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.
Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
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.
it sure is slander. and i did mention that to management, which is why i think they moved so quickly in investigating the whole situation and questioning the nurses. i hope they get to the bottom of it and this nurse is disciplined and has to feel the stigma that i do now. it really does hurt when your co-workers stab a knife in your back. i hope to know something about their conclusions this week.
I'm glad you went to your DON and glad you used the word slander...just wanted to tell you I also feel you did right (guess I thought it was agreeing with you in your post but I never said it outright did I) Hope all turns out well for you. :)
I know how it hurts to feel the knife. I had a severe work injury (that caused my chronic pain). I had the surgery but the pain stayed. All of my 'friendly' coworkers supposedly gossipped I was 'faking it'. Ya, like anyone would fake injury, have major surgery and lose life savings and their home just to get a pittance from WC....and end up with chronic pain. Right.
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.
Matt, most drug diverters, who are also nurses, are, in my experience, not chronic pain sufferers. They are individuals who suffer from other problems, using drugs as a release from them. I am not afraid of seeking out apporpriate treatment for my chronic pain. What I avoid is the judgemental attitude of my peers, who assume I am just a drug seeker.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Wow like the many other threads covering the same sort of situation, were it me, I would seek legal counsel and prepare to defend myself, if this becomes anything more or escalates. People will tell you how rumors and innuendo have destroyed nurses' careers and lives and become truly scary legal issues.
. There is not much we can do here to truly help you in your situation---beyond what you did, to go to the DON. If this remains an issue, I recommend legal counsel and saying NOTHING more here until the situation is resolved.
I truly feel for you and wish you the best, but this is a situation best taken to an expert who can help you. Dont' say anything further to anyone w/o legal advice. Especially an open online bulletin board!
I think you did the right thing by going to the DON. Gossip, especially about that kind of thing, can be dangerous to your career. The nurse talking about you doesn't sound like she belongs in nursing. I can't believe someone who is a nurse mooned a unit, and managed to keep her job.
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.
This situation is a disaster waiting to happen. In order to protect yourself legally, PLEASE do not "borrow" meds under ANY circumstances. Unless policies and procedures are set in place to address "left-over" narcotics, every nurse in that facility is at risk of being accused of mishandling these undocumented medications. It is your DON's responsibility to remove and account for any unused narcotics on a regular basis. Makes me wonder why it is not being done. I don't think I would jeopardize my license by working there under those conditions.
I don't know the hard stats about nurses who divert...I was speaking in experiential terms regarding nurses I've dealt with in my workplaces.
I susect many nurses working with chronic pain are likely undermedicated as they don't wish to raise the issue at work due to discrimination and judgment, as Rehab nurse is experiencing. This suspicion is from my own experience as well and I don't know the stats...likely nobody has bothered looking at the issue. In my 28 years of actively working, a surprising percentage of my peers have admitted they work every shift in pain. Pretty sad IMHO. And we all know why they do it. They need the paycheck, and know if they open the can of worms they will likely deal with problems on the job, so they delay. I did this myself for many many years and know quite a few fellow nurses who have too... in an employment at will state, there is little protection.
Keep us informed Rehab!! We're on your side!
I wish someone would DO a bonafide study of nurse diverters in order to clear the stigma of chronic pain sufferers in nursing. Nurse researchers out there...are you listening??
Rehab nurse, that was so wrong, I hope it doesnt stop here, You need to file some kind of complaint, she did wrong, and you were in the right to go to the DON.
seems to me as though maybe they should mind their own business???
not only should they mind their own business, but they had better keep their mouths shut. if you could prove in a court of law that your "certain" co-workers are spreading malicious gossip which could endanger your reputation and your license, all bets are off! :angryfire
I'm glad you went to your DON and glad you used the word slander...just wanted to tell you I also feel you did right (guess I thought it was agreeing with you in your post but I never said it outright did I) Hope all turns out well for you. :)
I know how it hurts to feel the knife. I had a severe work injury (that caused my chronic pain). I had the surgery but the pain stayed. All of my 'friendly' coworkers supposedly gossipped I was 'faking it'. Ya, like anyone would fake injury, have major surgery and lose life savings and their home just to get a pittance from WC....and end up with chronic pain. Right.
I have an aunt who gossiped that my mother was "faking" her illnesses..until she died of cardiopumonary arrest from terminal heart failure 7-1/2 years ago. One of my mother's last requests was that she did not want anyone viewing her body before her funeral. When her sister-in-law arrived for the funeral and found out that she couldn't see her, the guilt was obvious and devastating.....
Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.
This situation is a disaster waiting to happen. In order to protect yourself legally, PLEASE do not "borrow" meds under ANY circumstances. Unless policies and procedures are set in place to address "left-over" narcotics, every nurse in that facility is at risk of being accused of mishandling these undocumented medications. It is your DON's responsibility to remove and account for any unused narcotics on a regular basis. Makes me wonder why it is not being done. I don't think I would jeopardize my license by working there under those conditions.
nothing is undocumented, i am sorry. it is hard to explain. i would think this is only prevalant in nursing homes with out in-house pharmacies.
everything is signed out, and accounted for, counted against two nurses, every shift.
rehab nurse
464 Posts
it sure is slander. and i did mention that to management, which is why i think they moved so quickly in investigating the whole situation and questioning the nurses. i hope they get to the bottom of it and this nurse is disciplined and has to feel the stigma that i do now. it really does hurt when your co-workers stab a knife in your back. i hope to know something about their conclusions this week.