Steps to reporting Med Diversion

psu_213, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2018

Hi I am a nursing student and want to know what is the proper steps to report a nurse who you saw put half a norco in her pocket and NOT waste it?

I suppose you could report it to the NM or charge nurse.

However, I really think you need to be 100% of what happened before you report something. If you saw her take (as in swallow) the med, yes, report it right away. Just by putting it in her pocket does not mean she did not waste it. Did the patient refuse the med? Was the nurse going to find staff to go to the Pyxis with her to waste it?

In the future, you might be interviewing on this unit, or even if it's not that unit, interviewed by a person who is now a staff nurse on that unit. If the accusation turns out not to be true, then you could very easily be labeled as a nosy snitch--which is something that will turn off many UDs.

Again, if you are 100% sure she diverted, report it. If not tread lightly. Someday you might be that nurse, and I don't think you would appreciate a student turning you in without all the facts.

RickG85 · Mar 23, 2018

Unless you saw the person pop a norco at the nurses station then I wouldn't say a word. I'm not even sure why you would consider this

OcMurse93 · Mar 23, 2018

First of all, for anything like that, you NEVER report it directly to a nursing supervisor on a unit. You report it to your instructor, period. They know more about procedures on the unit than you do.

Second, what was the dose? Maybe the nurse cut the norco in half so they would tolerate it better and was going to give them the second half a little bit later.

Lastly, it sounds like you are making the accusation very lightly. That is not the kind of thing you just casually accuse someone of. If you are wrong, its a great way to get blacklisted from the hospital and you wont be able to have clinical there ever again. Might even result in you having to drop out of your program. So, like the other posters, tread VERY LIGHTLY.

SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN · Mar 23, 2018

Yeah, nothing good will come out of this for you. My advice shut up about it and stay that way

KrCmommy522, BSN, RN · Mar 25, 2018

I agree with the other posters. This seems like its something that could easily be misconstrued. Like other posters said, the nurse could have thought the pt couldn't handle a whole dose or the pt didn't want the whole dose, so the nurse cut it in half and was saving it to give the other half later. The nurse could have been putting it in his/her pocket until he/she found another nurse to waste it with. During clinicals, I often saw nurses put meds in their pocket but would later say to another nurse that they had a few things to waste. Of course, I didn't see them say that and waste them every time. But, that is what I assumed. Like the other posters said, unless you saw him/her pop it in their mouth, I would ignore it for now. Did you watch that nurse for the entire rest of the clinical and know FOR SURE that he/she didn't waste it? I doubt it. In which case, you cannot know for sure that he/she didn't waste it. Now, if you see the nurse do this multiple times on other occasions and you feel that strongly about it, then you should discuss it with your instructor - and NO ONE else. This is an issue you go to your instructor with. It's NOT something you should be reporting to anyone other than your instructor. But, if it was me, I would just ignore it and keep my head down.