Hello all!!! If anyone remembers a post I posted previously about the nurse that wore sandals to work, well, let me tell you she has done something else VERY STUPID!!!
This happened about 1 week ago, she laid a 1/2 Vicodin on the medicine cart that a student brought in that was not in a labeled medicine bottle actually it was in a Seroquel bottle. She laid it up there because she at the time was unsure as to what type of pill it was the student just told her it was a Vicodin. Well anyway, she layedit up there and forgot about it, the next night the RN supervisor asked her what happened to it and she told her where she layed it, and she went back to get it and guess what?! It wasn't there surprise, surprise. Well, she decided that someone might had put it in the sharps container, which is what should have been done with it anyway. So she donned a pair of gloves and was getting ready to stick her hand down in the container and I saw her and alerted the RN, she told her absolutely not to do this. Well, about 15 minutes later I was back over in the area she was at and I noticed a plastic bag layed there and I asked her what she was gonna do and she said , " I am going to dump the sharps out and look for the pill". I said, surely not and I alerted the RN supervisor again and she came over and said time and time again that she wished she didn't do this and she kept saying I'll be careful, I'll be careful. The RN was visibly getting upset. She finally just grabbed the sharps container after it was about 1/2 emptied out and said STOP!!! The nurse said I gotta find that pill. The RN said it was not that important and she wasn't even sure if that is where the pill was or not. Can you believe that?! Later that night the RN asked me to write up what I saw that way there was a "paper trail" and then the RN made the nurse write herself up for the incident. The nurse became very upset and has tried to start WWIII with her getting all the other nurses on her side. The place I work at is a state facility and the nurse is a state merit employee and it is just about impossible to get rid of one. I just wonder where this nurse got her license, a cracker jack box? Just thought I would see what everyone's feelings were on this. I think it is just plain stupid!!! I mean think of all the diseases!!!!
So digging in a sharps container to clear suspicion is worth it? I disagree. I would have self-submitted to a urine test myself, not risked my health, digging thru sharps containers. I remember about 4 years ago, a ketamine went (temporarily) missing....long story--it was found and no foul play was going on. But we did not know that at the time......anyhow.... I and the other coworkers on shift self-submitted to urinalyses before we went off, to clear ourselves immediately. I have no problem doing that to keep myself in the clear and on the up and up. Sorry, I think digging in sharps containers to find a A PILL is over the top, not to mention potentially hazardous! Wonder what OSHA might say to people doing this?
OSHA would have frowned upon that and then fined the institution heavily. Not to mention the state fines on top of all that. Very very dangerous to go sticking your hand in a sharps container when a urine drug screen could have cleared any suspicions.
I see many sticks caused by sticking a hand into a sharps container. One of our employees contracted Hepatitis C from such a stick. The sharps still had wet blood on it.
To quote a very wise man..."Stupid is as stupid does"
Thrusting my hand into a cactus comes to mind when I think of someone sticking a hand in a sharpes container. She obviously was wigged out over losing the pill.
To quote a very wise man..."Stupid is as stupid does"
Thrusting my hand into a cactus comes to mind when I think of someone sticking a hand in a sharpes container. She obviously was wigged out over losing the pill.
I'd take my chances with the cactus anyday. It's has better stats on the risks of infection.
OK, the student had brought in the bottle of Seroquel. I work in a Rehabilitation Center for quad's, TBI's ect. They bring in their own meds and this lady was in for Eval which only takes 3 days. She is the one that put the 1/2 Vicodin in her Seroquel bottle before she left home. The students don't understand when they come in that they have to turn all meds, well except for OTC meds, into us to be dispensed. As far as I know there has been nothing done about this situation. Oh and guess what, she has made the comment before that she thinks one of the other nurses on my shift does things that puts her nurses license on the line. Hello....... can you say stupid for putting your hand down in the sharps???? LOL
OK, the student had brought in the bottle of Seroquel. I work in a Rehabilitation Center for quad's, TBI's ect. They bring in their own meds and this lady was in for Eval which only takes 3 days. She is the one that put the 1/2 Vicodin in her Seroquel bottle before she left home. The students don't understand when they come in that they have to turn all meds, well except for OTC meds, into us to be dispensed. As far as I know there has been nothing done about this situation. Oh and guess what, she has made the comment before that she thinks one of the other nurses on my shift does things that puts her nurses license on the line. Hello....... can you say stupid for putting your hand down in the sharps???? LOL
I have never been so confused in my life! What in gods name was a pt doing putting her 1/2 Vicodin in the students bottle? Or was the pt the student. This is beginning to sound like a riddle to me :chuckle
My question is who is making policy in this place? A new inservice for all employees is in order i think. First,, they need to make their infection control/ medication policies very clear and decisive. Second,, there should be NO medications held by any "patient" if there is any chance at all that someone might take what is not theirs, Tylenol, asprin or PeptoBismol,, i dont care. How do you monitor interactions wtih any new meds that might be started if patients can hold their own OTC meds? All can be overdosed on given the right persons body type and the right OTC medication. I pesonally have taken care of someone who died of a tylenol overdose!
In my experience, most rehab patients have taken large doses of narcotics or antidepressants or other medications at one time or another which puts them at higher risk for not only overdose but suicide. I'm sorry but i think this whole place needs revamped and brought into line with both OSHA and state regs. It sounds like a BIG accident waiting to happen. I'm not sure what to think. If the administration of this place lets things go so carefree, it shouldnt be a surprise to them to hear a nurse is poking through the sharps container. As someone else said,, "stupid is as stupid does". Get out quick.
meownsmile, I have only worked there since May and we have just now got a new supervisor, the one that saw the emptying, and she is redoing the policy and procedures. The ones we have in effect now have been in effect since 1976. Yeah, way back when. When an issue comes up, the older nurses that have been there say, well that is just how we have always done it. Personally, it scares me. I seriously wonder if some of these nurses have let there license lapse. I just seriously wonder. HMMMMMMM! It's just something that stays in the back of my mind. I mean, the place I work at is so behind the times and all. I just wonder if they have slipped through the cracks. When we mention anything about license about 4 or 5 of them change the subject fast.
TMPaul
195 Posts
OSHA would have frowned upon that and then fined the institution heavily. Not to mention the state fines on top of all that. Very very dangerous to go sticking your hand in a sharps container when a urine drug screen could have cleared any suspicions.
I see many sticks caused by sticking a hand into a sharps container. One of our employees contracted Hepatitis C from such a stick. The sharps still had wet blood on it.