Please please help me, I'm in trouble

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Hello, I will try to make this as to the point as I can...long story short. I had a narcotic review at work and found to have taken 2 narcotics out without scannng to a patient. They called me in, drug tested, took my badge and have me on unpaid administrative leave. I do not know what is going to happen. I was told they are doing a 6 mth audit of all my medication administration. They also said I give out more narcs than the average nurse, and that is true. I am big on pain management. I'm quite sure with a 6 mth audit that I have made mistakes. I feel that I will be terminated no matter what. What will happen with my nursing license, how will I ever get another job, what can I do? How do I approach this at the next meeting. Has anyone heard of this before or been through this? I am despart any help will be sincerely appreciated. Thank you and God Bless

Maggie, RN (for now)

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If you did not scan them to a patient, did you not return them to the

system?

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If they report you to the board of nursing, you will probably be called

before the board. Hospitals do not always report to the board, however.

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I honestly do not know what happend to the drugs. I would have assuemed either gave them or wated due to too soon etc. I cannot honestly remember what happened with a patienton any given day in the past. I have no clue the day date pt or circumstances. I honestly have no excuse. Maybe I wasted and forgot to log it in the accudose system, lost it, etc. I just do not remember on way or the other on that given day.

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have you ever heard of this at the board? What does the board do? And I do know my test will be positive b/c I took a cough syrup (with rx) the night before for a cough and could not sleep to make this that much worse

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what happened to documentation? Did you not document your administration of medications? I am just learning the importance of documentation. Documentation would be your only defense. If you did not, you going to be in big trouble. Good luck to you.

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Thanks for the encouragement...yes i made a mistake and didn't document it. THat's the problem, I was wrong, and I made a careless mistake...am I going to pay with my license?

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You should be able to refute the positive drug test (if it comes back positive) by having it logged in your file that you showed a current prescription for the cough medicine that you took (assuming its positive for an ingredient thats in it) and produced a doctor's note. But as far as them reviewing the past 6 months for mistakes, they will have cause to let you go if a pattern emerges, if only a pattern of not handling/wasting/administering narcotics according to hospital policy. This is within their rights. The best thing you can do while you are waiting for their investigative results is to get a copy of your cough medicine prescription PLUS a note from your doctor saying that he did prescribe it, that you have no pattern of seeking medication of this sort from him, and the reason for the prescription. At least you can begin to arm yourself to defend the drug test results while they do the rest of their investigation.

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That is an excellent idea. I will do just that very thing. I appreciate your help

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If you don't know the day or date (maybe I'm reading that incorrectly) how do you know that you took cough syrup on that day?

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The date I got called in ...they tested me on my way to my floor to work afer discovering the issue. That night before I took the cough med (with codiene) and was tested the next morning. Does that make better sense?

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Yes, it does.

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