Should she be suspended?

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Hello. I work in a nursing home on a subacute rehab unit. I work with another RN on the same unit. Our DON did a narcotic inventory on her med cart and there were some discrepancies between the narcotic meds and the narcotic book. I have gotten to know this RN well and know she would not steal narcotics. She simply did not document the narcotics immediately after giving it, something which I'm sure many nurses have done at some point. Anyways, she was suspended and there is an invenstigation going on. My question is what are the guidelines for documenting narcotics? Is it a LAW that narcotics be documented immediately after giving them? Or is there an acceptable time span? Does it vary by State and facility? Thanks

Two statements - We actually just had one nurse get fired for narc diversion (was giving apap instead of Percs to pts, then giving them sublimaze after the 'percs' didn't help). This wasn't a first offense, so I don't think he's in 'the business' anymore...

Work with a lady that knew a friend that had a tattoo on her lower arm/hand that didn't seem like a person to do something like that and was absolutely competent in her nursing skills, but at the same time was injecting any narcs she could get, but usually dilaudid. She is now on perm narc restrictions, and works in another part of the hospital, but still has a job (luckily for her)...

Drug abuse / use is a horrible addiction and hope I never have to witness first hand others going through the pain of doing this sort of thing.

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Specializes in medical/oncology.

being a new nurse i am soo scared and careful with this stuff, and working on an oncology floor we give a lot of narcotics (i think, ive never worked on a different floor)...but i always document the actual time the pt gets thier med on the medication administration record, i bring the paper with me, write the time, give the med, and then cross off the time before i leave the room. also i dont pull anything until i need it. and with partial doses, i always make a nurse waste with me at the time i am actually wasting the med in front of them, and have them document the witness....and for the hospital i work at, if you pull a narcotic and dont document it in the medication administration record paper, it is assumed that you took it for yourself.

DOCUMENT. or it wasen't done. :)

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Specializes in Home Care.

Work with a lady that knew a friend that had a tattoo on her lower arm/hand that didn't seem like a person to do something like that and was absolutely competent in her nursing skills, but at the same time was injecting any narcs she could get, but usually dilaudid. She is now on perm narc restrictions, and works in another part of the hospital, but still has a job (luckily for her)...

Drug abuse / use is a horrible addiction and hope I never have to witness first hand others going through the pain of doing this sort of thing.

What did her tattoo have to do with drug abuse? I have a tattoo on my wrist, does that make me a potential drug abuser?

I work in an LTC with a med cart. We count narcs with the oncoming nurse at the end of every shift. I document every narc at the time I give them in the MAR as well as in the narc book. I wouldn't do it any other way.

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What did her tattoo have to do with drug abuse? I have a tattoo on my wrist, does that make me a potential drug abuser?

I work in an LTC with a med cart. We count narcs with the oncoming nurse at the end of every shift. I document every narc at the time I give them in the MAR as well as in the narc book. I wouldn't do it any other way.

Perhaps she shot the drugs into the tattoed area so track marks would not be as visible. Maybe that is what she was trying to say?

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

I assumed so....track marks would not show through a tat

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Specializes in med surge.

I am not a nurse yet, but when I was in the hospital and was given medication, the nurse scanned a barcode, then scanned the barcode on my wrist band before they administered narcotics. Does this serve as a journal?

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You should ALWAYS document that was given as soon as you pull the narcotic. I found this out the hard way. Many years ago, on my FIRST day of being an LVN, I was on the med cart for 50 med surg pts (after a 2 day orientation!). It was crazy-at 7:20am a request for a prn Demerol. I checked the med sheet, pulled the Demerol and recorded it, then administered it. Well, 40 min later, it was discovered that the pt got 2 doses of Demerol. The aide had gone to the floor supervisor first because she couldn't find me, and the floor super thought she would "help" me out as she knew it was my first day and went ahead and gave it--but got side tracked and didn't record it right away. I knew she had asked for the narcotic keys, but didn't realize she was going to medicate a pt. The floor supervisor ended up getting fired (doc made a BIG stink!) It was my first week at that hospital, and I ended up getting the cold shoulder as everyone was ticked at ME for getting the floor super fired...

I agree. There are so many things that can go wrong if you don't immediately sign out a narc. At least putting the last name down as you pull is going to help. I don't know how many times I went to count and it was off because someone "forgot" to record a narc they pulled.

But as far a policy...check the facilities policy. We had to sign them out as soon as we pulled them. I'm so glad we use a pixis type system at my new job.

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