Help! Forgot to waste narc

[cheji13]

help evwrybody just freaking out right now. ok so i was doing my laundry tonight and after having no power for a dew days bec of the storm last sunday. i had all my used scrubs in the laundry. 6 pairs to be exact so after i was done i found .5 of dilaudid not wasted! And omg i dodnt know which shift this came from. i was planning to talk to my manager to hopefully get pharmacy to track this unwasted narcotic with me. but so scared that i might get written up or reported to the BON even! has anybody had this similar experience? im just freaking out now.

[sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN]

you might get written up, but that is really no big deal, as apparently this was an honest mistake, if I were your manager, I would help resolve with pyxis waist discrepancy report........i might give just a verbal.....Some might not do anything, but we leave a trail on waste and waste needing to be done in the pyxis.....it really will not be that hard to track down since you only had a weeks worth of laundry, just be glad you are not me, I could for 4+weeks without doing laundry ))smiles(( just do the right thing

[cheji13]

ok that makes me feel better. i had a mini panic attack when i saw that dilaudid in the dryer! im keeping my fingers crossed hopefully nothing more serious after. if i could last 4 weeks w/o laundry that will be nice! i LOL jk

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

Always waste your narcs right then, while you are drawing up the dose you need. Don't let other nurses "put you off" when you need a witness~ that is part of their job! And don't put narcs in your pockets. If something comes up missing, do you want to be walking around with one in your pocket?

[cheji13]

the nurses in my unit are pretty good at coming right away when i need a waste. our unit can be very busy tho and i try to waste right away. but for some dumb reason i forgot this time omg

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I would just let it go unless you want the unwanted attention from management and pharmacy. But be aware pharmacy tracks the narcotics we take out for patients and watch for a pattern such as excess dispensing of narcotics or giving them out to patients that aren't yours. With the ADU it is easy to track and is one of the ways they watch for nurses with a drug problem that could be diverting meds. In the future, waste right away so you don't forget as others have already mentioned.

[amzyRN]

I would be honest about it. I don't think youd get written up for that. Lots of people forget that at one time or another. I have found that every discrepancy gets a follow up where I work. So dont be dishonest. They might make you pee in a cup but as long as you haven't been taking drugs you should be fine. Just don't let it happen again.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

I took a half used vial of Ativan home once. I then took it back to work to waste it. Everyone seem surprised that I drove back just to waste 1 mg of Ativan…some even said something like "I've accidentally taken a narc home before and I just flushed it." Point is, you are not the first person to forget to waste. I would say to go to your manager, be honest, if you have the vial, show it to him/her. If there is not a pattern there (as in lots of narcs that you "forgot" to waste), and it does not sound like there is, then you shouldn't have a problem.

And, as others have said, try your very best to waste right away. I know things get busy or there is other mitigating circumstances that prevent an immediate waste, but don't let that previously mentioned pattern come to life.

[Muser69]

I took a half used vial of Ativan home once. I then took it back to work to waste it. Everyone seem surprised that I drove back just to waste 1 mg of Ativan…some even said something like "I've accidentally taken a narc home before and I just flushed it." Point is, you are not the first person to forget to waste. I would say to go to your manager, be honest, if you have the vial, show it to him/her. If there is not a pattern there (as in lots of narcs that you "forgot" to waste), and it does not sound like there is, then you shouldn't have a problem.

And, as others have said, try your very best to waste right away. I know things get busy or there is other mitigating circumstances that prevent an immediate waste, but don't let that previously mentioned pattern come to life.

An agency agency nurse came back to work one day after working the night shift to waste a narcotic. I was new there and said sure and consigned it. A little while later the head nurse came up to me and said that the agency nurse was suspected of diversion and how dare I witness her waste. I said "look if you have nut cases working here you will have to warn me because I trust everyone". Also I have no clue what these people are wasting,it could all be normal saline for all I know.

[delphine22]

I would just let it go unless you want the unwanted attention from management and pharmacy.

This is absolutely not true. Discrepancies are what get you unwanted attention from pharmacy, not wasting what you're supposed to.

And as a later poster mentioned, if a nurse comes back on a later shift to clear up a discrepancy, let the charge nurse handle it. It's an odd situation and their responsibility to deal with; there might be issues you are unaware of.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

This is absolutely not true. Discrepancies are what get you unwanted attention from pharmacy, not wasting what you're supposed to.

This is what I was thinking. If someone were to say "I forgot to waste this dilaudid before I left yesterday, can you help me with that?" I'm going to be pretty unsuspicious (considering that I have done that before too)….versus hearing that someone has a narc discrepancy (especially if they had multiple discrepancies) in the Pyxis.