CoWorker using a patient's medication

Nurses Relations

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My RN coworker took prescription ointment from a patient diagnosed with scabies and used it on herself, fearing she would be exposed and did not want to take scabies home to her family. She had no signs/symptoms of scabies, just very nervous. Am I mandated to report this to the BON? Management and pharmacy staff are aware, but because she is well-liked (and they often socialize/party together outside of work), there has been no discipline. Seems like this is a case of diversion and working outside the scope of practice, as this was a prescription medication. Management recently reported a different coworker to BON accusing her of "neglect" because she accessed internet on work computer . Doesnt seem fair to me. Your thoughts, please?

Specializes in ICU/ER/Med-Surg/Case Management/Manageme.

Good grief! I'm going to assume the OP is a new-ish nurse and with that assumption I'll say she needs to give more thought to the hill she wants to die on. In Texas, the BON is inundated with complaints of serious drug diversion, ETOH and other drug abuse, abuse of residents in nursing homes, etc. A cream for scabies??? The appropriate hospital authorities are aware. Give it a rest. Was it right? No, but neither is driving 43 in a 40 mile zone. That's about how I look at this.

Use your time and energy to affect positive change in nursing. Offer to help an overwhelmed co-worker (nurse, CNA, unit secretary). Take concerns to your manager with ideas for improvement and/or change. There are millions of things you can do to improve the lives of all nurses but if you allow this type of thing to sap your time and energy I'm afraid your in for a long and miserable career. Again, it's not right but in the whole scheme of things...................

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On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2020 at 8:00 AM, RNNPICU said:

OP if you witnessed and observed her using, why did you not stop her? The BOD could very well ask you why you did nothing except stand by. All of us have done bonehead move at some point and regret it, not usually worth a call to the BON. How do you know with absolute certainty that the hospital may have done something.

Your strong desire to contact the BON for this nurse makes it seem like there is an ulterior motive behind it. While I agree this nurse should not have done something like that, I would much rather have the hospital handle it. You too are complicit in this event as a bystander and you did not intervene.

I was asking if I would be "mandated" to report this to the BON. That does not equate to your "strong desire". And not all of us have done something "boneheaded" that was worthy of a report to the BON. I am educated in my state's NPA, my hospital's policies as well as the mission and vision, not to mention what can be considered assault and battery if I were to have forcibly prevented her from stealing. She is not my nurse manager, my charge nurse nor my supervisor. She earned her degree/RN license just as I earned mine. She has every right to disrespect her license and professionalism if she so chooses. She does not practice under my license; in no way would I be held accountable for her actions. It seems as though your ridiculous response was meant to intimidate me. I've been an RN far too long. Perhaps you are better off giving your advice to the newly licensed nurse who may not know any better and lacks experience in the nursing workforce. Just sayin'...

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1 hour ago, DallasRN said:

Good grief! I'm going to assume the OP is a new-ish nurse and with that assumption I'll say she needs to give more thought to the hill she wants to die on. In Texas, the BON is inundated with complaints of serious drug diversion, ETOH and other drug abuse, abuse of residents in nursing homes, etc. A cream for scabies??? The appropriate hospital authorities are aware. Give it a rest. Was it right? No, but neither is driving 43 in a 40 mile zone. That's about how I look at this.

Use your time and energy to affect positive change in nursing. Offer to help an overwhelmed co-worker (nurse, CNA, unit secretary). Take concerns to your manager with ideas for improvement and/or change. There are millions of things you can do to improve the lives of all nurses but if you allow this type of thing to sap your time and energy I'm afraid your in for a long and miserable career. Again, it's not right but in the whole scheme of things...................

I've been a full-time practicing RN since 1989. Stealing is never right. Integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. And I am so glad that none of my loved ones live in Texas if the nursing care is so poor there that the Texas BON is overflowing with reports. All I was asking is if witnessing this meant that I would be mandated to report it to the BON. In all my years of practice, I've never worked with someone who would steal something meant for a patient.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
3 minutes ago, BlondieRN19 said:

All I was asking is if witnessing this meant that I would be mandated to report it to the BON

That would best be answered by reviewing the nurse practice act specific to your state.

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Specializes in ICU/ER/Med-Surg/Case Management/Manageme.
3 minutes ago, BlondieRN19 said:

I've been a full-time practicing RN since 1989. Stealing is never right. Integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. And I am so glad that none of my loved ones live in Texas if the nursing care is so poor there that the Texas BON is overflowing with reports. All I was asking is if witnessing this meant that I would be mandated to report it to the BON. In all my years of practice, I've never worked with someone who would steal something meant for a patient.

