not comfortable with giving narcotic injection due to street drug interaction

[Sarge_BSN_RN]

Hi all

I'm in an outpatient center. I had an order to give a narcotic pain relieve via injection.. As a standard precaution, I performed a UDT which tested positive for two illicit substances. Patient reports using substances the previous evening. I informed the ordering physician of the results. I was directed that the patient is in pain and that I should go ahead and give the shot. It has been drilled into my head that pain is what the patient says it is and I'm a firm believer in that. However, I did not feel comfortable in giving the injection due to fear of potential interaction and harm to the patient. I explained this to the provider which was not taken well. I'm just curious if my actions were appropriate and acceptable or am I being overly cautious. Has anyone else dealt with this?

[Dranger]

You must not have a a lot of experience with addicts lol. They are the least likely patient population you will have a problem with tolerating street drugs.

This makes sedating them a pain...

[Iknowwha2du]

Talk to the director..the director of the facility should be able to check this out and confirm if it is ok. Sometimes physicians make mistakes. If you give it and you weren't really suppose to, as a nurse you are held liable, regardless of the fact the physician wrote an order for it and directed you to do so. This is just the honest no filtered truth. You shouldn't be guessing and wondering...you need more confirmation from a medical professional. I worked at a place where the doctor made mistakes ordering things and I saw some nurses get burned because they were either inexperienced or didn't check on their own to make sure the order made sense. I was new at this place so I would confirm with the doctor and ask the director of nursing to help. One time she confirmed that the doctor mad e a mistake and I was right in not giving a medicine.

[Iknowwha2du]

If you talked to the Doctor and he said give it..you are not totally clear if you make a fatal mistake...just know that...also chart if you do give it. The other thing is you can call the director. Is your director a nurse?

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Yes, your actions were inappropriate. The provider ordered a narcotic, administer it.

The patient's history/ UDS is not applicable.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I guess I don't understand why a UDS was done? Perhaps it is your facilitie's protocol before narcs are given? If so, that is an excessive protocol.

[oklamedic2011]

I love when a question is posed and then "POOF" the OP vanishes without clarification.