Narcs on the loose?

[KatieBell]

Just started a travel assignment at XYZ hospital. It's going pretty well, and I like the staff. Yesterday, however, I went into the med room, and found a syringe half full with a tubex of empty Morphine taped to it, with a patients name attached to it- sitting on the counter.

Of course I immediately tried to find the nurse who was taking care of the patient. My co-workers told me that it is common practice to leave this stuff on the counter.

I was really, rather...surprised.

Everywhere I have worked, the nurses have held on to the narcs they are using. They tape them to the back of their badges, or pin a plastic bag full of them to their scrubs, stick them in pockets...until the patient is DC's and we waste whatever is left...

Now, I don't want to be a nervous nellie, is it just me, or is this practice of leaving narcs laying out on a counter, just a little unsafe?

I'm not going to get into this habit, but I am wondering if there could be a problem for me with another nurses narcs that may or may not go missing!

[eltrip]

I've never heard of such a practice. Color me shocked. Is there some way you could discuss this with the nurse manager?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

We put partially used narcs back into the narc cabinet - I think taping it behind your badge or putting it in your pocket would leave you open to being too "loose" with the narcs too.

steph

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

At one assignment - in a very good facility - I saw that repeatedly done with a common sedative/nausea med.

This was in a "closed" unit with isolation rooms.

I will never do this but there is little I can do about about what is a common practice elsewhere. I just dump any open flushes, opened vials, opened meds, etc. if I find them anywhere that they should not be.

I always waste at the time of obtaining the med, otherwise I would forget to do so. But we do frequently accompany patients for procedures, where they may need additional pain/sedative meds and must take a dose or two for coverage for the procedure. Either we return or waste those meds on our return to unit.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Ok - that is truly weird. After posting this morning I went into the med room and there, on the counter, was a partially used Morphine 4 . . . .

Never say never I guess . . . .although I would never do that.

steph

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

Good lord, NO!

[bluestar]

To leave such meds lying around unsecured is sloppy practice.

[SmilingBluEyes]

This will come back to bite everyone on the unit, if such sloppy practices continue.

[student4ever]

Does your med room lock? Ours locks, and only nursing staff (RNs, LPNs, and techs) have badges that can access the med room. Only RNs and LPNs can access the diebold. I have seen on occasion drawn up narcotics left on the counter in the med room - I guess they figure since it's locked, it's "safe." I would never EVER do that, especially since common practice is to just put a piece of tape on the flush stating what medication is drawn up and how many mgs. To me, leaving it on the counter opens up the possibility that someone might grab it, thinking it's a regular saline flush, and use it as a saline flush!!! Sounds like mighty shady practice to me! To cover your own butt, make sure you report this to the nurse manager, in case she is unaware - if she is, and sees no problem with it, I would take it higher up. Not only are your covering your own orifice here, but you are being a patient safety advocate, and a safe practice advocate. Safety and security of all patient and staff is EVERY EMPLOYEE'S RESPONSIBILITY!!!

[HappyNurse2005, RN]

since common practice is to just put a piece of tape on the flush stating what medication is drawn up and how many mgs. To me, leaving it on the counter opens up the possibility that someone might grab it, thinking it's a regular saline flush, and use it as a saline flush!!!

I hope a nurse wouldn't grab a full syringe, not knowing what is in it and ASSUME that it is saline. It's not labeled-how would they know??

[holikow]

don't do what others do. be a proud nurse, and follow the controlled substance guidelines of the facility. especially being a traveler, you need to show your stuff, and hopefully others will follow by example. take it from this traveler, narcing will only come back and slap you in the face. this poor practice at this facility will eventually cause them a sentinal event, then the floors under these sloppy nurse's feet will open up and all hell will break loose. and when the director's all scroll back in the pyxis or med dispensing devices, they will see your clean as a whistle, and their staff sucks! lol

[JBudd, MSN]

Our QA people cross check amounts charted as given and amounts signed out. They follow up on discrencies if there start being too many. What will XYZ do when the feds run a narc audit?