A really stupid incident

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi guys, I just made a really stupid mistake a week ago.

I was on my way to my break, a nurse stopped me and told my pt wanted to go outside and need her meds

Because she had three kinds of meds, so that nurse wants me to administer.

Anyway, I gave the pt meds and left. When I was back from my break, I just realized I had thrown the other half of her Methadone in a regular trash bin!!!

Upon I was looking for it, housekeeping lady already took those bags away.

So I had to report this to the charge nurse, and we had an incident report done.

My patient witnessed for me at the time that I only gave her half methadone (She always knows all her pills)

I worked for an agency; the unit nurse told me it should be fine as it did not harm anyone, while today I received my company's call and my manager wants to talk to me.

I know I made a mistake and I don't want any to excuse for the consequence.

I just want to know will this affect that much? Will I get fired??? Will this affect my license? r

You should have chased down those trash bags and found that pill. Not kidding.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
You should have chased down those trash bags and found that pill. Not kidding.

Except that I'm having a real hard time believing that any nurse would casually toss a controlled substance into a trash can and stroll off for a break. My spidey senses are just not sitting with this story.

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Tooooooootally different story in Canada than in the US, which is where all of these previous replies are coming from. OP, if your manager says you're fine then you're fine. Your college is not going to rip away your license because you mistakenly threw a controlled substance in the wrong bin. Chill out. And when you get a chance, go on the website for your college and read some of the disciplinary actions to get an idea of the kind of things people are disciplined for. Making a one-time mistake in properly disposing of a controlled substance, unless you were also drunk at work or something, is not going to appear there.

Those wondering if the OP is lying somehow - methadone is dosed in a single-dose bottle, usually I'd hand it over to the client, they'd knock it back and then hand me back the tiny bottle which I would then toss. If you're used to that and the client only took half of their methadone for whatever reason and handed you the other half back in the tiny bottle it's easy to see how you might accidentally toss that in the trash as you usually would.

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She said it was a pill.

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Except that I'm having a real hard time believing that any nurse would casually toss a controlled substance into a trash can and stroll off for a break. My spidey senses are just not sitting with this story.

Once I pulled two tabs of Norco for a pt who had and order for 1-2 tabs depending on pain scale. Pt only required one tab. I accidentally tossed the whole, packaged tab into the trash with my other opened packets. I realized almost immediately after and literally dug it out of the trash. So it can happen... I was horrified.

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Specializes in Care Coordination, MDS, med-surg, Peds.
Except that I'm having a real hard time believing that any nurse would casually toss a controlled substance into a trash can and stroll off for a break. My spidey senses are just not sitting with this story.

Everyone is capable of a totally stupid brain burp. Not that it is good, but sometimes we act without thinking like the day I saw an MD throw his script pad in the trash and put a reminder note in his pocket instead of the other way around. Stuff happens. We learn we grow.

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
sometimes we act without thinking like the day I saw an MD throw his script pad in the trash and put a reminder note in his pocket instead of the other way around.

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Specializes in Care Coordination, MDS, med-surg, Peds.
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Yeah!!! I earned a Davey-do comic. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

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Once I pulled two tabs of Norco for a pt who had and order for 1-2 tabs depending on pain scale. Pt only required one tab. I accidentally tossed the whole, packaged tab into the trash with my other opened packets. I realized almost immediately after and literally dug it out of the trash. So it can happen... I was horrified.

Especially if you are opening like 10 little individual packets on your med cart, it's super easy to sweep up the whole lot of them and just dump in the trash.

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It was a one-time thing, right? A one-time event probably won't get you fired. Everyone makes mistakes. Most hospitals are very strict with narcotics though, so I'd be prepared for a thorough interrogation. As long as you are honest, I don't think you will have a problem.

Agreed. OP, I think being open and going right to the charge nurse and writing an incident report will go in your favor. People who are diverting narcotics, aren't going to their supervisors and writing themselves up.

It really bothers me to see people jump on mistakes as if they are huge crimes. Yes, OP mishandled a controlled substance, but there was no ill-intent and no harm done. There was another thread here a while back where someone was being fired for basically doing the same thing, but then getting a colleague to falsely "waste" the medication she had given or tossed to cover herself. Most commenters said the main issue was the falsification of the record, not the medication error. OP made a mistake and owned it. If we go around firing and harshly punishing people for honest mistakes, that's just going to incentivize dishonesty.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
I was told that a negative drug test doesn't matter as people divert narcotic to give to others or sell.

You're right. A lot of people divert not for themselves but others, so a negative UDS is not bulletproof protection.

That being said, a negative UDS doesn't hurt because it at least shows that you didn't use it...or aren't using anything for that matter. It gives you a little credibility. But save you on its own, it will not.

If you have , call them ASAP. If you do not, call a local attorney ASAP. Methadone is a controlled substance, and the government takes incidents with controlled substances VERY seriously. You're going to need all the help you can get.

And the takeaway lesson for the future: never never NEVER walk away from a controlled substance without it being disposed of properly. That means it's securely in the patient and any unneeded portions are wasted then and there. Ideally, you will waste the unneeded portion of the dose before you give the medication. If not, a good habit to get into is to take all wrappers, drug cups, etc. with you out of the patient's room back to the medication room, then dispose of them in there. Then you're more likely to catch that you left a partial dose of medication that you have to waste.

Best of luck

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