If you suspect your nurse coworker of being a drinker, what do you do?

[nitesky83]

Let's say you can smell it on her breath

[RN34TX]

Ditto Ditto Ditto!!

You may very well be misjudging and by immediately reporting without the facts result in this nurse losing her livelyhood. Believe me the system doesnt work for the nurse but the protection of the public. She can have a negative screen and deny drinking and it can still come back to bite her. If you are wrong would you want this on your mind? I sure wouldnt. Monitor and be sure of your accusations first. Smelling something and actually being "impaired" are 2 very different things. If you definitely see signs of impairment then yes say something if not then I would keep my mouth shut.

I started a thread on this very subject a while back because I was so distraught when my partner got accused of drinking on the job.

Some of the feedback I got suggested I get a lawyer and some suggested that I might be in deep denial living with an alcoholic.

It took a big toll on our relationship for a few months because I had to be sure that the accusations weren't true. We stopped going to any bars and had no alcohol in our home for a period of time. I spent constant hours looking for possible hiding spots for my partners "stashes" of liquor (closets, toilet tank, garage, etc.) and came up with nothing. I took him to the doctor looking for possible causes, nothing.

It was all a big vindictive hoax.

In a nutshell, by the time it was all said and done I couldn't believe that I actually bought into it myself and finally put a stop to it by confronting his manager myself the last time she was going around asking his co-workers about him smelling like alcohol at work.

As much as I wanted to lose my cool, I remained professional and let her know that if she really did think that he had an alcohol problem, that this was not the way to handle it and to test him the next time he smells like booze. Her accusations with no merit or proof were turning our professional and personal lives upside down and it needs to stop immediately.

She reported the "confrontation" to my director who threatened disciplinary action against me for among other things, "harassing" her. I've been a nurse for 10 years and had never been written up for anything let alone harassment so this would be a first.

I'd finally had enough so I got a lawyer.

I never heard another word from my director or manager (no write-up as threatened) about the issue and my partner has not heard another word about it either. His manager now stays clear of me and the alcohol nonsense had finally stopped.

Now I'm in no way suggesting to others that confronting my partner's manager directly was the right way to do it even though it worked out in the end, but I definitely wouldn't have let it drag on as long as it did before doing something about it and I'll never let catty vindictive nurses intrude into our personal lives ever again.

[Ann RN]

You must report it to the Nurse Manager!!!

I agree. The NM can then deal with it in the appropriate manner.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

smelling alcohol on a co-worker's breath once doesn't mean there's a problem. if you repeatedly smell alcohol on the same co-worker's breath, ok. but even then, as others suggested, there could be another explanation. (they went to mass before work and had a sip of ritual wine? ketosis? still exhaling alcohol from last night's margarita marathon? they absently picked up hubby's beer and took a swig instead of their own iced tea which was sitting right next to it?) i'd agree with those who said to talk to the co-worker first. if you do, and it still happens, or if the person has symptoms of actually being drunk, then talk to the manager.

in my early days as an rn, a fellow nightshifter invited me over to her home for dinner before work. her new boyfriend was cooking his native puerto rican dishes. the menu started with pina coladas, and deb and i both insisted that we couldn't partake because we had to go to work. "no problem," jesus said. "i'll make them without alcohol."

the "virgin" pina coladas tasted great, as did everything else on the menu. i had two and deb had more. and after dinner we stood up. what i hadn't noticed before became glaringly obvious -- the coladas weren't so virgin after all. nevertheless, deb and i were the night shift, our shift started in less than an hour and it was too late to call in sick. we made pot after pot of coffee, checked and rechecked our own and each other's work and were probably scared sober. but we both had aob. our only problem was trusting a man we shouldn't have trusted -- and nothing similar has ever happened since -- to me, at least.

[Ann RN]

Coffee DOES NOT speed the metabolism of alcohol. It takes at least 1 hour for your body to rid itself of the alcohol in each and every drink you have.

[NicoleRN07, RN]

If she is intoxicated while at work then by all means, you should report her, but if it's outside work, then it's none of your business.

[styRN]

Evidence based suspisions of a co-worker practicing while under the influence of drugs/alcohol should prompt you to take action, by either confronting the co-worker if you feel comfortable doing so, and/or their supervisor.

As a licenced professional, you should feel compelled to safeguard the public's safety by ensuring she does not practice her care on patients while under the influence, and in many jurisdictions, you can be held liable for any wrongdoing on your co-worker's part just by having previouis knowledge of her 'problem' and the fact that you never took action.

[Bluehair]

Personally, I would notify the charge nurse and go up the chain of command. What would your liability be if you didn't?