First, I suspect if you compared all states on the basis of population, you'd find the same number of incidents on a per capita basis with the various Boards. The comments about nursing care in Texas is just silly. And you're right - stealing is never right but I don't know a single person who has never walked out with a packet of ketchup they were going to take home, extra straws...taking an extra 5 minutes on a lunch break. If you make $35/hour, that 5 minutes just cost $2.90. That's stealing, too. If integrity is of such great concern to you, why did you find it necessary to come here and ask questions about the occurrence - talk about partying behaviors and this persons likability with management and pharmacy staff, your surreptitious call to the Board. If this is your first encounter with something like this in 30 years I'm simply amazed.

You are entitled to do whatever you find appropriate but again, I suggest you choose the hill you want to die on.

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1 hour ago, BlondieRN19 said:

I've been a full-time practicing RN since 1989. Stealing is never right. Integrity is doing the right thing even when nobody is watching. And I am so glad that none of my loved ones live in Texas if the nursing care is so poor there that the Texas BON is overflowing with reports. All I was asking is if witnessing this meant that I would be mandated to report it to the BON. In all my years of practice, I've never worked with someone who would steal something meant for a patient.

My disagreement with your position doesn't require me to overlook the ethics of stealing. Stealing is wrong, especially when not utterly necessary for survival. Stealing something meant for a patient's treatment is indeed wrong.

If your conscience bothers you about this, use your incident reporting system to report it and it will be followed up as seen fit by your management.

But you are appalled and are letting that affect your judgment. You want this person punished by a means that you personally find fitting. For this reason, I say you're getting into glass houses territory, since people can be appalled by a lot of different things, especially if they don't like you. This isn't about your ethical obligation or else you wouldn't have mentioned what's really irking you (who parties with whom, and the like).

Is there a reason you wouldn't call the police about this and make a report of what you witnessed? If there is, I'm curious to hear what it is...

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2 hours ago, BlondieRN19 said:

I was asking if I would be "mandated" to report this to the BON. That does not equate to your "strong desire". And not all of us have done something "boneheaded" that was worthy of a report to the BON. I am educated in my state's NPA, my hospital's policies as well as the mission and vision, not to mention what can be considered assault and battery if I were to have forcibly prevented her from stealing. She is not my nurse manager, my charge nurse nor my supervisor. She earned her degree/RN license just as I earned mine. She has every right to disrespect her license and professionalism if she so chooses. She does not practice under my license; in no way would I be held accountable for her actions. It seems as though your ridiculous response was meant to intimidate me. I've been an RN far too long. Perhaps you are better off giving your advice to the newly licensed nurse who may not know any better and lacks experience in the nursing workforce. Just sayin'...

I’m imploring all of my colleagues to settle down. The OP should feel free to have a forum where she can anonymously ask questions like this. After all, it’s better to be berated online than in person or behind your back my colleagues.

OP- here’s my guidance, if in your heart you believe it is your obligation to report to the BON, then do it. Most of us on here believe that would be an overreaction and you could potentially destroy someone’s career and reputation over a small infraction.

Whatever you do re this relatively minor infraction, I would personally do it anonymously. Yes you’re a professional but at the end of the day you’re a person in an environment that has its own distinct culture and perhaps people, even management, may “mark” you if they determine you’re a snitch who needs to be removed from the group.

here’s a quick story- I once observed a consistent mistake every nurse was making with a specific ICU procedure. This mistake could have led to patient harm. I immediately verified through literature that I was correct and started letting my colleagues know the correct way to do it. My colleagues were so grateful and encouraged me to take it to shared governance so we can make a more formal education plan. I also discussed it with my manager. But she hated this. The fact that an error so flagrant was occurring on her unit and she didn’t catch it but I did threatened her. She came to me and said, “I don’t know what your intentions are but I’ve got my eyes on you.”

she made my life a living hell and ultimately I ended up leaving. Ultimately, it’s all about politics, so for your own sake, carefully think about your next steps and the potential repercussions on you and your life.

just my 2¢

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Specializes in retired LTC.

JKL, I really like your post. Wish I could post more than 1 'like'.

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Ok so we got nurses killing patients, sleeping with inmates and using their patients dilaudud but hold on, Blondie RN caught someone using scabies cream and her conscience is just weighing her down ?

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Specializes in Medsurg.
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I usually don’t post to things like this, but as you KNOW being a veteran nurse and all, the BON is not FOR nurses..I’m confused as to why you feel the need to report use of some scabies cream to them? Reporting to your supervisor is sufficient..some people go above and beyond on things that don’t matter.. things like this is what scares me the most..hard to get your license and easy to loose it..this post reminds me to trust NOONE when it comes to my license as I embark into this field!!!!! Thanks ❤️

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29 minutes ago, Snatchedwig said:

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Seriously they need to get a love button at this point ?

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