Big Trouble

Specialties MICU

Published

Hello Nurses,

This might be long so bare with me!! I am quite distraught at the moment and need your help. I am a relatively new nurse that works in the Medical ICU. Working in the ICU as a new grad has been a huge learning curve but exciting.

When it comes to the ICU you administer a lot of medications specifically pain medications. I was recently pulled into my managers office with concerns of my documentation with one specific IV pain med. The most prevalent pain med we give. The problem was that some how some way it had come up in my documentation that I had scanned the pain med as if I had given it in our e-chart (Prism), then later on it saying I pulled that med from the Med station making a time stamp. So Me documenting at 0400 that I gave the med, and then at 0430 it showing I took it from the med station.

My manager has put me on leave because this has come up in my charting almost 5 times on different patients. I get very busy and caught up in my pt care but she wants an explanation of why I did this. The problem is I honestly don't know why I would scan a med before pulling it.

If there is anyone out there that would have a reasonable / any explanation I really need your help!! I love my job and my pts and I would hate myself if I lost it over this.

Thank you for all the help!

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
Where do you get that from? I see no mention from anyone that it was Fentanyl.

All the OP said was it was "The most prevalent pain med we give".

It probably is fentanyl (I am guessing as a drip to go along with versed for sedation), but could be morphine or even toradol (but I don't see a stink happening for toradol). I do agree it is probably a controlled substance.

You know- I could have sworn that fentanyl was what OP said. My mistake- and I cannot edit now. Thanks for catching that!

You know- I could have sworn that fentanyl was what OP said. My mistake- and I cannot edit now. Thanks for catching that!

OK, just wanted to make sure I had not missed anything.

Like I said, I would think Fentanyl would be high on the list of possible meds.

Wouldn't that throw off the Pyxis count assuming that there is one?

Either that, or they weren't scanning. If you just click on the box in epic, it defaults to the top of the hour.

Actually this is starting to sound more plausible now. Some EMRs have different defaults for different meds which could explain why its just this med.

Honestly I kind of want to believe OP even though diversion is the most logical explanation because even someone looking for suggestions to explain diversion knows that there is always some kind of record or proof to back up the truth.

And no one knows whether the OP is the only one being investigated/suspended or whatever for this error. And, we don't know that it didn't happen with, say, Heparin but the employer only audited controlleds or only mentioned narcs in the write up.

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