amyj23

disclaimer: This was a conversation my coworkers and I had the other day and was curious on opinions. If a nurse were to seek help for alcohol and/or drug addiction and disclosed that he/she diverted narcotics from patients, would that counselor be required to report this to the board or to their employer? My coworkers say no due to confidentiality. I think stealing drugs from patients would fall under the "harm to others" clause. What do you guys think?? Also, if a nurse is drug tested and is positive for methadone or suboxone (for which they had a valid prescription) is that reportable??

As an L&D nurse the best advice I can give you is to call your MW before you go into the hospital. She knows who the NCB friendly nurses are and can call the unit and request your nurse prior to your arrival. The MW I work with does this with me and a handful of other nurses. My advice about the birth plan is keep it simple. If you state that you want NCB, bradley, or hypno birth the nurses know what that means....you don't have to go into to much detail. Stick with the things you truly have an option over. For example: circ or not to circ, eye meds/vit K or not, baby to chest at delivery or clean up first, mirror at delivery or not. And understand that hospitals do have policies like IV access and such...talk with your MW about these things. The WORST birth plans that ALWAYS end up with a CS are the ones that focus on negative issues like "refusing this and that" and have phrases like "under no circumstances." The nurses reading this have seen the greatest, easiest, no intervention deliveries ever. And they have seen the worst outcomes anyone can imagine. When patients use words like "refuse and under no circumstances" it sets a very negative tone because it sounds condescending and doesn't take into account complications that are always a possibility no matter how minute. Yes some nurses are more NCB friendly than others but over all any L&D nurse wants you to have the birth you want.