BYOB at work?

There's something about posting for a vote on whether you did the right thing or not that strikes me as boastful... or seeking reassurance. If you are so sure that you did the right thing, why post this as a vote in a public forum? It's like you're subconsciously looking for reassurance or something. Your post was looking for "expert advise".... what advise are you looking for?

Who did you report this to? The BON? I don't know... I would have tried a different intervention or interventions before going to that extreme. You just ruined this nurse's life over a beer and you don't know... the family might have been OK with it and the doctor might have been OK with it as well if you or someone would have asked. But you went right for the jugular here. I think it was a poor choice to give the patient a beer without an order but if I felt her intentions were good I would have chosen a different action.

By the way, polls on a forum like this aren't really representative of the nurses who work in LTC because you have all different kinds of nurses on here and many have not worked in an environment where alcohol is allowed at all.

Well... from what i have read on this site, especially the nurses in LTC... there is a lot of retaliation. For reporting this, now you might be the next one reported for something. It won't be over a beer it would be for something else. I've seen people be disciplined by their BON for passing meds late or other very minor errors, and I'm sure many of them were reported as some kind of retaliation for something else that they did.

Another thing, if I end up in a nursing home, why should my family be in charge of whether I get a beer? Do they have a line in the living will for my personal choice about beer consumption in my waning years?

Something tells me that this would not be an issue in Germany, France, or Italy. They probably include wine or beer on the menu.

The OP was a wet nurse? Yuck. Was that even a thing in a professional setting in the past 50 years?

The person who witnessed it needs to report. What better person, than the one with all of the details.

A huge problem in LTC is some of these actions have been going on for years and the bully old nurses will make life a living hell for anyone who challenges them.

Finally, I am outraged! "Bully old nurses"?! Ageist much?

The OP was a wet nurse? Yuck. Was that even a thing in a professional setting in the past 50 years?

No, I was just JOKING. Lighten up.

Finally, I am outraged! "Bully old nurses"?! Ageist much?

So sensitive.

Umm, the point was, you started the hyperbole (i.e., next it's going to be cocaine). Look up 'Godwin's Law.'

Nope, the point was you brought up Nazis and that is an inappropriate comment. Just say you are sorry. Let's try to talk our way through this so no one gets reported.

Well years ago they used to bring cigarettes to give out,...

Some MD's have allowed a can of beer for post partum b patients that could not pee.It worked well.

Well, years ago they use to administer cocaine and ether. It worked well.

Methinks thou doth protest too much. The consensus seems to be that you were in the wrong. And hyperbolic in your description of your experience. Hopefully you take the opinions and criticism of other nurses as direction to be less quick to judge and report in the future, and more likely to see the whole picture, rather than take the narrow view of "it's against the rules, and I need to be the almighty gatekeeper!"

Good luck to you, OP, hope you can find a way to work with the people you have already alienated.

Nope, the point was you brought up Nazis and that is an inappropriate comment.

Ugg...Nevermind

I can see the issue from both sides, and I certainly agree that there is vastly more evil in the gross under-staffing patients and nurses endure, so that for-profit LTC proprietors can get rich.

In my little world, families are typically allowed to bring in beer or wine, unless there is a good reason not to. Although the orders are always written, only a few ever do.

In LTC, we know many residents have no family. And if they receive Medicaid, they are only allowed to keep some 50 bucks a month of their meager incomes, with which they have to purchase all their clothes, and personal care supplies, plus pay for haircuts and any stamps or cards to keep in contact with distant friends or family members.

This 50 dollar a month allowance has not gone up since 1983.

This is true evil. Can you imagine any other area of life where the finances haven't changed since 1983?

I got my first teaching job in 1983. The pay was about 12,000 a year, and nursing pay was quite similar.

Now compare 50 dollars in 1983 with 50 dollars in 2018!

The real problem here is that an individual resident is being singled out for special treatment by the nurse.

I bet there are a lot of residents who would like a beer, or some other ordinary item from the nurse's home.

Good quality toothpaste, maybe, or brand name body wash.

All that being said, if I directly observed the situation, and knew she had brought the beer in herself, I would confront her.

In all probability, I would be too busy to even notice this going on. By several orders of magnitude, too busy.

I have seen much. much worse things go on, and sometimes for years.

Mostly in the name of making money.