I think I just ended someone's career

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Long story short, I had to report a registery LPN who was seen crushing, cutting, snorting, and then rubbing the residual powder on her gums by nearly an entire med floor. Most of her narc cards are missing several pills each. She was so intoxicated she could not stand at the cart and nearly fell over several times. She was escorted out and made the statement that she was already being investigated and was about to finish RN school. While waiting for the bosses to arrive some of the staff made it a game to shoot staples at her face and throw cups and tape at her, she was so impaired she didn't notice and just continued to look around the room we had her sit in. Her eyes were half closed and she would constantly fall asleep, while talking in a very slow and slurred speach! She couldn't even dial her phone to call her husband, someone had to dial for her...made we want to cry. I have never seen someone so completely intoxicated.

I feel bad that this nurse's promising career was cut short, I feel worse about her patients.

Sad day for nursing.

:sniff:

Have you or any of your 'bosses' notified your BON? In the two states I am licensed in, it is mandatory. And I am sorry, I agree, the other nurses need to suffer some type of reprimanded, for their uncalled for behavior. But I am not surprised at their behavior. I've read postings by our peers who sow no tolerance for nurses who have been rehab. And voice a complete lack of trust in them, when they attempt to return to work. This nurse has a long, hard road in front of her. I just hope she makes it. It will not be easy.

I've been a nurse for a long time and have seen addicts rub drugs on their gums. It is a fast way for them to get the high they are seeking.

GrannyRN65

I do not know if they are going to report her, can't right now since it is the weekend. I attempted to look up her license but was unable to find one under her name. I am assuming her license is under her maiden name. It is mandatory in my state to report also. I am sure once the dust clears and the investigation is completed some type of punishment will be dished out to the nurses.

Everyone is still pretty shook up about the whole situation.

Not sure why you are including me in this, the bullying occured while I was in another floor of the facility and only (as far as I know) maybe 2 people participated, don't know if anyone else even witnessed since again, I was on another floor at the time.

I took the action that I am legally allowed to and what my facility policy states. In my state it is illegal and considered unprofessional by the BON for me to remove illegal narcotics, restrain her, or give her medical care she does not wish to recieve. I can observe and I can report, thats about it.

I admit I failed her and her patients by not seeing the signs earlier. I failed to jump up and slap the drugs out of her hand. I flinched.

You have nothing to blame yourself for, I'm sure the addicted nurse covered her tracks (no pun intended) well. And you're also not responsible for "ending her career", which may not even be the case if your state BON has a program for impaired nurses.

You did all that could be done.

Good luck,

DeLana

This is a weird story all around. How does someone who can not stand up or notice things being thrown at her have the motor skills to crush a pill, snort it and rub it on her gums?

The coworkers actions are apalling.

Wouldn't this nurse, if she was as impaired as you state fall under implied consent for medical treatment? Did anyone check her blood glucose? Not saying it was the case here but occasionally people who are impaired and acting in very weird ways are having diabetic episodes. If someone was as impaired as you state, would it not be prudent to give them medical treatment? What if she had overdosed?

Aw, don't feel bad. You had to report this - how would you feel if something happened to one of her patients while she was intoxicated - you would feel awful for not reporting it. (((Hugs))) Unfortunately it sounds like she ruined her own career - very sad, really. I wonder why people were throwing things at her???! That is so ridiculous.

Actually... no, they're not. No one who is "generally good" would do such a thing. I find this behavior more disgusting than that of the nurse (who is, after all, addicted/imparied/SICK). Didn't anyone have any compassion for her?! I mean, she wasn't seen abusing a pt or anyone else! And even then, it's no excuse to abuse her! Actually, this is assault and battery and those people should be reported to their respective board, if applicable.

DeLana

i'm with you, delana.

i was more appalled to read about the staffs actions against this nurse.

(i suppose, sadly, that seeing an impaired nurse, is not exactly shocking...)

as a supervisor, i would address this a&b with your supervisors.

it really and truly needs to be addressed, hopefully, with some repercussions against them.

leslie

I feel bad that this nurse's promising career was cut short, I feel worse about her patients.

I don't see anything promising about her career. I think you protected her future patients from a menace! I wonder how many of them have gone without (pain?) meds because of her.

I would also contact her nursing school. She is taking up a seat that a more responsible student is waiting to fill.

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

I am surprised that your facility cannot require a trip to the ER for drug screening and medical assessment when on the job behavior is abnormal or opiates are missing. Without a drug screen you can terminate her contract but have no actual evidence that she was impaired by the medications that were missing.

To have staff that were throwing things at her state that they saw her do this or that is hearsay...and their own behavior puts their credibility in question. He said/ she said is not easy in a legal setting. In the absence of lab work no one can "prove" she was diverting the medications and the words of obvious bullies don't carry that much weight. As some one stated before, you know she was not behaving normally and you know there were meds missing but you really don't know that she took them rather than having some other issue. As we all know, there can be other medical reasons for odd/abnormal behavior.

If I had to work with your coworkers, I'd probably want to snort narcotics myself.

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
The people that were involved in the throwing are generally good people, as I have known them.

No, I'm sorry. "Generally good people" do not stoop to treating another human being like the carnival freak shows of the past. You just got some additional insight into your coworkers.

.The only thing I can think was that this was a nurse, nurses are not allowed to be sick to need help...I guess?

I find this attitude -- we're caring for people with an affliction that is beneath us -- to be very distasteful, to say the least. And incredibly naive. It almost begs for some karmic correction.

This is a weird story all around. How does someone who can not stand up or notice things being thrown at her have the motor skills to crush a pill, snort it and rub it on her gums?

The coworkers actions are apalling.

Wouldn't this nurse, if she was as impaired as you state fall under implied consent for medical treatment? Did anyone check her blood glucose? Not saying it was the case here but occasionally people who are impaired and acting in very weird ways are having diabetic episodes. If someone was as impaired as you state, would it not be prudent to give them medical treatment? What if she had overdosed?

I would agree, it is very weird. She was not obviously impaired until after she snorted the drugs. We are not acute care so the rules can be different. She was not unconscious, just very intoxicated. We explored the sugar theory, she stated she was not DM and only just "very tired." No idea what we would have done if she OD'd, sent her 911 I guess.

I cannot physically stop even a pt from snorting drugs, it is simply against the law. Once the incident was witnessed things happened very fast. She was not a patient so I can't treat her anyways, I have to follow facility policy and state law. The rules can be strange outside the hospital.

I was the supervisor.

You didn't end her career, she did that herself. Absolutely right to discipline her and get the situation taken care of.

However, there is NO excuse for those other nurses to act like a bunch of jr. high school delinquents and throw things at an impaired nurse. As supervisor, you also need to reprimand them officially. What the LPN did was wrong, certainly, but so was what the other nurses did. So, these 'good' people treat their patients ok, so their lack of decency with a coworker is ok and forgivable? Ummmm NO.

You didn't end it, she did that on her own.

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