Anon2422

"The nurse made an EGREGIOUS error that cost a patient her life. But if the only solution is to remove the nurse from the equation then we've lost an opportunity to improve. There's lessons to be learned. What if Vanderbilt had protocols in place around administering conscious sedation? Such as training to include patient monitoring. What if the ICU nurse who delegated this task to the "help all nurse" followed the proper rights of delegation? (right task to right person) What if there was not a culture of expediency, to get the job done at all costs, and hurry up? What if the procedure had been rescheduled while the pt given po anxiolytic? Btw, I've seen GI docs push assistants to shorten the cleaning time for scopes. And the overwhelmed assistants complied.What if there was a clear job description with qualifications and training for the "help all nurse"? " *I totally screwed up my comment and was trying to reply to the above comment made by Nurse Beth but it didnt work the way I wanted haha. Still new to the site. Sorry* Heres my comment: Yes! Well said. CLEARLY, the nurse made several obvious mistakes to the majority of us, but maybe she was not trained well. Or was delegated to a task outside of her scope and was not aware of that fact. I always say to my trainees, what you dont know you dont know so i must train you properly so that you do know. On my floor we cant push certain iv cardiac drugs ie. Labetelol, hydralazine, etc. But yet it still gets ordered often and is pullable in our omnicell. There is ALOT of room for error here. And i cant tell you how many times nurses who ive worked with for a YEAR have said they didnt know that we cant push that on our floor! WHAT?! ....So, imo there are also many shared mistakes among the facility as well as the nurse and would not be fair to ONLY blame the nurse. Despite i do agree that there were several negligent acts here, of course.

Im not in a program, but from the nurses I know and research Ive done due to my own recent scare, it can take some time for them to reach you. One nurse I know refused her test, so because she didnt have any evidence against her it took 2 years for them to contact her. She did end up having to enroll, but her advice would be keep working as long as you can! The sitting and waiting is no good for you. You typically cant work agency while in the progran, so enjoy it while you can now and keep saving so you can be prepared. As others have said, I dont believe you are required to tell your future employer until you are enrolled. Once youre enrolled, you will have to. Due to all of the signature and sponsors and so on. But you can do it and will make it through! I see it as two options if you truly love nursing, despite the programs being a pain : 1. 3-5 years of hell to keep your license and still have your whole career ahead of you or 2. Let it go, but accept the fact that youre letting go of a future in nursing. If you don't have a problem with drugs/alcohol, either way youre life isnt over and you will continue living.

Hello all! Im slightly behind on posting an update, but I thought it might still be helpful to someone in case any of these circumstances happen to them. So in the end, all was good. My test came back and I was thankfully able to return to work with no issues! But the couple of things I learned in the process that may not apply to all, but in my case: A urine test is good for that long, at least in terms of it not being rejected. I didnt get a specific answer but i believe the others are correct that its about a week. My work uses a lab thats a few states away and they ran a very specific opioid panel, one that includes much more than your average employment urine screen. During the waiting period i was very confused about how the MRO situation works, but in my case our Mro works with the hospital so they just sign off on it in the end. I dont know why, but i pictured it as being someone from the lab that would call me and go over everything. But it didnt work like that. And the most important thing I learned was be very careful documenting and following the guidelines when dealing with narcotics. Yes, very obvious statement but lets be honest. I can pass maybe 30+ narcs in a shift, at the least, so it can get really out of hand sometimes. But this lesson has shown me that I need to slow down and take the extra time to double check everything, and dont pull in advance. These are different times, and the rules are getting much stricter, at least than what im use to. It almost seems like things have changed overnight. My job actually never gave me a specific reason as to why this happened, other than our "new and updated" pharmacy program flagged me, and I was pretty much told that I just drew the short end of a stick, so to speak. So dont think it cant happen to you, many others can vouch for that also and have much worse circumstances! In the end, if youre not doing anything wrong, hey its a paid vacation. But the stress of all the "what-ifs" will get to you, so stop reading the internet haha. Ok Ill end my rant now. Thanks for reading!

Thanks for your response ThePsychWhisperer. This is the gist that I am getting, which is good because a google search doesnt give much information, which is why i wanted to ask. And no that is not the case, i am actually hoping the specimen would be good, as I posted in a comment. I dont want to make any fuss over the chain of custody i was just curious as it was a surprise to me and i wanted to know more. It actually eases my anxiety to hope that that being left out wouldnt likely increase the risk of false positives, as i know is already a risk based off of some other stories.

Thank you for sharing your story Kallie3006. I actually just read your story the other day, coincidentally. And I have read several others like yours, much more than Id like to thats for sure! That has to be very stressful & and its a shame that several of you have terrible histories with the BON. Im just hoping i will not have the same fate, but from what I've read now, man you can't be too sure! Technically, it makes you realize your entire career with this license, you can never be too sure. Its crazy.

Oh and btw to specify the specimen was sealed and put in the bag with the label, so i dont believe thats an issue with chain of custody, just the fact that it sat for awhile, which i now feel like it should be fine thanks to your responses. I dont really want to raise any fuss about that aspect i just wast sure if the specimen would still be good. But any thoughts on the fact that the lady who conducted the test (she was called in off hours) brought someone else there that doesnt work there. Do i have any ground to stand on with the fact that that is a violation of my privacy? I intend to return to work with no issues regarding the test (as long as the sitting didnt cause it to be rejected). But i was thinking about filing a complaint with them regarding the possible Hippaa Violation.

Thank you so much for all your replies! Gives me a lot to think about. I was just curious. Im just hopingit doesnt get rejected & then i dont know what theyll decide from there, retest or not? And if they do retest theres another week of waiting. But it is what it is. Thanks guys, youve given me some great info here!

I thought this forum might suit the topic a little better, maybe someone may have a better understanding than I do. If there are any lab specialists out there that would be great lol! Forgive me for the lengthy post, in advance. The purpose of this thread is mostly to ask the question: Can a urine drug screen be accurate after sitting in room temp x 4 days? Ive googled and most of the info i have found is that chain of custody states it should be frozen/refrigerated asap and sent out at least within 24 hours. If youd like to know more info heres some background: I was pulled for a random at my hospital due to a pharmacy report red flagging me. I was pulled aside by house supervisor immediately arriving to the floor before starting my shift. This is night shift so it was only her and i reporting to employee health, she had to call someone in to conduct the test, on a holiday btw. (On a side note the nurse called in brought a family member or friend with her, which surprised me because I feel like that should be a violation of my privacy, any thoughts on that?) Anyway, she conducted the test, we did all as usual, she set the test with the paperwork on the counter, shut the lights off and we all walked out, she locked the door. And i asked "So its ok to just sit there on the desk?" & her reponse was "Yea its good, the doors will be locked and itll be shipped out on monday via fedex" (holiday weekend so that means 4 days later when the main person comes back to work). I was in so much shock at the time that i didnt think much else about it until later. The house supervisor (along with the pre-written hospital policy) states it takes 5-7 days to get results back & ill be notified by my manager. I just feel like this is very strange and assume I may have to retest if it comes back unreadable or whatever, which hopefully theyll give me the chance and i dont have to fight with them about it. Thanks for reading!