Can you take a patient's medication without their consent?

[balmybalmblam]

Can an Rn legally take a patient's tylenol#3 without their consent? Lets say you have a mentally ill patient who was formerly conserved but not anymore. His judgement may not be sound but he is technically competent (but questionable). If the nurse is afraid that in his attempts to get high, he overdoses or gets liver failure, can the nurse take the patients medication? Let's say can the nurse take the patients 1 month supply of tylenol3 and dispense him a 7 day amount? So I asked the patient if I could do this for him and he declined. What can a nurse do?

[mon00707]

I probably would not take his meds as they are his property and has a right to them. Now maybe if he had some suggestion that he said he was going to OD on them or something then I would definitely take them but doesnt sound like the case. I would make sure to write written instructions with the patient and educate him on the dosing and document your efforts. Does he have a pill box he can use this way the does is already in the pill box labeled for date and time to use. We have a program in our area called Medication monitoring for people who are in need of medication help. The nurse comes to the patients home and packs the medications in a pill box for the week and ensures they are taking the meds properly. They usually visit them 2 times a week to ensure.

[krisiepoo]

Now maybe if he had some suggestion that he said he was going to OD on them or something then I would definitely take them but doesnt sound like the case.

If he was going to purposefully OD and had a plan to do so, you would call 911 and have him taken to the hospital, taking drugs without a client/patients consent is never a good idea, especially narcs or controlled substances

[BostonFNP, APRN]

This is one of those situations where you need to stop and think. There are no good scenarios for you that arise from "taking" a patient's controlled substances. It's a bad idea. Stop and think, I am sure you will conclude its a bad idea for you, under any circumstances.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I probably would not take his meds as they are his property and has a right to them. Now maybe if he had some suggestion that he said he was going to OD on them or something then I would definitely take them but doesnt sound like the case.

No, even in that case you cannot steal from a patient. You would call 911 and report that you have a patient expressing suicidal ideation with a plan.

[slobbygirl]

If you have a release of information on file to be able to exchange information with the prescriber of the tylenol 3, you could talk to them about the situation and let them adjust their prescribing if they think it's appropriate. If you feel that the patient is actually actively suicidal, then definitely call 911 and follow your agency's protocol for dealing with that situation. Also, document thoroughly. just my two cents!