nurse with chronic pain accused of diverting narcs

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.

for those who don't know my story, i have chronic low back pain due to three ruptured lumbar discs. i had a discogram on august 3, which showed leaking fluid that is causing pressure on the nerves and that is what causes all of my pain. my surgeon wants to delay surgery as long as possible, as he does not believe a fusion will help me pain-wise. says will be a different kind of pain, maybe worse. i just met with him on the 18th, and he is sending me to a pain management doc.

now, at work, people know i have back problems. they do not, however, know what i take for the pain. i was informed on the 17th, by a co-worker, that one of the midnight nurses is spreading rumors about me that i am acting "peculiar" and "strange" and has told people i am probably stealing narcotics. when i heard about this nurse saying that, i went right to the DON, told her my concerns and told her to investigate it. this nurse has already done her damage. this is the same nurse in trouble for "mooning" another unit. real professional behavior there.

i do have prescription narcotics, and i take them once i get home if i need them. i do not take them 8 hours prior to a shift, or during work at all. i suffer sometimes, but i can make it through my shift.

now some of my co-workers are saying i shouldn't have gone to management. that i should have kept my mouth shut. i told them why would i? i have nothing to hide. nothing. i'm not an addict. i take my meds as prescribed, and never during work. my docs all say i am fit for work. why would i want some nurse going around and spreading rumors about me? especially about such a serious allegation? ugh.

i work in a ltc setting. many times there are "borrows" of narcotics when the one nurse in the whole building who has keys to our backup narc box is gone. many nurses have borrowed, and i have proof of that. my DON has interviewed three nurses. she says she has one more to go, and her results are inconculsive at this point. she didn't take me off the schedule for the weekend, and she told me she didn't have any reason to.

sorry, just had to vent........

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Oh boy...I'm sorry to hear of this but not surprised...I've known it to happen too many times. This is why I've seldom shared my back/chronic pain history with coworkers..they have a tendency to 'assume'...and we all know how hard nurses can be on their own.

Most of the nurse diverters I've been aware of HAVE had chronic pain, unfortunately...so they give the rest of us a bad name. I specifically feel this is related to the stigma of the chonic pain nurse; who is likely afraid to seek help for the pain, and letting it get out of hand, fearful of losing her job, etc.:(

Hope you prevail in this situation...keep us informed how you do, OK?? Best wishes with your newest pain consult and hoping for better days ahead for you pain-wise.

I'm sorry your surgeon doesn't think surgery will help. My DH is in the same boat, so I empathize.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.

i am so sorry you are going through this; it is tough enough to work in pain, but to have to work without the support of your co-workers, too is so unfortunate.

i think you did the smart thing in going to your don. this way the information came from you, not the gossiping coworker.

why are your coworkers upset that you went to management?

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As long as there are no narcotic discrepencies then there should be no problem.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Wow! What a situation. I can understand your back situation as I have one ruptured disc and a Spondylolisthesis of L5. I was told that they could not guarantee that a fusion would result in chronic pain worse than I already have. I've had a number of epidural injections by pain management docs, but the effects have only lasted for a month or two. I currently see a chiropractor and an exercise specialist who have made a dramatic impact on my pain situation. I am now able to know what aggravates and brings on the pain and how to relieve it. I guess I've been lucky because I've learned which positions bring on my pain. My pain is due to muscle spasms that occur when my S1nerve is compressed. I wish you the best of luck with your back.

I would confront the midnight nurse myself and ask her point blank if she's been telling people that I was taking narcotics because of the way I was acting. I might throw the word "slander" around a little too. I would tell her that her assumptions are wrong and I want her to stop spreading a lie like that. I'd tell her to bring her concerns to me or to the DON, but not to the rest of the staff or I was going to go to the DON myself and report her for deliberately spreading lies about me. If she has any brains at all she will shut her mouth. Since you've already reported her to the DON I'd wait until the DON makes a decision and then confront this nurse.

Watch your back. Don't give her a reason to report you for something--especially, related to narcotics. No borrowing of narcotics for her unless you have a third witness. How come you charge nurses don't have the key to your back up narcotic box? At the last facility where I worked we kept it on the set of keys carried by the nurse on the unit where the box was kept. We were supposed to count what was in that box as part of our shift narcotic count.

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Specializes in Nursing Assistant/ Army Medic, LVN.

I think what your co-worker did is called slander, and is illegal.

Maybe this nurse needs to be reminded that he/she can be held responsible for any damage caused to you or your career as a result of these unfounded, negligent accusations. I think that your DON is a great place to start. Make sure you document EVERYTHING.

If this were happening to me, I don't think I would be very amused. I would probably be considering legal help. (But that's just me). These types of accusations are no joke. This is a serious offense, and YOU are the one who will suffer if you don't take care of it properly. Your reputation and your career are what this person is attacking.

I had a co-worker make some false accusations against me a few years back. After hearing the rumors, I went to management to straighten things out. I made my position very clear. Management told me not to worry about it (They said they would have already confronted me, had they thought the accusations were founded), and the person was later fired. I could care less what people think/thought of me going to management about it. The right person got fired, and the lies got straightened out - that's all that really matters.

Good Luck to you.

And I'm sorry to hear about your back. I hope you find relief.

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.

why are your coworkers upset that you went to management?

they think i should have just shut my mouth and confronted this nurse herself. problem is, this is a serious accusation and i don't appreciate her telling another nurses of her "suspicions". if she had a problem with me or questioned my wastes of narcs, etc, she should have went to management. period.

they don't understand what it feels like to wonder how many nurses she has spread this crap to.

