Nurse doing cocaine HELP

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jul 18, 2005

I must be serious, because I dont even know what a Mick is.
I know Mickey Mantle
I know Mickey Mouse
But I dont know what a Mick is, is that one of those quaint little Yankee sayings???

British actually. But I suppose it's all 'Yankee' for you folks down south the Mason-Dixon

:chuckle

I would say "Taking the p*ss" but I'm not sure it'd be considered 'ok' 'round these parts.

z's playa · Jul 18, 2005

British actually. But I suppose it's all 'Yankee' for you folks down south the Mason-Dixon :chuckle
I would say "Taking the p*ss" but I'm not sure it'd be considered 'ok' 'round these parts.

ROY! I just read your profile ! I always thought you were some old goat :rotfl:

I didn't know you were ..well.....youngish.

Pretty good writing I must say :)

Z

Back to thread topic. :imbar

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jul 18, 2005

British actually. But I suppose it's all 'Yankee' for you folks down south the Mason-Dixon :chuckle
I would say "Taking the p*ss" but I'm not sure it'd be considered 'ok' 'round these parts.

The only british I know

Is St Andrews, Royal Troon , Muirfield and of course Clin Montgomery and Nick

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jul 18, 2005

Why? Sounds like a real peach.
Z

no He isnt from Geaorgia

he is actually some French dude kicked out of France

maybe for measuring grass

Anjo · Jul 20, 2005

Such a sad situation. In Texas we have TPAPN which is an organization that handles drug/alcohol problems prior to them going to the board. If the nurse does NOT agree to a random test or if she will not seek rehab themselves, they are then reported to the board. It gives the nurse a chance to straighten themself out and possibly not lose their license.

How many other states have such an organization?

Ango

kambi2004 · Jul 20, 2005

Lori,

Since your actually friend is the male in this situation, then maybe you should approach him first. Tell him your concerns, due to the fact that your a nurse and this is not safe for her or her patients well-being. As a friend its touchy, but as a nurse its your responsibility to protect the patient and in this case a possible friend as well.

Good Luck with all that..... :bugeyes:

A very close male friend has a new girlfriend. She is an ICU nurse. I have only met her twice and my friend states he is in love with her. I have a big big problem. The last time we went out she broke out a bag of coke. She admitted to me she had a drinking problem as a young teen. From what I saw she still has it. She did mix coke and alcohol that night. My friend told me she doesn't do coke on the days she works. I don't know if I believe that or not. I know where she works. I know her Director. If I tell even without using my name they will know it's me. I will loose my friend who means the world to me, but the ethical and professional in me is giving me the kick. It's been bothering me for a long time. I would like some other opinions before I make up my mind. I know what I should do and I know what will happen if I do it. HELP.
Lori

Pvt. Parts · Jul 20, 2005

Finally someone dragged the legal notions of due process, reasonable suspicion, probable cause, and hearsay into this complex & multi-facted issue.

It's about time, especially in our increasingly litigious society -- tread carefully and CYA.

mstigerlily · Jul 20, 2005

Your personal life can and will reflect into your work enviroment.
example 1
A RN working extra as a stripper, lost her job and license due to immorality issues as per the BON
Oh I have a huge problem with this first one. Unlike example 2 & 3, the RN in example one is performing a perfectly legal job which is taxed and regulated like any other. You did say "stripper" and not "prostitute" right? I assume she worked in a club.
Is this a true story or just an example?
Tigerlily

Gennaver, MSN · Jul 21, 2005

You obviously have a reading problem, ...
You ARE uninformed ....
You are responding on an emotional level ...
...
Think before you write.

Okay, this thread really has spun off into the 'authoritarian, finger-pointing, blame-game of misdirection' somehow.

Hey, has anyone read from the original poster on this? No updates, nothing...

Gen

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2005

Your personal life can and will reflect into your work enviroment.
example 1
A RN working extra as a stripper, lost her job and license due to immorality issues as per the BON
Oh I have a huge problem with this first one. Unlike example 2 & 3, the RN in example one is performing a perfectly legal job which is taxed and regulated like any other. You did say "stripper" and not "prostitute" right? I assume she worked in a club.
Is this a true story or just an example?
As an aside:
I have licensure in 7 states. In the filing for the endorsement for EVERY ONE of those states, there is the "the applicant must be of GOOD MORAL CHARACTER" clause.
Some require notarized affidavits attesting to good moral character.
Who exactly is it that determines what is good moral character?
And how many of us licensed health care workers would be considered of good moral character if everything were known about our lives?

