Caught stealing drugs

Nurses General Nursing

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I work in the ER at my facility. Recently there has been 2-3 nurses that were caught stealing narcotics. Usually my radar is pretty good when I come across someone who might "dabble a little in drugs". Well the last nurse that was caught totally blew me out the water. I never expected her to steal narcs (IV Dilaudid). Another nurse caught her in the act and she was immediately escorted into the DON office with the other Charge Nurses. She was given a choice to leave the ER and go directly to a Rehab facility or be reported to the nursing board and lose her license(the way the rumor was explained). It was told she went to rehab that very day.

Have any of you experienced a large amount of your nurses that you work with getting caught stealing narcs, if so, what drug of choice did they steal?

What does "divert" in this context mean?

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Sign out the drug and not give it to the patient or only give them a portion of the med...you take the rest.

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Sign out the drug and not give it to the patient or only give them a portion of the med...you take the rest.

Thanks for clarifying that. You mean patients who need pain medication aren't getting it? That sounds horrible. It is amazing what addiction can drive someone to do.

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I was caught diverting. My drug of choice was codeine. Most people who divert PO stuff choose TyCos or Vicodin. People who divert injectables often go for Demerol and Morphine.

I was caught diverting and it saved my life...opiates were my choice. I thank all those around me daily for my sobriety,if you do come across anyone that needs help I hope the people judging remember to walk a mile in their shoes first.

What would have helped? What could other staff have done in order to help prevent this problem?

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Sometimes they are getting pain relief. In my LTC..I notices some pts getting a pain med q 3 or what ever was ordered and they only needed it maybe once a shift. Sometimes they would medicate with an OTC and sign out the narc...the otc would be enough and the meds were pocketed. This is harder to prove..

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.

I was caught diverting. My drug of choice was codeine. Most people who divert PO stuff choose TyCos or Vicodin. People who divert injectables often go for Demerol and Morphine.

Like Tazzi, I am an addict who was caught diverting. My drug of choice was Demerol. I have been in recovery for 7 years, and will have my sobriety birthday on August 16th. Thank God for second chances!

Anne, RNC

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Specializes in Med surg, Critical Care, LTC.

I'm sure there are many nurses, doctors, pharmacists, etc... who have drug problems.

I personal only know of one case, several years back where a nurse in our ER, night shift, was replacing Morphine with Normal saline and "wasting" NS with the other nurses and keeping the morphine for herself. She got in several MVA"S on the way home from work over many months, and someone must have suspected because they set up hidden cameras to catch her. She was fired, and did go to rehab, never heard from her again.

A relative of my was admitted to a local private rehab. There were doctors, nurses, pharmacists, as well as typical "teenagers" in the facilty all at the same time. No one is immune to this problem

I have chronic pain from two herniated and 3 buldging discs in my neck that press against my spinal chord and cause pain down my left arm and back (and neck). I refuse to take narcotics. 1st because they make me puke, second, they will affect my ability to do my job, 3rd, I'm afraid I will eventually abuse them. So I get cervical pain injections - which help for a while. I don't ever want to be in the position to even have the thought cross my mind about trying to take drugs from work. I've worked too hard for my career to lose it.

Babs

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Know of an ER rn who was diverting demerol. He also worked in peds, & diverted.I had no mercy for someone who would let a child go on in pain, or someone come in for pain relief,& not get it

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Specializes in OB.

Just want to tell those of you "in recovery" how much I admire your courage, first for making it through rehab, for going back and continuing as nurses and especially for being willing to share this on here to help open others eyes to how prevalent and unpredictable this problem is.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Personally, I've never seen it. I suspected a certain nurse of stealing Vicodin because it went missing, we checked all the books to see if she gave a prn, turned the carts upside down... you get the picture. We never found it. One of the other nurses "suggested" the possibility that she gave it to Resident X because he has a standing order for PRN Vicodin that gets used rather frequently and all of a sudden she had an epiphany. She then went back into the med room and came out with the drug book and miraculously the PRN was signed for. She said she gave it at 2 AM and signed for it but forgot to put it on her report sheet. Despite us ALL looking through that med book a couple times, especially this resident's sheets, and it not being there before.

I don't know for sure and I will never falsely accuse my fellow nurse so I'll leave it at that; but I didn't feel bad about suspecting the worse when the nurse that gave her the "suggestion" later told me that narcs go missing on this nurse's shift every so often and it's the norm.

Maybe she's just forgetful or perhaps she writes with a special incongeto ink that shows up a couple of hours after use... ;)

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I had a DON who was being provided controlled drugs by at least one of her favorite nurses. The nurse told me this during a heated conversation when she lost her cool when I witnessed her abusing a resident. Apparently she was trying to convince me that she could do no wrong in the eyes of the DON because she was the person who supplied the DON. Although I reported both the abuse and the diversion of narcotics, nothing was ever done. The nurse who was diverting the drugs to give to the DON and who physically abused a helpless resident, went on to pass the RN boards. The DON who was stealing drugs from her employer got in one argument too many with the administrator and was let go. Her license was put on restriction at her next place of employment due to her acts of negligence, but diversion of drugs was never mentioned. Some people get away with it. It pays to have a network of like-minded co-workers who will lie for you when necessary.

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I had a DON who was being provided controlled drugs by at least one of her favorite nurses. The nurse told me this during a heated conversation when she lost her cool when I witnessed her abusing a resident. Apparently she was trying to convince me that she could do no wrong in the eyes of the DON because she was the person who supplied the DON. Although I reported both the abuse and the diversion of narcotics, nothing was ever done. The nurse who was diverting the drugs to give to the DON and who physically abused a helpless resident, went on to pass the RN boards. The DON who was stealing drugs from her employer got in one argument too many with the administrator and was let go. Her license was put on restriction at her next place of employment due to her acts of negligence, but diversion of drugs was never mentioned. Some people get away with it. It pays to have a network of like-minded co-workers who will lie for you when necessary.

Wow..just wow:confused:

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