I really need some opinions and advice. Last Thursday (7/28/16), I was escorted to HR, in which they showed me a print out report of my transactions from the Pyxis the day before. It showed I had removed a narcotic on a patient that wasn't my patient and not even in my dept(PACU), but in pre-admission tesing I found out. I never go to that dept I said, and this was not my patient, and I didn't perform this transaction. They informed me I had to submit my fingerprint for this transaction. I continued to tell them I never made that transaction.I also provided them with as much details of that day. Long story short: I was suspended w/o pay, submitted to a drug test, which was negative and had to be driven home from work in my car by someone else with the director of security following behind. This has left me devastated, horrified, scared to death, mentally and physically stressed. I am not a druggie nor a drug thief!!! I've been a nurse 41 yrs! Why on earth would I do this now?? I know they have policies, but they still damaged my integrity, character and reputation as my coworkers knew something was up before me! I can't eat or sleep. I have prayed and prayed. I'm truly scared I'm going to lose my livelihood, go to jail, God knows what else. I called this past Monday and left a message for the HR director to call me back. Never got a call. I heard today she is on vacation. I tried to get hold of the person covering for her, but could not get thru to HR or even leave a message. I finally called another dept director for help, and she took a message to that person..never got a call back today. Tried to call again before they closed. No answer and not able to leave a message. I have consulted with one attorney, who basically took my money and didn't give me any encouragement, only that he could send them a letter for $1000. Needless to say, I'm looking for someone else, but I can't afford an attorney and make too much money for a pro bono attorney. Tomorrow is my last paycheck. What then?
I truly believe this is based on human error in the Pyxis, but how can I prove it?? Please send me your opinion and advice on this mishap. Any article links would be greatly appreciated as I need all the info I can to prove my case.
Thank you so much in advance. I trust going to my colleagues because I believe we take care of each other!
I don't have words of wisdom for you, but I want to share my story so you know that you are not alone. I have been looking for a nurse with a similar experience. Here is what happened to me...
In May, 2016, in the middle of my shift, I was approached by the Nurse Manager. She informed me that I needed to follow her immediately. She escorted me past my Supervisor and peers; I was taken to the Administration offices. In addition to this Nurse Manager, there was a Director of Nursing, a Director of Human Resources, and another person sitting behind a computer. I was informed he would be typing notes during this meeting.
I asked why I was there. At that point, the Director (whom I never met prior to that day) informed me that I was being investigated for diversion; I felt like I was blind-sided by a truck! The Director asked me to empty my pockets; I immediately complied and nothing was found. Also, I offered my car key and locker key; she accepted my locker key, but stated my car key wasn't necessary. I offered to submit to any testing and would allow her to search my home. I stated that I would do whatever was necessary to demonstrate that I was not diverting. I shared that I was a long-term (26 years) and loyal employee with excellent annual reviews and no Pyxis discrepancies of any kind!
The Director informed me that they would be collecting a urine sample and if I refused I would be terminated immediately. I restated that I had already agreed to being tested. I was escorted to Employee Health to provide a urine sample. Upon returning to the Director's office, the contents of my locker were loaded onto a utility cart. The Director informed me that my belongings were removed from my locker while I was in Employee Health. She then proceeded to search my belongings; nothing was found. At that point, she informed me that I was suspended without pay, had me surrender my ID badge, and informed me that I was not to discuss the investigation with my peers. If I had questions, I was to call her.
Two weeks later, I received a phone call informing me to attend a meeting the next morning. At this meeting, I was informed that all suspicions were unfounded and I was being returned to work with back pay. Since I had scheduled vacation during my suspension, they used my paid-time bank to pay me. I assured them, I was in not on vacation while I was waiting for them to get back to me. After waiting for 2 weeks in limbo, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I asked them if they received my messages/emails asking them for an update and telling them that my emotional and physical health were getting worse with each passing day that I waited for their answer. I was informed that my requests had been received, but they wanted to complete the investigation before returning my calls/emails.
I knew it would take 3 days to get the urine screen back, but waiting 2 weeks with NO information was torture. I ended up under the care of my physician who referred me to a mental health provider. I was diagnosed with a severe anxiety reaction and began medication and counseling. My providers placed me on medical leave. I've now been diagnosed with PTSD.
Despite multiple requests to understand the basis for the accusations, I have not been given answers. Whenever I ask a question, I'm repeatedly informed that there is no record of me being investigated for narcotic diversion.
My leave is running out and I am terrified of returning to the same position. I don't understand WHY I was accused in the first place and WHY it took 2 weeks to get back to me! I asked if there were discrepancies, patient complaints, of if I appeared to be 'under the influence'. I was informed that there were no discrepancies and no complaints, and they would not be discussing anything else because there is no record of the investigation in my employee file.
