under the influence at work/sleeping on the job

Nurses General Nursing

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I have a co-worker that is 20 weeks pregnant and on all kinds of drugs: Lortab, Neurontin, Ambien just to name a few.:nono: She takes them at work, falls asleep at the desk, I think she is dangerous. I spoke with the ER director who told me that they are prescribed and she cannot do anything about it. I spoke with HR who inferred that I have something against this person, which I do not and I should stay out of it. Ok, I am venting but I am afraid that she is going to hurt someone and then what?:uhoh21:

Specializes in Home care, LTC, subacute/acute rehab.

If I were you, I would continue to complain in writing and cc a copy to HR. I would totally stop during her work, as you said. Eventually her errors are going to catch up to her. I think it's okay to close your eyes on break, but to sleep at the desk??? PLEASE!!!

Our hospital has computerized documentation. One day I was looking at some documentation on a patient of mine from the night before. The 3-11 nurse checked off that a patient had a "lactation consultant ordered". What????? I asked her about it when she came in. She giggled and said she was falling asleep while checking off boxes...and OOPS!!. I don't think it was funny and told our manager about it. Who knows how she took care of it. We're not suppose to be privy to another person's disciplinary action, but in your case that person should no longer be there!!!!!!

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unbelievable. first, where does she find the time to sleep. i barely get a lunch break. and who takes care of her patients?

Exactly....

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she was in triage the other day and put down the complaint as ankle pain and ordered an ankle x-ray. Imagine the pa's surprise when she went to see the pt and they complained of knee pain and had to go back for another x-ray. The pa asked the pt if she ever complained of her ankle, the pt said no, just my knee. The pa asked this nurse and the nurse stated no, she said her ankle. That was the write up. The OB dr did not take the nurse off of her ambien, lortab, neurontin etc. during the pregnancy as he stated it would put her in withdrawls and it would be bad for her. Now the baby is being born drug addicted!!!!!!!!! She pulls out her meds at work and pops them lke candy in front of people and is walking around in a daze, ordering incorrect things!!!!!! I keep hearing that her termination is in the works but they are afraid they will be sued for discriminatio due to her pregnancy so they are treading lightly. She is 2-3 weeks away from her due date. I am hoping they will not allow her to return. I am not sure what the law says about keeping someone's job during maternity leave.

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Specializes in NICU.
she was in triage the other day and put down the complaint as ankle pain and ordered an ankle x-ray. Imagine the pa's surprise when she went to see the pt and they complained of knee pain and had to go back for another x-ray. The pa asked the pt if she ever complained of her ankle, the pt said no, just my knee. The pa asked this nurse and the nurse stated no, she said her ankle. That was the write up. The OB dr did not take the nurse off of her ambien, lortab, neurontin etc. during the pregnancy as he stated it would put her in withdrawls and it would be bad for her. Now the baby is being born drug addicted!!!!!!!!! She pulls out her meds at work and pops them lke candy in front of people and is walking around in a daze, ordering incorrect things!!!!!! I keep hearing that her termination is in the works but they are afraid they will be sued for discriminatio due to her pregnancy so they are treading lightly. She is 2-3 weeks away from her due date. I am hoping they will not allow her to return. I am not sure what the law says about keeping someone's job during maternity leave.

How do you know so many details of her triage visit (i.e. this is what the complaint was, this is what the PA said, this is what the nurse said, etc, etc), as well as all the medications she's on? Is she just that sharing with the details of her life?

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This gorl tells everyone about everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all listened as she trashed her first husband and heard EVERY detail in the divorce. We all listened as she met hernew husband. We all listened as that marriagebroke up. She uses the pills in the open and the bottles are sitting there, she doesnt try to hide them. A for the write up, the PA knows me and we were discussing the situation and she told me what happenned.

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Specializes in Tele, Acute.

ok, this makes no sense at all. This nurse takes narcs on job, and is preg, not to mention the mistakes she is making. Has anyone thought about going to the board?

This is unbelieveable. 2 to 3 weeks until she delivers, think how may people she can harm in that amount of time.

Is'nt this a form of child abuse, her baby is going to be born addicted for sure. What about the doc writing these meds?

I also thought a employee that is taking control substances cannot not work while taking the meds. If you're in that much pain and need to take the pills, then you should not be at work or driving.

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Specializes in NICU.
Is'nt this a form of child abuse, her baby is going to be born addicted for sure.

I don't think it's considered child abuse until the baby is outside of the womb. Unfortunately, lots of drug addicted babies go home to "mommy".

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What a nurse does on their break when they are off the clock is their business, but to be sleeping at the desk covered in a blanket is not what they should be doing.

Not sure why your manager is scared of her, but I would send the pictures that you have to Risk Management and let them make the decision. Any right ups are supposed to go thru them as well, so you then need to wonder if your manager is actually sending them on as well.

All of them are supposed to go straight up the line thru administration, and sounds like your manager is trying to keep things hush-hush.

Using narcotics at work is a no-no and covered under the BON for your state. Think that there are more things that the facility is trying to hide. Such as if this person was originally injured at work and that is the reason for all of the pills.

And it should not be a concern of the facility to be sued, but that they can lose a much larger lawsuit from a patient when they are not handled appropriately. A patient could actually end up owning your facility in the long run.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

For the respondent who asked about sleeping on breaks, I'd check with management to make sure that is ok as facilities have different policies regarding nurses sleeping while at work.

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I went to my boss at one point and told her that she was on the drugs. She told me that she knew it but that she had rx's for all of them so there was nothing she could do. I stated that just because she had rx for them does not make her safe. My boss did nothing. This is the 3rd time she was "caught" sleeping, while on duty with patients since she found out she was pregnant. I did say something to one person about the baby and was told that since the dr prescribed these drugs for her during her pregnancy, it is not child abuse. Poor little thing will have to go on methadone I think when it is born.

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Specializes in Tele, Acute.

Ya know Cafe, I would be very very careful. I remember from your other post that nothing was every done to this nurse and she continues with the same behavior. Does anyone else see this, what about the ER docs, can't they see whats going on with this nurse. Someone mentioned a few post back that if they are worried about a lawsuit from her, just think of a lawsuit from a pt who could get harmed by her actions or perhaps lose their life. This is frightening!

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.

My husband told me that I should just say nothing and do nothing, I told my boss that her first excuse for sleeping on the job was she was going through a divorce. Then, it was that she was a newlywed, then that she was pregnant. The next thing will be that the baby is keeping her awake. When does it end?

I seriously think this woman has a sleep disorder, or is on heavy duty pain meds. In either case, she should not be giving direct patient care. She is impaired, and some States will penalize supervisors and even co-workers who allow an impaired nurse to deliver direct patient care.

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