[Bluehair]

Just thought of a recent incident on this at my work. A respiratory therapist was practically BATHING in hand sanitizer every time he used it. He would splash the extra on his face and neck when he used to much. One shift several nurses thought he had been drinking. He had not, it was the sanitizer, but no one would have known if we hadn't gone to his manager. Patient's would have thought he had been drinking and so would other staff. Instead his reputation was rescued by getting it dealt with swiftly before rumors had started.

[styRN]

What would your liability be if you didn't?

Not necessarily any criminal liability, but as far as our governing nursing licensing body is concerned, they could definitely find you guilty of professional misconduct by not adequately protecting the public (patients) from the risk imposed by another nurse practicing while impaired with your knowledge.

Essentially, the possibility of having your license suspended/revoked.

[RN34TX]

Evidence based suspisions of a co-worker practicing while under the influence of drugs/alcohol should prompt you to take action, by either confronting the co-worker if you feel comfortable doing so, and/or their supervisor.

As a licenced professional, you should feel compelled to safeguard the public's safety by ensuring she does not practice her care on patients while under the influence, and in many jurisdictions, you can be held liable for any wrongdoing on your co-worker's part just by having previouis knowledge of her 'problem' and the fact that you never took action.

Although I agree with some of the above statements, the OP has nothing more to go on than smelling alcohol on a co-workers breath.

An RN smelling what he/she believes to be alcohol on someone is hardly conclusive of anything and nowhere even close to being "evidence based" suspicion.

It's nothing more than an RN assessment based on smell.

For a nurse to automatically make a determination that this smell alone with no other "evidence" present is from alcohol abuse is pure speculation at best.

If you believe it is serious enough to warrant going to a supervisior about, then you're going to need a heck of a lot more than some RN assessment of smell. Erratic behavior, disappearing from the unit for prolonged periods, illogical charting, slurred speech, passing out at the nurse's station, reports of the above from patients/family members, etc. is what you need to be reporting.

and in many jurisdictions, you can be held liable for any wrongdoing on your co-worker's part just by having previouis knowledge of her 'problem' and the fact that you never took action.

If you want to talk about liability, starting trouble by going to supervisors or others with "evidence based suspicions" that consist of nothing more than smelling what might be alcohol that spreads rumors like wildfire across the hospital is called slander and defamation of character.

Substantial damages can and have been awarded in many jurisdictions for that.

Playing with someone's reputation and livelihood and disguising it as a "Florence Nightingale" style "I'm just protecting the patients at all costs" mentality can really damage someone who never deserved it and the damage can be, and often is, irreversible.

If you are wrong, it's not something you can apologize for later and make it all go away.

[SCRN1]

Although I agree with some of the above statements, the OP has nothing more to go on than smelling alcohol on a co-workers breath.

An RN smelling what he/she believes to be alcohol on someone is hardly conclusive of anything and nowhere even close to being "evidence based" suspicion.

It's nothing more than an RN assessment based on smell.

For a nurse to automatically make a determination that this smell alone with no other "evidence" present is from alcohol abuse is pure speculation at best.

If you believe it is serious enough to warrant going to a supervisior about, then you're going to need a heck of a lot more than some RN assessment of smell. Erratic behavior, disappearing from the unit for prolonged periods, illogical charting, slurred speech, passing out at the nurse's station, reports of the above from patients/family members, etc. is what you need to be reporting.

If you want to talk about liability, starting trouble by going to supervisors or others with "evidence based suspicions" that consist of nothing more than smelling what might be alcohol that spreads rumors like wildfire across the hospital is called slander and defamation of character.

Substantial damages can and have been awarded in many jurisdictions for that.

Playing with someone's reputation and livelihood and disguising it as a "Florence Nightingale" style "I'm just protecting the patients at all costs" mentality can really damage someone who never deserved it and the damage can be, and often is, irreversible.

If you are wrong, it's not something you can apologize for later and make it all go away.

I disagree. We had a nurse on our floor who once smelled of alcohol on her breath. The nurse who smelled it told the nursing supervisor when she came to check on our floor. She said the nurse who told her did the right thing in coming to her first. She said not to ever confront the person you suspect yourself because you never know how they are going to react and that you should always report it to management first and let them do the investigating/question asking. This puts you out of harm's way should that person want to retaliate. There are a lot of alcoholics who you can't even tell are drinking unless you happen to catch them when they aren't drunk.

There are all kinds of things we can what it is with our sense of smell. Sure, this could be ketoacidosis, but what if it isn't? Let the higher ups find that out and just report what it smells like to you.

[gitterbug]

Agree that smell is not the best way to determine the nurse is intoxicated.

The above poster has much better plan of action for staff if they truly think this nurse is alcohol impared on duty.