friend in trouble... looking for your thoughts

Nurses Recovery

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One of my best friends (we graduated nursing school together) is going through a really tough time. She works on a med/surg floor in a hospital in New Hampshire and has been there almost 2 years, with no incident. At the end of her 12 hour overnight shift a few days ago, she was approached by management and security and was escorted off the floor directly to take a drug test. Her manager informed her that the amount of IV pain meds she gave to her patients was higher than all of the other nurses and they believed she was diverting the meds. She has never stolen anything from her patients or the hospital, especially IV meds so that is not what she is worried about. I guess she had smoked marijuana at a party within the last few weeks, so it is possible that she will test positive for that on the test. She is aware that she shouldn't have smoked, but never anticipated this at the time. Have any of you ever gone through this or know someone who has? I'm trying to comfort her but I don't know what to say. She won't get the results until Monday and has to work between now and then and is mortified to face her co-workers...

Thanks for your time

Life is not fair, when you choose to be a NURSE, you are held to a higher standard.

The best thing your friend can do is except the consequences and move forward.

You can help them reach that higher standard.

That being said, I have no sympathy for any nurse who tortures there patients by take their pain meds.

When I started to read your post I was thinking...Are you kidding me? But then I read you were from Canada, so my question is this...Is weed illegal in Canada and if so why would you not think it was a serious offense? Alcohol is legal but driving under the influence is illegal and you can lose your license for that.

It's a bit of a murky thing where I live- it's supposed to be illegal I think, but it seems like unless you operate a grow-op, no one bats an eye. A lot of people here smoke it.. We also have a few marijuana cafes downtown and illegal dispensaries out in the open that haven't been shut down. My nursing student friends who do it aren't bad eggs either, they are some of the best. So it's been the assumption that I've always had, that it was "okay" if it could be so openly tolerated even by the authorities. Good thing I stumbled upon this thread then, I guess.

Specializes in Addictions, Adult Psych.

Thank you to everyone who commented, I appreciate it! Just wanted to update you all... she passed her drug test and everything is okay for her right now. We are going to get together after the holiday and have a chat... She feels very fortunate and relieved right now.

As for rushing to her side immediately, of course I did. She is a very dear friend to me and even if she had diverted the drugs I would have been there for her. Everyone makes mistakes... I'm hoping that this is a wakeup call for her and she will think twice before smoking weed or doing anything illegal that she could lose her license for. We all worked so hard to get here, smoking a little bit of weed is not worth it on any level!! I know I learned from her experience and I hope some of you here on allnurses did, too.

Take care everyone and I hope you all have a great holiday! NURSES ROCK!!

Specializes in LTC, Management, MDS Nurse, Rehab.

So glad for the good outcome.. Your right it is not worth the risk .. Best of luck to you and your friend.

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