Stuff Patients Have Smuggled onto the Psych Unit...

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm interested to know what kind of things you have found on your patients...

Here are some of mine:

Bullets

hypodermics

ropes

knives

a snake

cyanide capsule (discovered too late...pt's family brought it in for him-he died)

razors

Anything to add?

Good grief - your list beats anything I remember, which was either cigarettes or drugs!

A snake? Cyanide capsule - were the family members arrested? Come on now, share your stories!!

Good grief - your list beats anything I remember, which was either cigarettes or drugs!

A snake? Cyanide capsule - were the family members arrested? Come on now, share your stories!!

I wasn't actually there for the cyanide incident. I was told about it after the fact...a depressed patient was admitted, his family flew in from abroad (Germany), and apparently he convinced them to help him suicide. He was found in his bathroom after they left. I don't think anything happened to the family---I'm told they were inflight by the time everything was sorted out.

The snake was a python, non venomous. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I was certainly startled by it---just not something you expect to find. No one else would touch it, so I kept it until the shift was over in a box and gave it to the wildlife sanctuary next day.

I wasn't actually there for the cyanide incident. I was told about it after the fact...a depressed patient was admitted, his family flew in from abroad (Germany), and apparently he convinced them to help him suicide. He was found in his bathroom after they left. I don't think anything happened to the family---I'm told they were inflight by the time everything was sorted out.

How very sad. I cannot fathom the pain this family would have endured.

I wasn't actually there for the cyanide incident. I was told about it after the fact...a depressed patient was admitted, his family flew in from abroad (Germany), and apparently he convinced them to help him suicide. He was found in his bathroom after they left. I don't think anything happened to the family---I'm told they were inflight by the time everything was sorted out.

The snake was a python, non venomous. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I was certainly startled by it---just not something you expect to find. No one else would touch it, so I kept it until the shift was over in a box and gave it to the wildlife sanctuary next day.

That's terrible about the depressed patient.:o When I worked in ICU, all suicide attempts spent at least 1 night there - most of it was BS, but the occasional pt. was serious, and I used to feel so helpless, knowing that there was little I could do to REALLY help them.

Back to the snake - was it very big? How on earth did he get it in there? When I worked in psych, all belongings were search for 'contraband'.

Specializes in Acute Med, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology.

one pt in my previous clinical placement hid a lighter up his orifice...then proceeded to light his room on fire.

Specializes in Mental Health.

A Rabbit... and cage.

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

A box of thumbtacks. Smuggled onto the psych unit by a patient's husband.

The patient then swallowed them.

They were able to remove them by endoscopy.

saw blades

flashlights

cigarette lighters

cigarettes

marijuana

When I lived in Eau Claire, WI, a guy smuggled a loaded gun into the psych ward of one of the hospitals then shot himself in the head and died.

Turns out one of the administrators of the psych unit cut the nursing staff by 1/2 to make the psych unit more profitable. The administrator of this unit was terminated immediately after this incident.

Specializes in RN, Cardiac Step Down/Tele Unit.

Holy Cow!!!! I am so glad I found this thread just a few days before I start my Psych clinicals!!! :)

Specializes in Tele, Infectious Disease, OHN.

We had a patient who told her family to bring her "works" up to the unit for "closure"...Another one who brought in peices of a gun..

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