Issue With Narcotic Count

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So I'm in a pretty bad situation here... I am a new nurse who's in my third month of working in an LTC facility. We use a Controlled Substances book to sign out whenever we are going to take a narcotic drug. I was working with an agency nurse, and within the last hour of our shift, she was in the bathroom vomiting for about 45 minutes straight (we could hear her). She comes out of the bathroom, with her face red & sweaty, saying "im sick I need to go home" I said okay, and she leaves the cart keys on the table & was leaving the unit. I took the keys, as I deemed it not safe to leave it there. I know a count needs to be done, so I decided to quickly count on my own before she leaves the unit. I immediately noticed 4 pages are ripped off from the book. When she's heading out the door, I ran to her and asked if the pages were ripped off when she came. She replied "I guess" & continued on her way off.

I did contact the supervisor afterward, supervisor told me she isn't sure what is going on & told me to wait for the night shift nurse. Night shift nurse came & told me this is wrong, the pages shouldn't be ripped. Now everyone thinks it is my fault, that I am the person who ripped the pages off....

I am really upset, as I obviously didn't do this, and there are cameras to show I did not touch her cart (until she was leaving & I wanted to count). This is a very serious accusation, and as a newer nurse I am not sure what I can do (if there is anything I could do). My coworker told me I shouldn't leave the keys there. I have a hard time seeing how leaving the keys there would be a good idea (even if I did, when the night shift nurse comes, she'll still think I am the one who ripped the pages). 

If any of you have any tips or advice, that would be greatly appreciated, thank you. 

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7 hours ago, meiplums said:

She comes out of the bathroom, with her face red & sweaty, saying "im sick I need to go home" I said okay, and she leaves the cart keys on the table & was leaving the unit. I took the keys, as I deemed it not safe to leave it there. I know a count needs to be done, so I decided to quickly count on my own before she leaves the unit. I immediately noticed 4 pages are ripped off from the book. When she's heading out the door, I ran to her and asked if the pages were ripped off when she came. She replied "I guess" & continued on her way off.

 

7 hours ago, meiplums said:

Night shift nurse came & told me this is wrong, the pages shouldn't be ripped. Now everyone thinks it is my fault, that I am the person who ripped the pages off....

 

7 hours ago, meiplums said:

I am really upset, as I obviously didn't do this, and there are cameras to show I did not touch her cart (until she was leaving & I wanted to count).

Hi there! I’m neither allowed nor qualified to offer you legal advice but I have some thoughts I’ll share. The questions I ask probably shouldn’t be answered by you on a public forum like this one. It’s more me thinking out loud.

Are you certain that they suspect you for ripping the pages out of the controlled substances book. If your account of how things happened is accurate, it is not you who behaved out of the ordinary. The agency nurse spent 45 minutes vomiting and then ran out the door minutes before night shift was going on duty!?

I’m a bit unsure why you chose to count your own cart, as she abruptly ran out the doors. I’m assuming only you had the keys to it during the shift. Are there actually narcotics missing or is it ”just” that you can’t do an accurate count since there are pages missing? 

Did you sign out any meds earlier in the shift and did you notice if the book was intact then?

Is the controlled substances book in view of the camera along with the carts? If it is, they should be able to ascertain who ripped out the pages or at the very least who removed the book out of the camera’s view. 

From what you’ve told us I don’t see how anyone can be certain that you are the culprit. If this happened in my country and management actually accused me of something, the union would repesent me and provide legal advice. But someone from the US will have to give you advice on whether it is wise to contact someone and how to proceed. 

If you’re innocent of this (I’m using the word if solely because I don’t know you and I wasn’t there. It’s not that I’m implying that you’re guilty), I hope things get sorted out quickly so that you can stop feeling the anxiety you currently are. 

Again, I think it’s wise to not share any more details here. I understand that you probably feel afraid and a bit alone in all of this. I’m hoping that one of the many wise members we have here will be able to contribute something helpful to help you figure out this situation.
 

Best wishes! 

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11 hours ago, macawake said:

I’m a bit unsure why you chose to count your own cart, as she abruptly ran out the doors. I’m assuming only you had the keys to it during the shift. Are there actually narcotics missing or is it ”just” that you can’t do an accurate count since there are pages missing?

I had to go back and re-read ?: S/he said count "on my own," (not own cart). I assume this was an attempt to try to verify a correct count even though a witness was not present, but then even that was unable to be done because of the missing pages.

OP, sorry to hear of this, nothing much to add. No idea why your coworkers (or "everyone") would assume that you had done this. I would seek professional legal advice ASAP if there are actually persons of authority who suspect you of wrongdoing.

Best of luck ~

Oh- wait. One thing you should do AFAIK: Use your facility's process for incident reporting. I know you verbally reported to a supervisor immediately but you should use whatever process you use to file an written incident report.

 

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Specializes in Community health.

Don’t make yourself seem guilty by being defensive. You said that “everyone” suspects you, but I bet they don’t. I have a feeling you’re feeling vulnerable and it’s making you paranoid. The prior nurse ran out sick, and couldn’t give you a clear answer on the book?  She’s the one being suspicious! (Although I do feel sorry for her, being sick at work is miserable.). Keep being very matter-of-fact. Restate over and over exactly what happened. It seems to me like you did all the right things. 

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A. Don't ever touch narc keys NOR do a narc count without a witness. If that nurse wanted to leave, you should have contacted the super and let them count with her.

B. Once you noticed the pages were torn, you should have contacted the super to block her from leaving. And who was the nurse she got report from? What are they saying?

C. Why would you assume everyone is blaming you unless there's something hinky about your past that would cause them to suspect you. Have they said something questionable?

D. Write, and write, and write. Keep copies. Write an incident report, keep a copy, and seek legal advice because this situation has too many moving parts and you don't want to get hit.

Keep your cool, KISS (keep it simple stupid - not calling you stupid, that's just the saying), and if they want to drug test you, don't refuse. Someone stole the narcs, ripped the pages to hide it, and that nurse's behavior is questionable all around. I worked with a nurse like that and I never took count from her unless there was a 3rd witness so it wouldn't be my word against hers. My intuition was right because she's no longer a nurse due to having a bad substance abuse problem and miscounted narcs at several facilities. I hate it for her but I wasn't going to take the blame for her issues.

ETA: Was the count off? Or just the count pages misssing? If the pages are missing then you don't know if the count is off. Hmmm

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58 minutes ago, CommunityRNBSN said:

I have a feeling you’re feeling vulnerable and it’s making you paranoid.

This is important because when people feel this way we tend to over-do it with trying to show our innocence through showing how distressed we are by the possibility that we could be suspect. The problem is, that behavior in and of itself is sort of suspicious (along the lines of "the lady doth protest too much...").

So you make an important point. Important for the OP to limit words, be completely matter of fact, not discuss this with peer coworkers, and in general just try to play it cool. Avoid emotional overreaction which may be mistaken for attempts to hide guilt.

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If the nurse was in the bathroom vomiting for 45 minutes and other people could hear her vomiting, why didn't you call the supervisor right away? 

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