If I leave this employer before August, 2017, I must pay back the entire amount of tuition benefits. It is a large sum; I would need to take a personal loan, extend the mortgage on my home, or tap into my retirement savings early and pay a penalty (I am only 54 years old). I have located an attorney that charges only $100 for a one hour consult; I have an appointment on Tuesday.
I understand your feelings and concerns; this is not a situation that I ever dreamed I would be facing in my spotless (up to this point) career. I will keep you in my prayers.
she works in PACU. this may have been a patient who had been there previously and for some reason did not drop from the list. I've seen this happen with transfers between other units as well.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I don't have words of wisdom for you, but I want to share my story so you know that you are not alone. I have been looking for a nurse with a similar experience. Here is what happened to me...
In May, 2016, in the middle of my shift, I was approached by the Nurse Manager. She informed me that I needed to follow her immediately. She escorted me past my Supervisor and peers; I was taken to the Administration offices. In addition to this Nurse Manager, there was a Director of Nursing, a Director of Human Resources, and another person sitting behind a computer. I was informed he would be typing notes during this meeting.
I asked why I was there. At that point, the Director (whom I never met prior to that day) informed me that I was being investigated for diversion; I felt like I was blind-sided by a truck! The Director asked me to empty my pockets; I immediately complied and nothing was found. Also, I offered my car key and locker key; she accepted my locker key, but stated my car key wasn't necessary. I offered to submit to any testing and would allow her to search my home. I stated that I would do whatever was necessary to demonstrate that I was not diverting. I shared that I was a long-term (26 years) and loyal employee with excellent annual reviews and no Pyxis discrepancies of any kind!
The Director informed me that they would be collecting a urine sample and if I refused I would be terminated immediately. I restated that I had already agreed to being tested. I was escorted to Employee Health to provide a urine sample. Upon returning to the Director's office, the contents of my locker were loaded onto a utility cart. The Director informed me that my belongings were removed from my locker while I was in Employee Health. She then proceeded to search my belongings; nothing was found. At that point, she informed me that I was suspended without pay, had me surrender my ID badge, and informed me that I was not to discuss the investigation with my peers. If I had questions, I was to call her.
Two weeks later, I received a phone call informing me to attend a meeting the next morning. At this meeting, I was informed that all suspicions were unfounded and I was being returned to work with back pay. Since I had scheduled vacation during my suspension, they used my paid-time bank to pay me. I assured them, I was in not on vacation while I was waiting for them to get back to me. After waiting for 2 weeks in limbo, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I asked them if they received my messages/emails asking them for an update and telling them that my emotional and physical health were getting worse with each passing day that I waited for their answer. I was informed that my requests had been received, but they wanted to complete the investigation before returning my calls/emails.
I knew it would take 3 days to get the urine screen back, but waiting 2 weeks with NO information was torture. I ended up under the care of my physician who referred me to a mental health provider. I was diagnosed with a severe anxiety reaction and began medication and counseling. My providers placed me on medical leave. I've now been diagnosed with PTSD.
Despite multiple requests to understand the basis for the accusations, I have not been given answers. Whenever I ask a question, I'm repeatedly informed that there is no record of me being investigated for narcotic diversion.
My leave is running out and I am terrified of returning to the same position. I don't understand WHY I was accused in the first place and WHY it took 2 weeks to get back to me! I asked if there were discrepancies, patient complaints, of if I appeared to be 'under the influence'. I was informed that there were no discrepancies and no complaints, and they would not be discussing anything else because there is no record of the investigation in my employee file.
If I leave this employer before August, 2017, I must pay back the entire amount of tuition benefits. It is a large sum; I would need to take a personal loan, extend the mortgage on my home, or tap into my retirement savings early and pay a penalty (I am only 54 years old). I have located an attorney that charges only $100 for a one hour consult; I have an appointment on Tuesday.
I understand your feelings and concerns; this is not a situation that I ever dreamed I would be facing in my spotless (up to this point) career. I will keep you in my prayers.
Unbelievable! And after all that, there is no record of any investigation! Right out of George Orwell. I hope your attorney is really good. And that when this is all done, you own yourself a hospital.
To Jeusismycopilot----you might consider seeking assistance in filing a workers comp claim for the emotional damage that they inflicted on you. When I was pulled off my job for an unfounded accusation and jerked around for 6 weeks I was a nervous wreck. I filed through Federal worker's comp and won my complaint.I was cleared but having them say I was cleared meant nothing. I was put under un-need scrutiny, run through the wringer and never even got an apology. If you do not work in a federal institution you can check the rules for your state by going on line. Most have some sort of category for claiming emotional distress was forced on you. You might have to be covered by a psychiatrist and especially if you had to go on any form of medication. It may be difficult to prove but if you meet the criteria it will cover your treatment and medications. It might help you to deal with the unfairness of the situation. It does not mean you are "mental", it just means they subjected you to an uncalled for emotional turmoil and caused you to have anxiety and other issues.
