Just started a travel assignment at XYZ hospital. It's going pretty well, and I like the staff. Yesterday, however, I went into the med room, and found a syringe half full with a tubex of empty Morphine taped to it, with a patients name attached to it- sitting on the counter.
Of course I immediately tried to find the nurse who was taking care of the patient. My co-workers told me that it is common practice to leave this stuff on the counter.
I was really, rather...surprised.
Everywhere I have worked, the nurses have held on to the narcs they are using. They tape them to the back of their badges, or pin a plastic bag full of them to their scrubs, stick them in pockets...until the patient is DC's and we waste whatever is left...
Now, I don't want to be a nervous nellie, is it just me, or is this practice of leaving narcs laying out on a counter, just a little unsafe?
I'm not going to get into this habit, but I am wondering if there could be a problem for me with another nurses narcs that may or may not go missing!