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
As long as there are no narcotic discrepencies then there should be no problem.

there are no discrepancies. i always have a partner co-sign wastes. one nurse i know for a fact was already called in and verified she had recently wasted a narc with me.

the problem with our ill-equipped facility is that we have 30 cartridges or more in each nurses med cart of narcs, some actively used, and some d/c or changed. we don't have pharmacy in house to take the cartridges back (usually each have 30 pills in them, blister packs). they sit in the cart until it's too full to shut, and we beg management to empty it out.

we have one back up narcotic kit in house, it's on another units med cart, and if that nurse is busy, out to lunch, etc, we have no access to back up narcs. hence, sometimes it is necessary to "borrow" narcs out of our own drawer to medicate the patient. it is done frequently amongst all nurses, and management doesn't like it, but refuses to get us a pyxis, or more back up boxes for each unit.

sigh.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Infusion, peds, informatics.
they think i should have just shut my mouth and confronted this nurse herself. problem is, this is a serious accusation and i don't appreciate her telling another nurses of her "suspicions". if she had a problem with me or questioned my wastes of narcs, etc, she should have went to management. period.

they don't understand what it feels like to wonder how many nurses she has spread this crap to.

seems to me as though maybe they should mind their own business???

it wasn't their licesnse being potentially put on the line by idle gossip, was it?

i still think you did the right thing. maybe speaking to the night nurse directly would have helped, but usually these type of people won't tell the truth when confronted, anyway. i think that going to the don to evaluate the damage done and head off any future damage was a smart move.

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
Wow! What a situation. I can understand your back situation as I have one ruptured disc and a Spondylolisthesis of L5. I was told that they could not guarantee that a fusion would result in chronic pain worse than I already have. I've had a number of epidural injections by pain management docs, but the effects have only lasted for a month or two. I currently see a chiropractor and an exercise specialist who have made a dramatic impact on my pain situation. I am now able to know what aggravates and brings on the pain and how to relieve it. I guess I've been lucky because I've learned which positions bring on my pain. My pain is due to muscle spasms that occur when my S1nerve is compressed. I wish you the best of luck with your back.

I would confront the midnight nurse myself and ask her point blank if she's been telling people that I was taking narcotics because of the way I was acting. I might throw the word "slander" around a little too. I would tell her that her assumptions are wrong and I want her to stop spreading a lie like that. I'd tell her to bring her concerns to me or to the DON, but not to the rest of the staff or I was going to go to the DON myself and report her for deliberately spreading lies about me. If she has any brains at all she will shut her mouth. Since you've already reported her to the DON I'd wait until the DON makes a decision and then confront this nurse.

Watch your back. Don't give her a reason to report you for something--especially, related to narcotics. No borrowing of narcotics for her unless you have a third witness. How come you charge nurses don't have the key to your back up narcotic box? At the last facility where I worked we kept it on the set of keys carried by the nurse on the unit where the box was kept. We were supposed to count what was in that box as part of our shift narcotic count.

i don't think i will ever confront the nurse. she spreads lies about everyone. i hear her personally say nasty things about people, other nurses, etc when she is getting report from my coworkers. i went straight to management, threw the word slander around, and told them if it wasn't taken care of appropriately, i would get legal help to do it myself.

i do not borrow narcotics anymore. but what about my poor patients who have to suffer needlessly because there is no more back up drugs? doc orders new pain med tonight for a pt, vicodin. she had been on darvocet. she has 28 darvocet in my narc drawer. when i find the nurse on the other unit who has the only back up box in house, there is no other vicodin left, or anything similar. no other strengths, no lortab, nothing. but i have about 15 cassettes of discontinued vicodin in the right strength in my drawer, but they aren't hers. and my DON told me no borrowing, whatsoever. my co-worker finally took one out of her drawer and signed it out for my patient. it's ridiculous that we are so ill-prepared to treat our patients, and that if the nurses in a pinch had to "borrow" some d/c pain meds to treat a pt, that i would be looked at with a raised eyebrow.

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
seems to me as though maybe they should mind their own business???

it wasn't their licesnse being potentially put on the line by idle gossip, was it?

i still think you did the right thing. maybe speaking to the night nurse directly would have helped, but usually these type of people won't tell the truth when confronted, anyway. i think that going to the don to evaluate the damage done and head off any future damage was a smart move.

thanks for being one of the few to tell me they think i did the right thing! my coworkers just don't understand how it feels to be accused of stealing narcs.

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
Oh boy...I'm sorry to hear of this but not surprised...I've known it to happen too many times. This is why I've seldom shared my back/chronic pain history with coworkers..they have a tendency to 'assume'...and we all know how hard nurses can be on their own.

Most of the nurse diverters I've been aware of HAVE had chronic pain, unfortunately...so they give the rest of us a bad name. I specifically feel this is related to the stigma of the chonic pain nurse; who is likely afraid to seek help for the pain, and letting it get out of hand, fearful of losing her job, etc.:(

Hope you prevail in this situation...keep us informed how you do, OK?? Best wishes with your newest pain consult and hoping for better days ahead for you pain-wise.

I'm sorry your surgeon doesn't think surgery will help. My DH is in the same boat, so I empathize.

i hope i prevail too. i have too much at stake right now. why oh why would i steal something i have at home to take if i need? these nurses don't know what i take for pain at home, so i guess they don't realize. but sheesh, to go blabbing to numerous staff nurses of my "problem" is bull. if she had a concern, she should of went right to management. i wonder what she told the DON what her reasoning was to not to go to management, but to spread rumors. :imbar

i have started a new PT routine at home, and i feel a difference in my back already. i am going to an accupuncturist also as well as a massage next week. i definately could use a good massage after the stress i have at work!

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