Hospital staff questioned over drug dilution

[student456]

Ok, the part about nurses peeves me off...just because we give meds doesn't mean every single nurse in the universe abuses em or steals em!!!. I know what they were trying to say though, it just seems like it came out wrong in the article

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10529415

[oramar]

They make a lot of accusations but the actual information is vague. Sounds like the institution does not want to say that it should be able to narrow this down pretty easily to a few people. Why does it seem like they are accusing everyone in the whole place, especially the nurses. If it disappeared in the OR there is no use casting dispersions on med/surg nurses or visa versa. If it disappeared in the PAR that also narrows it down to a few people. Also it sounds like they are reluctant to point fingers at docs because as usual they worry about which side the institutions bread is butter on.

[CorgiMom]

It's difficult to draw any conclusions from the information in the article. Pharmacy personnel may also be involved since they dispense drugs. However, its important to be alert to the significant problem of drug diversion in a number of health careers. Nursing, while not alone, does have a significant problem of drug abuse. It is a major reason that nurses' license are sanctioned.

[Neveranurseagain, RN]

Sounds like some drug screens needs to be done!

[soulofme]

:pntrghi::idntdt::pntlft:

[Nightcrawler, BSN, RN]

What I feel is interesting is the theory that meds are being substituted for NS, or that only a partial dose is being given. While we know that this does take place- those drugs would not be missing, as they would have been documented as given. The article makes it sound as if a large quantity has gone missing, and in that case it sounds to me that many of the theories that are proposed in the article are really distractors from what they really think happened