If your employer goes so far as to deny you access to your car, or if they want a search of the car or your person...that's the point where I would insist the police be called. The police can determine if you are under the influence enough to make driving unsafe, and the employer has no right to take that freedom away from you.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
If your employer goes so far as to deny you access to your car, or if they want a search of the car or your person...that's the point where I would insist the police be called. The police can determine if you are under the influence enough to make driving unsafe, and the employer has no right to take that freedom away from you.
True, but they can fire you if you don't comply.
And if y'all think I'm being draconian here, I urge you to look up the policy at your facility of clinical staff under suspicion of being under the influence while on duty. You may be surprised.
Specializes in Tele, Interventional Pain Management, OR.
I don't think it's typical to require a dual login for narcotics. And thank goodness ...that sounds like a nightmare!!
Meds would pretty much NEVER be given on time (or on time-ish) on my unit if narcs required a dual login for administration. Wasting/returning, sure, but straight-up administration? I can't even imagine.
As for the OP, I wonder if s/he accidentally remained logged in to the Pyxis and another user hopped behind and pulled the narc.
I'm seeing an attorney for the first time on Tuesday. I was a mess after being kept in limbo for 2 weeks. I can't imagine being in limbo for 6 weeks! How did you survive?
I'm employed in a not-for-profit healthcare system with 7,000 employees. We recently became affiliated with a larger healthcare system from Philadelphia, PA.
I have been under the care of my primary care physician (he prescribes the medications and evaluates me every 2 weeks). Also, I'm in therapy with a licensed counselor weekly - it was 3 times a week for the first month. I am just now getting enough confidence to go to the grocery store, get my hair cut, etc. I was humiliated and had no self-confidence.
Add this to the countless horror stories I've heard and experienced since becoming a nurse four years ago (second career nurse). I'm sorry for your bad experience and hope you find a way to defend yourself. I am in the process of getting out of nursing as quickly as I can work my way out of it. Good luck.
Biometric fingerprint systems are used in a wide array of applications. But the system is not without problems.
Many scanners dont recognize liveness. So it is very easy to fool the system with a forged fingerprint from a latent sample taken from somewhere else the user touched. Firthermore, fingerprint quality degrades with age, lower ambient temperatures, wet or very dry (chapped) fingerprints, the amount of pressure of the finger on the sensor and if the sensor isn't kept clean.
Optical readers are the most common type of sensor. Theses utilize a digital camera that acquires a visual image of the fingerprint. These sensors are very impacted by a dirty sensor surface, or marked fingers. These readers are the easiest to fool.
There are 3 different levels of fingerprint patterns. With Minutiae being the most commonly used level in biometric systems for user verification and identification purposes.
The major Minutiae features of fingerprints are ridge endings, bifucations and short ridges. The representation of a fingerprint by the Minutiae is not only the type and position of these features, but also the angle and direction of the ridge; the distance between 2 consecutive ridges. Minutiae matching relies on recognition of these Minutiae points.
Fingerprint samples are acquired from the subject by a sensor. The sensor's output is sent to a processor which extracts the distinctive but repeatable measures of the samples and discards all other components. The resulting features can then be stored in the database as a template, or compared to a specific template, many templates or all templates already stored in a database to determine if there is a match.
A decision regarding the identity chain is made based on the similarity between the sample's features and those of the template or templates compared.
Verification - the sample features are considered to match a compared template when the similairity score exceeds a specific threshold.
Identification - the enrolled identifier or template is a potential candidate for the subject when the similairity score exceeds a specific threshold, and/or when the similairity score is among the highest k values generated for a specific k value.
FVC-onGoing initiative is a web based automated evaluation system for fingerprint recognition algorithms, managed by the FVC Biometric System Lab of the University of Bologna. Their testing is carried out on a set of sequestered datasets. The very best state of the art fingerprint recognition algorithms have an error rate of 0.7% while others can be as high as 20%.
According to Carefusion, the BioID fingerprint recognition algorithm system utilized by in their Pyxis Medstation 4000 unit is Lumidigm technology. A biometrics system utilizing multispectral imaging technology manufactured by HD Global.
However Carefusion dues not identify which series of Limidigm they are using nor do they provide any actual data on what their FRR - false reject rate, FTE - failure to enroll, FTA - failure to acquire and FAR - false acceptance rate*** are for their various Pyxis versions.