oldnurse newnurse · Jul 21, 2005

okay i work for the state of illinois dept. of health and human services and they do test the employees for std's. so i agree with the other young lady and the bath house situation. both are unsafe and in that case i am a brittle and i mean very brittle diabetic and in dec. '05 i will begin working in icu should i be discriminated against because at times my blood glucose level drops
the difference between a diabetic nurse and a drug-affected nurse is that one is free to make necessary adjustments and ask for assistance openly, while the other has to mask impairment and act covertly.
i'm diabetic, too. insulin-dependent to boot. i don't make a big deal out of it, but a few co-workers know the scoop and would not hesitate to cover me for a bit if i needed to do a blood sugar, take insulin, or eat something.
here are some other differences:
being diabetic is not voluntary. taking insulin is not illegal. my impairment is temporary and can usually be modulated quickly. i didn't sign an employment agreement not to be diabetic or insulin dependent. insulin and diabetic meds are a dependence without being an addiction. my life is better for the presence of the drugs i take.
i feel if the cocaine habit or one time use does not effect the work performance then leave the lady alone. but she should keep it to herself. she was a little bold!
see, this is the crux of the problem lori faced. what do you do when you become aware of a situation that is illegal, unethical, and potentially dangerous? look the other way? that's a quick road to either messing yourself up or deadening your conscience. try to approach the other nurse yourself? bad idea. few of us have expertise to offer in this area. and who knows if what kind of response you might get (revenge, threats, violence). and how will we know if the coke use affects another nurse's work performance is we aren't on the job with her. the truth is, even among co-workers, most of us are too busy to closely monitor someone else's perfomance. and there are impaired folks who can compensate to a point and it would take someone really looking hard to see the problems.
in this situation, i would have more questions than answers. i wouldn't know for sure whether this nurse had a serious problem or was simply, pardon the espression, blowing smoke. but here's the bottom line. it's not my call to make. does that mean i walk away and try never to think about it again. heck no. it means i pass on the info (anonymously if need be) to someone who is in a position to monitor the nurse in question and do whatever the situation merits. lori's report of what she saw and heard might not, in and of themselves, generate enough probable cause to order testing. but, her report should put others on notice that this person bears careful scrutiny.
you don't have to take on the responsiblity for the entire game to raise a flag on the play.
miranda

my point is not the actual disease. in another thread it read that she mat be tired r/t coke and make a mistake. well when my glucose level drops i don't alway get that feeling and i start doing things out of the ordinary and i also loose mt memory my blood glucose was 40. so my point is that when i'm at work i can also make a mistake. so should i be discrminated against and on my days off or after work on special occassions i drink and have a damn good time doing it. when i celebrate i celebrate, i didn't know you had to be a nun to be a nurse. i thought you could enjoy your life anyway you wanted unless you take your persoanl business to work. i don't think people should go to work intoxicated by whatever. actually i call off work when i haven't slept all night because if you didn't know sleepy nurses, sometimes more often than not, make bad nurses at that time.

rn/writer, RN · Jul 21, 2005

my point is not the actual disease. in another thread it read that she mat be tired r/t coke and make a mistake. well when my glucose level drops i don't alway get that feeling and i start doing things out of the ordinary and i also loose mt memory my blood glucose was 40. so my point is that when i'm at work i can also make a mistake.

if you know you are prone to asymptomatic hypoglycemia, putting some safety mechanisms in place might serve everyone well. testing a couple of times during your shift regardless of how you feel, having a couple of co-workers (who know what to look for) check in with you periodically (and discreetly), and keeping track of what might have led up to hypo episodes are just a couple of strategies to make sure that you are heading off trouble before it hits. i do all of the above for my own sake as well as for my patients' safety. i could feel put upon because these things are a hassle and they tag me as different. but behaving responsibly in my situation rrequires me to plan for the worst, even as i hope for the best. if i had someone like me for a nurse and i knew she was doing all of the above, i'd feel reassured.

so should i be discrminated against and on my days off or after work on special occassions i drink and have a damn good time doing it. when i celebrate i celebrate, i didn't know you had to be a nun to be a nurse. i thought you could enjoy your life anyway you wanted unless you take your persoanl business to work.

huh? who said anything about drinking on your days off? or being a nun?

unless that messes up your glucose metabolism and puts you in harm's way for your next shift or lets you get behind the wheel or something equally irresponsible (and illegal) who cares? the nurse in the original post was not only doing something stupid, she was doing something illegal and she was involving someone else for whom that knowledge created a tremendous burden.

i don't think people should go to work intoxicated by whatever. actually i call off work when i haven't slept all night because if you didn't know sleepy nurses, sometimes more often than not, make bad nurses at that time.

i wholeheartedly agree that being intoxicated by anything on the job is a problem. so is being extremely fatigued, and, unfortunately, this is a concern that is not taken seriously enough by nurses or employers. a few years back, medical residents lobbied for changes that limited their mind-numbing work schedule to something like 70 hours a week. some of the old farts moaned that the residents were asking to be mollycoddled and said that working 100 hours a week would weed out the weenies. current research coupled with liability fears produced the much-needed limits anyway.

back to the original topic, if trouble came looking in the form of a nurse who was using coke right in front of me, i'd want to tell her she had one week to get help or i'd do what i could to help her get help. don't know if i would actually do this, but that's what i'd want to do.

miranda