Drug seekers "Drug of Choice"

[SWFlorida]

What do the drug seekers coming into your ER ask for most? In our ER it seems to be Vicodin or oxycontin.

What is their usual complaint? In our ER it usually is back pain with pain radiating down the leg. Sometimes they will limp.

Do you have ANY ER Doctors with the Balls to order a non Narcotic? We do. Its cut down on our repeat offenders! Can lead to some very entertaining and loud discussions behind those pt curtains....

Ever have a repeat offender that went really bad? We did. Came in as an overdose after a year of weekly visit for refills of Vicodin for uncontrolable back pain and spasms. Died. Found out later his main income was reselling his pills to those in the area and online. Family sued the Dr and facility for allowing him to become addicted..... and won.

[William_SRNA]

not because any of the docs there would have assumeded you were seeking narcs, but just because it isn't good practice. none of those doctors had worked him up/treated him. he may have had a valid script, but the er doc who would have been writing the new script didn't have a threapeutic relationship with your husband. not a good idea for any medicine, but especially narcs. and it is very unfortunate that things are that way. good practice would dictate that your doctor would have had someone covering for him while he was out of town, and that is who should have changed the script. i'm not sure, though, why the pharmacy couldn't substitute the correct amount of dilaudid from what they had on hand, but then i know that dea regs are complex and strict. anyway, i'm so sorry you and your husband were treated so poorly.

you are absolutely right no er doc is gonna wanna touch someone they have not seen

[witnurse]

I truly believe if we standardized the way we deal with chronic pain patients in the clinic and ED settings, like we do for Acute Coronary Syndrome, there would be no place for the truly devious to move on to.

I know they can be frustrating to deal with but they deserve to be treated with human compassion and dignity.

Eeyore

This does not mean there addiction to meds has to be fed. I do not know of one state that does not have medicaid NOT ONE. People who are frequent flyers to the ER for migraines, backpain and what not who demand their shots are treated with suspect. The ER is not for primary care and you would agree if the hospital cut your check by 25% to pay for them.

[witnurse]

I truly believe if we standardized the way we deal with chronic pain patients in the clinic and ED settings, like we do for Acute Coronary Syndrome, there would be no place for the truly devious to move on to.

I know they can be frustrating to deal with but they deserve to be treated with human compassion and dignity.

Eeyore

This does not mean there addiction to meds has to be fed. I do not know of one state that does not have medicaid NOT ONE. People who are frequent flyers to the ER for migraines, backpain and what not who demand their shots are treated with suspect. The ER is not for primary care and you would agree if the hospital cut your check by 25% to pay for them.

:angryfire

In the state of New Hampshire what I said is TRUE. I am not in the habit of posting mistruths. Also we have one clinical practice within a 60 mile radius and they are down 3 docs at the moment and have been for several years due to the pay being less than most"civilized" areas and the rural setting. The average waiting time for an appointment is 1 month and if you say you have to be seen right away they say the emergency room. Hope this clarifies my post.

Eeyore

[z's playa]

Oh, for the one who jumped on the Hoop_Jumper's band wagon, if you do not know what a hoho is? then how can you take a ride on the band wagon? A HOHO is a cake with vanilla creme in the middle with chocolate cake and icing on the outside. Therefore, do not jump on the band wagon unless you understand everything in the message that Hoop_Jumper is saying to all of us.

What's your problem? Who gives a hoot if I don't know what a HOHO is?

Does that really mean I don't know what I'm talking about period? I happen to know a great deal concerning the topic of this thread and only wanted to give a heads up to my thread of a similar complaint. Please don't come here and begin to tell me what I can or can not do ..or say here.

You know what?...I can't believe I even wasted this much time responding to your post........

Z

[witnurse]

Oh for the one who jumped on the Hoop_Jumper's band wagon, if you do not know what a hoho is? then how can you take a ride on the band wagon? A HOHO is a cake with vanilla creme in the middle with chocolate cake and icing on the outside. Therefore, do not jump on the band wagon unless you understand everything in the message that Hoop_Jumper is saying to all of us[/b'].

