connieg

Wondering what the general concensus is about ED docs leaving their sharps on the used laceration trays. A hospital I worked in had a policy that the physician could be charged with attempted assault if he/she left open sharps laying around, and that stopped the problem, pronto. What do you think? How is it handled where you work? (Only have a problem with one Dr. and he's the department manager, but has been talked to. The others dispose of their own sharps.)

I should have clarified... Sup is helping staff to count ALL the Pyxis carts in the house and there are between 40 to 50 narcs in each one. The doors flip open, then there's a 5 to 7 second pause before anything comes up on the screen, so it takes FOREVER to count each one.

In a hospital I worked for in Colorado, we had a container (an emptied out NS irrigation bottle) that was kept in the refrig, containing a 3-2-1 mixture of Maalox, viscous lidocaine and Donnatal elixir. We just took it out, shook it and poured 60 ml for a GI cocktail. It was mixed and brought to us by Pharmacy. Does anyone else out there do this? Where could I find articles to support the practice...or at least a copy of a policy? Thanks for your help.

My apologies if this has been discussed before...I couldn't find it anywhere. Does everyone count ALL the narcotics in the Pyxis every day? Our night supervisor is tied up from 3 to 4 hours every night counting the narcs in the Pyxis carts on the floors. It seems to me that the only ones that should need to be counted are the ones that have been accessed in the last 24 hours. Thoughts? Legal advice? I can't find anything on our BON site or in our hospital policies. Thanks for your input.

"Sugar" given before thiamine can precipitate Korsakoff's/Wernicke's encephalopathy (potentially fatal) in alcoholics. (Sources: Merck Manual and being old)