Pre poured meds

[littlehippie]

I poured meds for one resident and was paged for an outside call from the lab. I put the meds in the top drawer and locked my cart and took the call. The administrator demanded my keys to the dart, I refused but unlocked it. He took the meds out of my hand and left with them saying he will make sure this is reported to the bon. I wasn't prepouring and have been suspended, thoughts? Can he take my meds??!! He's not a nurse

[umbdude, MSN, APRN]

Did you get your own practice insurance? If you did, call them and ask. Some insurance policies will provide license protection in case you need to defend yourself against a complaint to the BON.

[Davey Do]

Let me get this right: You secured meds in a locked area and employee not licensed to handle medications took the keys, unlocked that secured area, and handled the meds?

The administrator is at fault, not you littlehippie. You acted prudently.

In every facility where I've worked, only licensed professionals are not even allowed to go into secured areas. For example, at a community mental health clinic where I worked years ago, one psychologist got in trouble for entering a med room without a nurse.

If any of the meds were controlled substances, the administrator is in deeper.

There are extremely strict rules about who handles, for example, narcotics. When I supervised a methadone clinic, only the MD, the other nurse and I could handle the methadone or go into the med room. Well, one time someone from the DEA went into the med room, but they're allowed.

You can either wait until you're contacted or be proactive, but this behavior needs to be addressed by higher ups or your Liability Insurance RN JD can advise.

Good luck to you, littlehippie!

[littlehippie]

Thank you for confirming what I thought! I'm speaking with an attorney already.

[Davey Do]

And thank you, littlehippie, for getting back to us!

And please- let us know how this all comes out.

Again: good luck!