***FAR - the false acceptance rate; is the percentage of times the system will mistake one user for another user.
Because you are followed by a counselor it might put you in the correct slot. It would depend on your State's workers comp laws. I worked in occupational health for a large corporation so I am familiar with some state laws but not PA. the 6 weeks was a ploy by a manager who wanted to get rid of me. She was lethal. She had run off so many people and I was determined I would not go except on my term.s I won that battle. HR was in cahoots with her. Do you have an Employee assistance program or Employee Health office? Check with your state workers comp office first and see what help they can offer. I will warn you that in my experience some states are very pro management, some are very pro employee. In the current political climate many state workers comp offices have pretty much been labeled defunct so I do not know what your situation would be. The attorney might be the best one to enlighten you. I cannot stress enough that despite how bad you feel educate yourself. Go into any discussion well armed with knowledge. One reason for my success was that I was a Union Steward, knew my contract was violated and I had a strong Union Rep who advised me. In Union situations the Union is your sole representation (as was mine). When you get an attorney the Union can no longer represent you. So in that regard we are different. I hurt for you, I know about the humiliation and the crying jags, the rootlessness feeling. Will keep prayers for you and let me know how it works out.
Jesusismycopilot
2 Posts
I don't have words of wisdom for you, but I want to share my story so you know that you are not alone. I have been looking for a nurse with a similar experience. Here is what happened to me...
In May, 2016, in the middle of my shift, I was approached by the Nurse Manager. She informed me that I needed to follow her immediately. She escorted me past my Supervisor and peers; I was taken to the Administration offices. In addition to this Nurse Manager, there was a Director of Nursing, a Director of Human Resources, and another person sitting behind a computer. I was informed he would be typing notes during this meeting.
I asked why I was there. At that point, the Director (whom I never met prior to that day) informed me that I was being investigated for diversion; I felt like I was blind-sided by a truck! The Director asked me to empty my pockets; I immediately complied and nothing was found. Also, I offered my car key and locker key; she accepted my locker key, but stated my car key wasn't necessary. I offered to submit to any testing and would allow her to search my home. I stated that I would do whatever was necessary to demonstrate that I was not diverting. I shared that I was a long-term (26 years) and loyal employee with excellent annual reviews and no Pyxis discrepancies of any kind!
The Director informed me that they would be collecting a urine sample and if I refused I would be terminated immediately. I restated that I had already agreed to being tested. I was escorted to Employee Health to provide a urine sample. Upon returning to the Director's office, the contents of my locker were loaded onto a utility cart. The Director informed me that my belongings were removed from my locker while I was in Employee Health. She then proceeded to search my belongings; nothing was found. At that point, she informed me that I was suspended without pay, had me surrender my ID badge, and informed me that I was not to discuss the investigation with my peers. If I had questions, I was to call her.
Two weeks later, I received a phone call informing me to attend a meeting the next morning. At this meeting, I was informed that all suspicions were unfounded and I was being returned to work with back pay. Since I had scheduled vacation during my suspension, they used my paid-time bank to pay me. I assured them, I was in not on vacation while I was waiting for them to get back to me. After waiting for 2 weeks in limbo, I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I asked them if they received my messages/emails asking them for an update and telling them that my emotional and physical health were getting worse with each passing day that I waited for their answer. I was informed that my requests had been received, but they wanted to complete the investigation before returning my calls/emails.
I knew it would take 3 days to get the urine screen back, but waiting 2 weeks with NO information was torture. I ended up under the care of my physician who referred me to a mental health provider. I was diagnosed with a severe anxiety reaction and began medication and counseling. My providers placed me on medical leave. I've now been diagnosed with PTSD.
Despite multiple requests to understand the basis for the accusations, I have not been given answers. Whenever I ask a question, I'm repeatedly informed that there is no record of me being investigated for narcotic diversion.
My leave is running out and I am terrified of returning to the same position. I don't understand WHY I was accused in the first place and WHY it took 2 weeks to get back to me! I asked if there were discrepancies, patient complaints, of if I appeared to be 'under the influence'. I was informed that there were no discrepancies and no complaints, and they would not be discussing anything else because there is no record of the investigation in my employee file.
If I leave this employer before August, 2017, I must pay back the entire amount of tuition benefits. It is a large sum; I would need to take a personal loan, extend the mortgage on my home, or tap into my retirement savings early and pay a penalty (I am only 54 years old). I have located an attorney that charges only $100 for a one hour consult; I have an appointment on Tuesday.
I understand your feelings and concerns; this is not a situation that I ever dreamed I would be facing in my spotless (up to this point) career. I will keep you in my prayers.