Searching a Patient's Belongings

[cheethaj]

Aloha Everyone,

I am an RN currently working as an ER tech while I wait for an RN position to become available at my hospital. I am not asking for legal advice, but I was wondering what other people do in their own hospital in regards to searching patient's belongings.

My first question is: Do I have to right to search a patient's belongings without consent if they are incapacitated.

My next question is: If I ask a suspicious patient if I may document their belongings and they refuse, do I just document that they refused or do I call the police to do a search?

My last question is: If I find a knife on a patient or a gun with a warrant, do I give it to security or do I have to call the police to verify?

Mahalo Nui Loa Everyone,

John

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Your hospital has a responsibility to maintain a safe environment.

It is a dissatisfier to search every patient, but your facility should have policies regarding this. If a search is clinically indicated, it is often done by security, and should be done by security if the patient refuses. Any illegal drugs, weapons, or other contraband should be turned over to security, and they need to follow their policy Regarding disposition.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

If I need to go through belongings (usually for documentation purposes), I simply tell the patient the reason why I am doing it and basically tell them to make sure that everything is accounted for. I usually have no problem. With the psych patients I explain our policy - their belongings need to be placed behind the desk. I usually let them keep undergarments and recently I had a patient who brought their own pillow and was really attached to it. They begged me not to take it away...I searched the pillow and let them keep it but told them that everything else had to go behind the desk for safety and because it's our policy. Again, they usually comply. If there is ever an issue, I let our ER PD officers handle it.

[Guest219794]

Do what keeps you, your co-workers, the public, and the pt safe.

I don't think twice about searching an impared person- overtly or covertly.

[cheethaj]

Thank you all for your responses.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

cheethaj said:

My first question is: Do I have to right to search a patient's belongings without consent if they are incapacitated.

Typically, incapacitated folks are brought in by EMS, and EMS has already searched their person/environment for things like a wallet or a cell phone that can help establish their identity, so there really is no reason for me to search their belongings. I will bag them up and put a patient label on them and store them under the Charge Nurse's desk.

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My next question is: If I ask a suspicious patient if I may document their belongings and they refuse, do I just document that they refused or do I call the police to do a search?

What is a "suspicious patient"? We are not law enforcement. It's not our job to figure out if someone has committed a crime. If a patient is being put on a psych hold, we have the patient dress down in paper scrubs and we take their belongings and put them in a patient belongings bag and place it in a locker.

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My last question is: If I find a knife on a patient or a gun with a warrant, do I give it to security or do I have to call the police to verify?

Any weapons are given to security, who locks them into a safe. It is not within my scope to verify whether the person's possession of these items is legitimate.

[Sassy5d]

It's cya. Take another staff member with you to do inventory. Make sure you're both signing paper.

Many times, family n pt turn around and say 'You stole my Gucci glasses' what Gucci glasses? Or dentures always go missing.

Give security all their naughty things. Anything that a family member takes must be signed for.

[cheethaj]

Mahalo Sassy5d and stargazer for your responses. I have come to figure out that there is no real standard procedure because every hospital and EMS does things differently.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

Also I think there is a difference between cataloguing (as in, do you have any dentures, hearing aids, or eye glasses, etc.) and searching, as in checking for any weapons or substances of abuse. Cataloguing belongings is important because it creates a paper trail so that if something is lost or missing, you know where it was last seen. Searching is important if there are questions of safety, but again, we are not law enforcement and searching someone's belongings should only be done with good reason.

Once, I was asked by a patient to check in his bag to see if his wallet was there, since his health insurance card was in his wallet. In the process I found a small amount of marijuana for personal use. He became visibly worried, and I just reassured him that I am not the cops and it's none of my business and continued looking for the wallet.