I would like some advise on whether I should stay at my job. I have been suspicious of my direct supervisor (I work the night shift in a 250 bed nursing home/rehab facility) of stealing narcotics for a while. She has lost her license in two states for abusing narcotics/stealing them from the hospital, and this is the only place that she has worked since getting back her right to work in this state. A couple people have reported her where we work now, but she always passes the drug test. Whenever I work her behavior is irratic, and at times she appears "high". She always seems to be needing to borrow Dilaudid from my Wing for other wings, and even though some patients on my wing have dilaudid prn they never ask for it from me; but when she works they want it every 4 hours. Last night I went to get a patient 2mg Dilaudid and found that the narcotics card had been taped at the bottom, and the pills looked a little different. Turns out, after some investigation the pills were not dilaudid, they were Atenenol 25 mg! Somebody had replaced all of the pills; I went straight to my supervisor; even though she is the first one I suspected, and was the last one on that cart, and reported it. She told me that pharmacy must have made an error and sent the wrong pills. I demanded that our DON be called, whom she is friends with, and reported it to her as well. The package was put in the DON's office and I was told not to bring it up with anyone or worry about it. I am uncomfortable that my place of employment would cover something like this up; not sure what my next step should be.
You know what is strange: the addiction part I understand. I dont agree with drug diversion and it is a crime. Working under the influence is also a risk to patients.
What really turns my stomach is that she is probably leaving some poor patient that needs pain meds in pain. That is a crime against humanity in my book. IMHO. I knew a hospice aide who used her patients morphine. I was livid and reported her.
Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
It is bad that the nurse is diverting, what is WORSE is she is subsituting-which is downright dangerous...she needs to be stopped.
I did not take the original post to mean that the nurse is with holding pain meds but that when she is not working, the patients do not ask for them...when she is working--she signs them out....
By the way, not all people who divert with hold pain meds from their patients. I think most of them use wastes. There are many ways to get around the system.
You "get rid" of these types by reporting them to the proper authorities, that is the appropriate method to use. That way the threat is eliminated and she/he can get the help that is needed.
If you suspect the DON will cover, report it to the next higher up..The administrator. Normally you would do a med error report too and in doing so call the pharmacy and of course the patients doc etc. Put your paper trail down and do your documentation before you start calling around then they will come down on you for not properly dealing with this situation.
If you are corporate ran...call the regional person too or the compliance hot line if you have one. Go up the chain and or skip the part that is the offender.
If you don't see action...then make those calls to the state or BON etc.
"The nursing board will not take action against the nurse without a conviction and they don't bring criminal charges. Best bet to get anything accomplished is to make a police report."
You should have called the pharmacy ASAP and had them come to take the card. They could have settled what it contained lickity-split.
Your next mistake was turning the questionable card over to the supervisor you suspect. Notifying the DON was only effective if your complaint was in writing and CC'd to your administrator, the Department of Health and one for your own records.
Call this to the DOH and the facility licensing board in your state. Maybe the BON can't move without a conviction, but the facility's licensure will come under scrutiny if they can't accurately account for narcs and witnessed narc disposals.
So the DON has the package now? I'm willing to bet that that it has 'mysteriously' disappeared. A DON who would tell you to keep quiet about this does NOT have good intentions. I reckon the DON will go straight to her friend and they will plot against you. Don't be surprised if you get called in and reprimanded over petty issues...if this happens start looking for employment elsewhere, in fact maybe do it anyway because who wants to work for such crooks?
If you go to the police, BON etc you need to make sure you have evidence otherwise it will be your word against theirs. And the evidence is now in the DON's hands.
Also if you find any narcotics missing and substituted please make an incident report, tell the DON but don't give them anything until after you have called the police and say they will need this as evidence.
Good luck, sounds like a very dangerous situation.
I also went through a similar situation, our DON was frequently "higher than a kite." Her best friend, the unit manager was also. The only thing those two ever accomplished was "destroying the narcotics." Everyone in the facility feared for their jobs as these two stirred up so much trouble and fired appx. 40 employees in a matter of months. Within a day or two of the DON starting her job in our facility, she "fell off a ladder at home" and ended up in the hospital in so much pain, she was put on Dilaudid!! An anonymous letter was sent to the Administrator, Corporate and Department heads with concerns about these two. Nothing was said about the suspected drug use in the letter but the Administrator & Corporate started making accusations of "Sabotage" and threatened to "Sue" the letter writer if found. My job started going downhill within 3 months of this DON coming on board. Two employees went on Medical leave due to Stress!! Corporate decided to pile more work on me because of those two losers! I eventually got another job. The DON & her sidekick were eventually both terminated for attendance problems!! Imagine that! I regret that I did not file a complaint with the Corporate Human Resources & notify the Nursing Board. Another important thing to do is document everything--date time statements & any witnesses.
An incident report was filed and the doctor called so that they could hold her blood pressure medication for the next day due to her receiving the atenenol instead of dilaudid. I called back my work today and asked the weekend supervisor to have the DON call me to discuss what was found last night. (I have yet to be asked any questions about this, was just told that it would be taken care of my night shift supervisor and by DON when she was called when it was discovered.) The DON was supposed to come in to work today to investigate, but turns out she didn't think it was important enough to come in. Needless to say, nobody has called me back about my concerns either. Monday morning when my shift ends I will wait until the Administrator comes and tell her exactly what happened. Just makes me so nervous that nobody has come in to follow up on this, and my night supervisor, who will be back tonight will still have access to the corrupt dilaudid card. I have only been a nurse for 3 years, and never thought I would be dealing with something like this. Makes me so uncomfortable...
I'm not even in school yet and I'm telling you to run, fast ast you can, from that place.
And as someone who had Dilaudid recently, I can't understand wanting to steal it. I've done a lot of drugs, legal and illegal, and that just isn't a sensation I can understand chasing.
I feel terrible for the pts, but aside from reporting up the chain, there probably isn't much you can do.
advice to the op. no offense but, you seriously have no idea what you've just stumbled upon don't you? you're acting so blasé that if i were there i would pour cold water on you just to wake you up.
you're talking about criminal substitution of narcotics, and then a conspiracy by your bosses to cover it up? like hello...? this is stuff that people go to jail for. the least they will do to you is fire you and hope you go away. the worst that they can do is, have a few "friends" take care of their problem; ie you.
read about then karen silkwood, http://wapedia.mobi/en/silkwood the whistle blower who was on her way to show damning evidence to reporters, but was killed in a motor vehicle "accident."
your first stop is, go to the police. imho, this already is a situation way beyond what your institution is ready to handle. you have the power to finger someone and put them in jail right now (i hope you realize that); and you're busy warning them by blabbing it directly to them. what do you think that someone is going to do about it? say sorry for being a drug addict and criminal and thank you for being such a good and conscientious nurse? wake up. you're trying to be a whistle blower and you're worrying about nursing office procedures? please; i don't want to read tomorrow's paper about a nurse found dead with a bullet in the back of her head.
op, listen carefully; your life is at risk.
go to the police now!
i just love the naïveté of telling your don that you're waiting for her call, so what do you really think that will accomplish? i suppose she will suggest you meet with her somewhere to discuss this, and when you go there, nobody will ever hear from you again? scary eh? but people have died for simpler things.
Wow, watch a lot of crime shows much? Yes, Silkwood died under suspicious circumstances, but it doesn't sound like the OP is working with criminal geniuses.
PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN
2,211 Posts
Leslie, how do we get rid of these types? So tired of this BS.