Pt trying to pocket pain meds

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Dilaudid q3 (for this lady it was just short of on-demand). Just had a slightly creepy feeling whenever I administered the med. Then on the 3rd day of care I looked away for literally half a second and knew she had hidden the pills. I walked to the side of the bed and found she had tossed them in the sheets. Next thing I know she's crying and begging me not to tell. Why? Why, when it's coming around again in 3 hours, would you want to do that? She's been in our hospital for 7 mos. Most of the other nurses speak poorly of her. Addiction? Yes, but she was getting it regularly. Why try to hide them? Thank you in advance for your experience.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

Did you talk to her about it and ask her why?

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some people "cheek" their narcotics and try to OD on them.... so from now on you should watch her take them, make sure she doesnt cheek them, and share that in report.

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I did ask her why and she said she was tired of throwing up but she hadn't thrown up in weeks. I found out later that a couple mos ago she'd cheeked them,then tried to spit them into her PICC which then became infected. Addiction is evil. :-(

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Besides the OD thought, it could be that she was saving them to crush and snort or melt down and give IV to herself, which would explain her reaction to your discovery (as it would risk having her source cut off). I'd be very curious to see her belongings...I've seen patients with impressive arrays of paraphernalia. Another thought is that she may be selling or trading them.

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Specializes in long-term-care, LTAC, PCU.

I had a pt. Who was cheeking his oxycodone, then spitting it out and somehow crushing/melting them and injecting them in to his PICC. He became septic with beta hemolytic strep (or was it alpha?). Either way it was the organism that causes strep throat. That's how the MD knew he was injecting his oxy because there was really no other way for that bacteria to get into his bloodstream. We even checked his mouth after giving the Oxy to him. Then we switched it to liquid. Any way, he died. 27 years old. Sad.

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