Question for upmc pittsburgh nurses and employee alcohol use

[jennydoe]

Hello,

I want to ask if anyone who works for upmc knows what happens when an employee is suspected of drinking on the job. I have been working with another employee who has been drinking before and during work hours, a pt complained and the first time she was let go with a warning. She came to work the other day trashed slurred words dropping stuff and reaked of alcohol another pt complained this time the practice manager of the office came in and took her to the hospital for a drug and alcohol test. I wanted to know what upmc's protocol is on this situation and how long would it take for them to get the results. She was suspended for a week and is now telling us that she will come up clean it was a mixture or her iv remicade and benadryl that made her act and smell like she had been drinking (she had the iv done 2 days prior to this incident). I'm not a nurse and have no idea if this is possible for the iv and benadryl to make her act this way. Can someone help me out this has caused a lot of tension in the office not to mention several workers in the office have even smelled alcohol in her pop and have witnessed her pouring stuff in her drink out of the trunk of her car. She is super close with the dr of the office and we are wondering if he will be able to get this swept under the rug. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

If I were you I would just keep out of it. Don't talk about it, just leave it for HR and management to address.

You will never ever come out looking good if you pursue this. Management is already aware of the problem.

[MidnightAzalea]

Drug and alcohol tests come back within hours. This is really the business of the employee and the employer though, so it's really no wonder they're not discussing it with anyone else. I'm sure you wouldn't want that kind of info out there about yourself either. :)

[SilentfadesRPA]

I guess I can understand your "concern" for this individual and the outcome. What I do not understand is the need to publish the hospital that this person works at, the location and title of the person. Why is that necessary or needed?

[jennydoe]

I'm not getting involved i'm just curious because the dr we work for only recently signed on to work for upmc so this is all new to us. This nurse is now really ****** off and thinks it was one of us in the office that told on her and she has been calling our houses and harassing us. She made it my business when she came to work drunk and annoying. I don't know about anyone else but I wouldn't want this nurse taking care of my family and making medical decisions while intoxicated. I just wanted a couple of questions answered because when she comes back to work in a week she will be unbearable and if she was positive for alcohol and upmc let her come back without no rehab i think it's disgusting because I know several nurses who busted their behinds to get their license's and take pt care seriously.

[jennydoe]

I guess I can understand your "concern" for this individual and the outcome. What I do not understand is the need to publish the hospital that this person works at, the location and title of the person. Why is that necessary or needed?

I only mentioned upmc because every company is different on how they handle alcohol abuse and I wanted to hear from people who work for them. You must not be familiar with upmc because they have several hospitals, urgent care centers and doctors offices that they own in PA. You must be psychic if you know who i'm talking about without a name on a public message board not to mention the thousands of nurses that upmc employs.

[MntnGirl]

One doesn't have to "be psychic" to figure out whom you're referring to. All it takes is for one of your co-workers to read this post to figure out who your referring to. If I worked for this organization and I saw a post titled like this I would read it - anyone that was involved in this specific situation, or heard about it through the grapevine, is going to know the who, what, where, and how's regarding what you're posting here. I think too much information was revealed in the original post, and it's very possible that someone will be able to figure out who the person is that you're referring to and even figure out who posted this question.

[Mulan]

You are getting involved by gossiping about it.

Doesn't your facility have a policy against gossip?

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Look at UPMC Policy manual for this info. All large health systems have it available on the facility intranet or new employee booklet.

My health system has info under "Colleague Responsibility" policy--all employees sign agreement upon employment.

Similar circumstance, took person to employee health Friday afternoon, results called to HR Tuesday afternoon. Joint meeting with HR + employee Thursday where terminated for violation of above Colleague policy due to positive drug screen. They were upset that employer did not offer detox---told they should have requested it via Employee Assistance Program as outlined in policy provided at orientation.

At employee level, all one can do is report verbally AND in writing to their manager in non-judgemental terms colleagues actions that negatively impact patient care or threatening to other colleague. Managers responsibility to followup on concerns and complaints.

There may be much behind the scenes counseling going on that staff should not be aware of.... After termination, I heard that my employee openly told my staff she couldn't be touched for her antics because parent worked for health system executive... they guessed wrong.... been following health system P+P for counseling and remediation for months, HR aware my efforts...final policy violation grounds immediate termination.

I fully understand your concerns and how one persons actions can unsettle an office.....Keeping gossip at bay is in your best interest.

[jennydoe]

Look at UPMC Policy manual for this info. All large health systems have it available on the facility intranet or new employee booklet.

My health system has info under "Colleague Responsibility" policy--all employees sign agreement upon employment.

Similar circumstance, took person to employee health Friday afternoon, results called to HR Tuesday afternoon. Joint meeting with HR + employee Thursday where terminated for violation of above Colleague policy due to positive drug screen. They were upset that employer did not offer detox---told they should have requested it via Employee Assistance Program as outlined in policy provided at orientation.

At employee level, all one can do is report verbally AND in writing to their manager in non-judgemental terms colleagues actions that negatively impact patient care or threatening to other colleague. Managers responsibility to followup on concerns and complaints.

There may be much behind the scenes counseling going on that staff should not be aware of.... After termination, I heard that my employee openly told my staff she couldn't be touched for her antics because parent worked for health system executive... they guessed wrong.... been following health system P+P for counseling and remediation for months, HR aware my efforts...final policy violation grounds immediate termination.

I fully understand your concerns and how one persons actions can unsettle an office.....Keeping gossip at bay is in your best interest.

Finally a person on here with some kind of sense thanks for your answer.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

If you work at the same place as this person, why don't you have access to your organization's policies and why would you need to post on allnurses to find them out?

Sounds like you are meddling and gossiping to me too.

If you are genuinely concerned about patient care, notify your manager or HR and let them take care of it. How it is resolved thereafter is not really your business. If you feel the need, notify the nursing board.