I turned in my mentor because she was diverting morphine

[InSchool4eva20]

I had to turn in a nurse who was my mentor, friend, and someone I had on a pedestal. She made my kids baby blankets, we would trade shifts and I caught her diverting morphine. Diverting from a patient who had acid burns on his face on hospice care in hospital. This happened several years ago and after I turned her in I found out she had three other occurrences reported. This was back when we wore crocs at work and she had slipped on ice and broke her leg and became addicted. Throughout the years I have caught two more, one other was a PICC line nurse who gave the patient morphine and I caught him injecting himself at the patients bedside. This is so haunting and traumatic for everyone involved. It makes you suspicious of everyone overtime and each time I discovered it was by accident.

What are your experiences with this?

[chare]

1 hour ago, DMQ48 said:

Before I respond to that, why did you 'like' the comment that Jadedcpn wrote about being glad I wasn't a nurse?

Re-reading it more carefully, I shouldn’t have and will apologize for doing so. I do think, having followed you in another thread that you aren’t a nurse, and don’t understand nursing. This, in and of itself isn’t an issue. However, from your previous responses you didn't seem willing to understand it from a nursing perspective. I don’t think this means you can’t become a nurse, but you are going to to do so, you are going to have to learn to listen to those that are nurses.

Best wishes, and again, my apologies.

ETA: I have removed my like from the post in question.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

7 hours ago, DMQ48 said:

I think people use drugs to mask a sadness or loss in their lives. To give them some form of happiness, even if temporarily. The idea of pushing someone further down that rabbit hole of depression/isolation is something I don't think I could do

You are right, people do use drugs for a variety of reasons. There are recreational users, and people who do it to mask/cover some "defect of character" that keeps them from accessing more socially acceptable ways to deal with trauma, sadness and adverse childhood events.

I know when I was drinking and using I was doing just that and justifying my behavior because of the trauma I had been through. I can look back now a say "I was an unsafe nurse! My judgement was off and I needed help! What nurses or any person with an addiction problem need is treatment. Allowing a nurse to continue working when they may be altered (By drugs) and committing the criminal act of theft by conversion of hospital property does not do that nurse any favors and is a disservice to the patients. I never actually diverted anything. I had a quack in the box who would write me scripts for just about anything I asked for. (He's in prison now and will never practice medicine again). I had a long hard fight back to sanity but I had to try to kill myself first. I self reported to the BON, was off work completely for a year and in monitoring for 4 years after that. I am currently working in a highly respected position in psych, make a good income and am able to help others who are struggling with addiction.

I too have read some of you past threads and can only say that you don't even know what you don't know and would you want your loved one to be cared for by someone who had just shot up on opiates in the restroom prior to their shift.

Hppy

[RuralMOSchoolRN, ADN, RN]

When I first came out of nursing school I landed a job at a Level 1 Trauma ER. They had an amazing orientation/training program and I became very good friends with another new nurse in our class.  About 13 months after we had been working there I found her unconscious in the break room bathroom with a needle in her arm and multiple vials of meds on the floor.  It was awful. I'm so sorry you had to go through turning in a mentor.  We lost touch but still are FB friends and I saw she recently had a baby and has a job in an entirely different career and looks healthy.  Its never easy to turn someone in but it is the best thing for them-even if they hate you at the time.  Hugs.

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

On 7/20/2020 at 2:18 PM, guest874748 said:

I don't view letting someone keep their means of an income to be enabling

If a licensed professional is diverting pain medication from a burn patient, they shouldn't have that means of making a living...

[Luke79AU]

That's an unfortunate experience.

Remember though, we have to report them, for our own sake, if nothing else.