RNMamaof2

Scottaprn - I am not comfortable with it whatsoever. In fact, I'm so uncomfortable with it that I am horrified at my reaction: "How are we going to waste it?" (Seriously?) That was in no way an acceptable reaction. I don't want to get sucked into those practice habits, by being told by the only other nurses that I have nearby to defer to teaching me things that aren't actually so. What was going through my head was: "Wait! What? We need to waste that 2nd mg. We can't waste it if it's injected into the patient!" And only when I was able to sit down and process my emotions through the ordeal, figure out what was causing the sick feeling in my stomach: that what she did was illegal and apparently that's how the *entire* unit is operating. Which, in effect, just furthered my anxiety in dealing with the nurses that do this. And therefore leading me to this board!

I posted this in the patient medication forum but haven't gotten much response. I wanted to anonymize that I was dealing with the psychiatric field but perhaps those in different fields would have differing thoughts than those in the psychiatric field. Please bare with me, this is my first post after years of lurking! I've been working my first job on a unit for almost a year. Due to the nature of the unit, we receive a higher ratio of aggressive:docile patients and oftentimes either A) Call for med orders (Ativan, Haldol and the like) or B) Give current PRNs. Most recently, the other nurse's patient became very agitated and there were no PRNs ordered that would have helped the agitation. This nurse called the doctor, and he ordered Ativan 1mg IM to give now and q6h PRN. The nurse asked me to draw up the Ativan while she put the order in. She came to look at it before giving it, grabbed the vial, and drew up the rest of the med (for a total of 2mg). Stunned, I asked how we were going to waste it. She said we will still do the standard waste with a witness. I told her I was uncomfortable witnessing the waste and she told me that everybody on the unit does it. She called one of the other nurses in and sure as ****, he had no problem "witnessing the waste." They told me this is part of the lecture all new nurses receive, that nursing in practice is NOT nursing in theory from school. Is it just me? I was stunned when the second nurse walked in and was totally ok with it. I confided in one of the aids and the aid says that happens all the time and it's never a big deal. So either I'm new and naive, or my unit is rather corrupt. Which is it? Thanks!

Please bare with me, this is my first post after years of lurking! I've been working my first job on a unit for almost a year. Due to the nature of the unit, we receive a higher ratio of aggressive:docile patients and oftentimes either A) Call for med orders (Ativan, Haldol and the like) or B) Give current PRNs. Most recently, the other nurse's patient became very agitated and there were no PRNs ordered that would have helped the agitation. This nurse called the doctor, and he ordered Ativan 1mg IM to give now and q6h PRN. The nurse asked me to draw up the Ativan while she put the order in. She came to look at it before giving it, grabbed the vial, and drew up the rest of the med (for a total of 2mg). Stunned, I asked how we were going to waste it. She said we will still do the standard waste with a witness. I told her I was uncomfortable witnessing the waste and she told me that everybody on the unit does it. She called one of the other nurses in and sure as ****, he had no problem "witnessing the waste." They told me this is part of the lecture all new nurses receive, that nursing in practice is NOT nursing in theory from school. Is it just me? I was stunned when the second nurse walked in and was totally ok with it. I confided in one of the aids and the aid says that happens all the time and it's never a big deal. So either I'm new and naive, or my unit is rather corrupt. Which is it? Thanks!