What's your problem? Who gives a hoot if I don't know what a HOHO is?

Does that really mean I don't know what I'm talking about period? I happen to know a great deal concerning the topic of this thread and only wanted to give a heads up to my thread of a similar complaint.

You know what?...I can't believe I even wasted this much time responding to your post........

Z

My my. Let's play nice. Some migraine sufferers use caffeine and sugar to HELP their pain. I know it works for me. However now I need to loose weight. LOL.

[z's playa]

My my. Let's play nice. Some migraine sufferers use caffeine and sugar to HELP their pain. I know it works for me. However now I need to loose weight. LOL.

sigh.........I never said a thing about sugar and caffeine.

z

[witnurse]

sigh.........I never said a THING about sugar and caffeine.

z

Sorry. It was meant to lighten things up. There is caffeine and sugar in HO-HO's. However that is hardly the point. I understand both sides of this issue. I do not like the fact that some abuse the system and I don't like the fact that because of them I have had to work extra hard to develop a less jaded attitude about folks asking for pain medications with questionable NSAID allergies. However I refuse to let them impact how I practice nursing or how I treat my patients. I hope the interventions we are trying will make some difference but I am not naive enough to think it will fix it all.

Sorry I made you sigh...we should be supporting each other not frustrating each other... :)

Witnurse

[z's playa]

Sorry. It was meant to lighten things up. There is caffeine and sugar in HO-HO's. However that is hardly the point. I understand both sides of this issue. I do not like the fact that some abuse the system and I don't like the fact that because of them I have had to work extra hard to develop a less jaded attitude about folks asking for pain medications with questionable NSAID allergies. However I refuse to let them impact how I practice nursing or how I treat my patients. I hope the interventions we are trying will make some difference but I am not naive enough to think it will fix it all.

Sorry I made you sigh...we should be supporting each other not frustrating each other... :)

Witnurse

It's ok. I'm a migraineur myself and am very well acquainted with the stigma that goes with it. I got it all. I also see the other side sometimes and that was what I was trying to point out to hoops. My thread some time back.

I'm really tired but I'll get around to posting it sometime. :chuckle

I wasn't upset at you.

Z

[jamch]

Buttons -

While your idea may initially sound like a good one, I hope that that L&D Nurse isn't the one rotating into the ED for "re-sensitization training" on that night when you arrive with CP and no ST seg changes, or Q waves, no enlargement of R waves in V1 or V2,and no T inversions. She or He may not recognize the subtle changes inherent in a subendocardial MI, but you will sure have that breast feeding thing down pat.

Seriously, the one thing that we all need to remember is why we got in to this crazy field in the first place. If it is not for our patients, then maybe it is time to think about something else.

And while I am sure that many of our fellow professionals who read this will take it entirely wrong, please realize that my example described above is just that, AN EXAMPLE. I have many very good friends who are L&D Nurses. While we ED/Trauma RNs always think that our little piece of the patient care world is the best and only place to be, there are a lot of other incredible Nurses out there in many other areas of practice that we don't even begin to think about.

jamch

[Danianne]

As an ER nurse two things bug me about our seekers:

1. The $ we spend doing test after test every time one of our seekers comes in looking for a fix

2. The truely ill people left sitting in the waiting room for hours while all these tests are done

Exactly. I live in canada so everyone has health care wether they use it or not. So most canadians have no idea how much $ a blood test costs, but I guess drug seekers don't care.

as for # 2 I nearly DIED in the waiting room. I spent 3 months in ICU because I waited too long before going back to the ED because I heard two nurses and a doctor talking about me having an addiction to pain meds. I now only have 1/2 of my liver or somthing and I am only 22.

[Ted]

please keep the focus on the topic and not your fellow bulletin board member. also, if there's an issue with a post or a member, please report that issue to the moderating team. let the staff deal with the situation.

thank you.

[z's playa]

I reported it

z