advise requested

[janders2003]

Is it ever okay in any circumstance for an RN to take home clients narcotic medications to set them up for dispensing? My coworker supervisor took home over 25 clients suboxone to "set up for dispensing" so she didnt have to come in to work early. I think this violates Minn board of nursing regulations. Is so do I have a duty to report? I am an LPN

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

You may wish to call the Minnesota Board of Nursing to obtain a definitive answer to your question since BON rules and statutes can differ in each state.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Oh boy. Not a smart move. Amazing.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I'd be reporting that to the DON ASAP. Cover yourself!!!

I'd say this is not setting up meds but shenanigans of the worst kind.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I'd say this is not setting up meds but shenanigans of the worst kind.

I am in total agreement since the potential for drug diversion and theft of patient medications strongly exists in this situation.

[unicoRNurse]

I would be surprised if your facility's policy didn't require you to report something like that to management.

[Gooselady, BSN, RN]

I had to reread the OP. Yikes, yeah, this is reportable.

It's hard to believe she did this in ignorance, we are told from first year nursing school about the proper handling of narcotics. And the consequences .

Since she told you what she did, you don't have much choice but to report it. I feel badly for you, I would not enjoy having that responsibility, whether the nurse was plain ignorant (hard to believe) or just willful and careless (much easier to believe, considering).

You are reporting this to protect yourself from any kind of backlash. You are not responsible for this nurse getting 'into trouble'. You are not a snitch or trying to take someone down. This is hard core.

One night, I got home, put on my pajamas, and began emptying my pockets to put the scrubs in the wash. Lo and behold, I pulled out an intact Morphine 2mg carpaject (sp?), seal unbroken. The memory of my patient declining the morphine and me saying "I gotta return this before I forget" came to mind about two hours too late.

I went in the next day straight to the manager and told on myself. She said I should have put my stinky scrubs back on and drove the forty five minutes back to the floor and returned it. I initiated an incident report on myself next, and spent 15 minutes agonizing over which term to choose to describe what I did. Every single term semi-related to taking Morphine home in one's pocket however accidentally also sounded like 'felonious diversion'. If nothing else drove home the point, that did. And I had to submit it.

The next couple of weeks were terrible, I was so afraid one of the bigwig from Risk Management would appear at the front desk to 'talk to me'. No one did. A couple of weeks later a travel nurse took home one Vicodin (intact in bubble pkg) accidentally and I got to help her figure out what to do, as she couldn't return it (the patient was discharged). I'm making this sound funny out of pure self defense, it really was NOT remotely humorous, I'm just a wimp.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

My advice is that you never ever do this yourself for starters!!

Just how much time was this med set up going to take? Does the client know that this nurse did this? Do you have a supervisor that you report to?

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

There are several kinds of Stupid in this world; the nurse who takes home meds to "set up" for the next day is just one of them.

OP, you have some good advice here, time to take it!

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

You need to speak with a supervisor immediately!!!!!!!!

This is NOT ok by any stretch of the imagination.

Do you need to report to the BON? Check your rules and regs in your state....some states do have the regulation that if you do not report you are just as guilty.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

What kind of environment do you work in? A suboxone clinic? I'm having a hard time imagining why this would ever be necessary and where a nurse would have to set up 25 patients' meds for dispensing. How long could that take?

[edmia, BSN, RN]

Oh my, what a mess. Why did she even tell you about it? Did you walk in on her putting the narcotics in her purse? If she was truly just trying to get out of doing extra work in the morning and she told you about it I would give her the benefit of the doubt but as other people mentioned, you may be found guilty by omitting to tell the supervisor about the situation when you saw her doing it. So, unfortunately, I believe you're going to have to turn this nurse in to whoever is above her since she seems to be your supervisor.

Whatever the reasons are, it's never okay to take narcotics home. Ever. She may think she has a good reason and maybe that's why she's doing it, she may have been doing this job for years and years and has gotten lax, or she just may be diverting . You don't know and it's really not your place to try to figure it out.

Again, what a mess!

Sent from my iPhone -- blame all errors on spellcheck