviously impaired. Crazy, huh? Think of that the next time you are in the hospital....

On another note, as for students who think they'll have "free reign" with the narcs when they are nurses -- I wish I could be there to see how quickly they are taken out and investigated the first time the narc drawer comes up short. Sheesh!! People are stupid. Narcs have to be wasted and witnessed when they aren't used up totally. There is a paper trail for every drop or pill of narcotics. If they really think they can dope it up and not have anyone find out....well, words fail me (for once!).

[Rapheal]

The one thing I do not get is why people think that stealing narcotics is free. What is this free reign?

They will spend thousands of dollars on their education and end up losing their license if they make it that far. Eventually they will probally have to hire a lawyer and pay court costs when they get caught- another few thousand down the drain, and even more when you consider lost earnings from being out of work. Wouldn't it be be more financially advantagious to just buy their drugs and forgo the schooling? Just doesn't make sense to me.

I will just ask you to be careful. These students have problems and if they think you told on them they will probally turn on you. So make sure you have enough proof or whatever you need to make sure they will be gone from your school before reporting your suspicions. I understand why some people think that reporting them is the answer- but you have to consider your own safety. Good luck in school.