Marijuana usage by parents in NICU

[fifita2010]

Hi. I left unit to use the bathroom and the hallway reeked of pot. Two people were waiting to be buzzed out. I hadn't met them so I didn't know who they were visiting.

So I went into the bathroom, but couldn't stay because the odor of pot was intense.

I went to report it to the charge nurse and the nurse that was taking care of the visitors baby said It's ok, I took care of everything. Meaning she asked them to leave because of the second hand smoke.

Now the charge nurse did nothing and the staff started to tease me about knowing what pot smells like. But nothing was ever done or documented.

My question is what would you have done?

I think I would have called security to document the smell in the bathroom. Most all the nurses say our security is useless.

Why do we enable visitors to do the wrong thing in the name of family friendly units? Why does no one care?

Just wondering what other charge nurses would do.

Thanks

[MunoRN, RN]

The odor can stick with someone and linger where they've been long after they've smoked. You're initial post was that it was just odor you noticed, then later you changed their story to "smoke" actually having been present, so which was it?

[JKL33]

I don't have the answers, but what I don't like is the attitude of oh well what are you going to do.

That's enabling.

I don't think your feelings about/reaction to this situation is too difficult to understand; we are in positions to have to come to terms with things that don't sit right and aren't how we would run our own lives. I think it takes time and experiences to learn to see both the trees and the forest.

One of the problems is that when you don't have red-handed proof of a serious violation, what you end up creating is a match of wills (to put it somewhat euphemistically).

You haven't seen how ridiculous things can get until you've seen a situation where people were looking for trouble and then someone gave them legitimate reason to claim unfair treatment or to escalate the situation by making some other plausible complaint. Now you have a problem on your hands. So, for better or worse, recognizing situations that you likely aren't going to be able to do anything about is wise. Practically-speaking, anyone who has whatever it takes to smoke pot in the NICU hall/BR is not high on the list of people who will be the least bit fazed by a talk from security.

Also, I know it may sound textbook-ish, but there is something to be said for trying to facilitate/maintain as decent a relationship as possible between this parent and the healthcare system/staff; that is going to be in the child's best interest over the long haul.

You'd be surprised how often taking a (figurative) step towards someone throws them off-guard so much that you can make quite a bit of progress with rapport-building and encouraging them to be more appropriately engaged in the situation. It's a technique I feel is underutilized.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I'm amazed that anyone would think smoking anything in a hospital was okay. It's not 1985 anymore.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I'm amazed that anyone would think smoking anything in a hospital was okay. It's not 1985 anymore.

We had a patient (postpartum woman) who was smoking in her bathroom recently.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

We had a patient (postpartum woman) who was smoking in her bathroom recently.

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

No one cares and if you want to be the big time policeman be prepared for insults,threats and no backup.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

It doesn't sound like security was needed since the visitors left when asked to leave. I'd let Social Work know so she can address the issue with Dad the next time he visits.

[Julius Seizure]

This sounds more like a job for the social worker than the security guys, at least in my hospital. IF more action was needed to address it than the nurse had already done, my course of action would most likely to be to let social work know that a chat about behavior expectations was needed.

[Julius Seizure]

You haven't seen how ridiculous things can get until you've seen a situation where people were looking for trouble and then someone gave them legitimate reason to claim unfair treatment or to escalate the situation by making some other plausible complaint. Now you have a problem on your hands.

This, a thousand times this.