HUGE mistake

[OhioBPH]

*Admins, do not put this on facebook*

Full disclosure, I am lazy about counting meds. I count them when they come in, and since I'm the only one who passes meds I just assume that the count will be right.

Well yesterday I was sick and the sub found 2 bad counts. One kid was missing a tylenol and the other was missing two ritalin. I'm so upset. I don't know where the missing pills went. i did the in counts for both. All documentation looks good, no missing entries.

I'm in my probabtionary period and I know I will be in trouble. On top of being sick I'm am now anxious.

So, I guess I learned my lesson.

Always do the count.

[OldDude]

You are making a lot of assumptions. You have no personal knowledge of what happened yesterday so leave it at that.

[OyWithThePoodles, RN]

I count controlled's when they come in (not OTC's, Lord that would take forever) and if there is a field trip I count before and after with the teacher, but I don't count after every pill given.

The missing Tylenol, ehh. The Ritalin is a little tougher to explain, but all you can do is tell them the truth. I do wish you the best of luck.

[SaltineQueen]

Do you have a policy on how often you're supposed to do the count?

This will sound bad but interesting that 2 ritalin go missing only after a sub?! Do you know the sub? Are the meds locked up?

[OhioBPH]

Do you have a policy on how often you're supposed to do the count?

Counts are to be done any time a med is given. Which is why we only accept a month supply at a time, but still counting pills while also caring for students is hard to manage. So I was skipping it.

[OhioBPH]

This will sound bad but interesting that 2 ritalin go missing only after a sub?! Do you know the sub? Are the meds locked up?

Med cabinets are locked when I am not here, when I am here I keep them unlocked until I leave the building so there *are* times they are open and I am not in the room, but there are HUGE windows, so if a student were poking around I think they'd be caught.

I don't know the sub, but she works for our organization (we staff 33 districts). I have no reason not to trust her.

[AdobeRN]

I only count the controlled meds when parent drops them off. With field trips - I just send the dose that is required in a labeled envelope - I would be afraid the whole bottle would be lost if I sent it. I don't bother counting OTC meds but I do make a note of what was dropped off usually "new 4oz bottle of tylenol" "inhaler with 75 doses" "Opened bottle of motrin 3/4 full" etc.

I too wish you luck - hopefully nothing will come of this.

[OyWithThePoodles, RN]

Counts are to be done any time a med is given. Which is why we only accept a month supply at a time, but still counting pills while also caring for students is hard to manage. So I was skipping it.

Sheesh, so time consuming.

[SaltineQueen]

Well then, yes, that's a problem. Did the sub file a med error report or something along those lines? If not, own up to it. Have a plan in place to prevent future incidents & hope for the best. Good luck!

[OhioBPH]

Well then, yes, that's a problem. Did the sub file a med error report or something along those lines? If not, own up to it. Have a plan in place to prevent future incidents & hope for the best. Good luck!

Thanks, I did. My district Rn was in this morning to help me figure out hwere the meds went but there was an emergency in another school. And I told her, I came in and counted them out, and there are indeed pills missing.

[AdobeRN]

What about other staff access? We had an incident in one of our elementary schools a few years ago - after alot of detective work done by the nurse and upper district peeps it ended up being the principal taking the meds.