Tired of impaired nurses

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Ok...I have been a nurse for almost 20 years and thought I had seen it all. My current employer seems to be a becon for impaired nurses. We currently have 3. The latest one is causing loads of issues. She was a great nurse that worked with us for 1 year. It was found out that she was removing approximately 40 percocets per shift for patients she was not assigned to. Management aproached her and sent her for a drug test. Since she had a personal prescription for the drug, nothing was done. Many of the staff were very uncomfortable when she was around. (She was not signing the MAR--you had to look in the pxysis for the last dose given) Management pushed the issue and she up and quit. Well 6 months go by and she is back (rumor has it that she was terminated from the last place). I questioned my manager about this and she said there would be stipulations. I see none. Her first day back was today and I snooped around in the pxysis. She gave 10 percocet in one shift and once again failed to sign them out on the MAR. None of these patients are alert enough to report that they had not gotten the medication.

What can I do? Does any one know what actions I can take if management continues to turn a blind eye? I know we are short on RN's, but this is crazy. We already have a tough enough job without worrying about team members stealing drugs! A group of us are really upset and not sure what steps to take next. Help!!!

It is scary to judge because in the right situation I think ANY one of us could decide to take that first ativan, vicodin, etc......It is a line we must NEVER cross. Those that have deserve a chance to redeem themselves, I think, but they need to be very, very honest with themselves and probably find an area to work in where they do not have access to narcotics, etc. I am leery of nurses returning to a place where they have access to these things unless they have a lot of supervision and support.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
We nurses are supposed to be perfect all the time, I had a positive UA for Methadone, had to go to treatment then outpt. tx. for 5 months. I thought I was ready to go back to work, therefore I did, for only 1 day. I was so nervous, shakey, embarrassed at work the first night back. I took an Ativan, no narcotics and it made me too sleepy, probaably because my tolerance had gone down over the last 6 months. I was fired immediately.

All the meetings I had been going to "be in Recovery" did not seem to help at all. Why? The professionals thought I was ready. It was horrible. I could not face the pressure of having to behave perfect at work therefore I told the BON to take my nursing license. I have not been so happy in 10 years, I am taking Buprenorphine for the opiate dependence. My depression that I've had for the last 20 years is gone. If anyone out there reading this is dependent on opiates. Try subutex.

I am concerned by this post, and am thankful that the poster has surrendered her license. She states she "had a positive UA for Methadone", not that she abused methadone, making it seem as though methadone appeared in her urine thru no fault of her own. I don't see that the poster took any responsibility for her situation.

She then states that on her first day back to work after rehab, she took Ativan due to nervousness, shaking and embarrassment. She did not approach her supervisor because she was having a hard time, or ask to be excused from work early, or call her counselor for support, but resorted to chemical means the first time she encountered an uncomfortable situation at work.

It is cases like this that cause many RNs to be concerned about working with addicted co-workers. I am thankful that this poster had the insight to realize that she didn't belong in nursing.

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It is cases like this that cause many RNs to be concerned about working with addicted co-workers. I am thankful that this poster had the insight to realize that she didn't belong in nursing.

And I am glad that she had the chance to discover this for herself.

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careful who we call addicts...I know a nurse reported by her staff for being under the influence while on duty...never failed a drug test(more than 12 taken in a years time)...found to be guilty by the state BoN...and had her license suspended by the board because she couldn't afford to pay for the tests mandated by probation program...cleared by two different addictionologists saying no drug or alcohol abuse problem..now she can't work at all and a twenty year career is ruined...who is to say she shouldn't be allowed to work after her year of suspension is done.

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From what I have seen I do not think a nurse with a drug addiction should have a license depending on what and why the addiction. Ex Meth, but someone who gets addicted by accident, ex legal meds and seeks treatment should be given a chance to recover. And a nurse that steals meds should not have a license and should go to jail.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Geriatric Rehab.
From what I have seen I do not think a nurse with a drug addiction should have a license depending on what and why the addiction. Ex Meth, but someone who gets addicted by accident, ex legal meds and seeks treatment should be given a chance to recover. And a nurse that steals meds should not have a license and should go to jail.

How does one get addicted "by accident" ?

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additionally to what I said earlier, I also think that nurses who voluntarilly report themselves should have it more leinient then those who get caught. they are more likly to have the treatment stick, because they are more likly to want it to.

****note I did not say any definates because every case is different****

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Specializes in Hospice.
How does one get addicted "by accident" ?

One doesn't ... but bear in mind that denial is a central mechanism in addiction. You wouldn't believe the shyte an addict has to go through just to get to the first step in recovery, which is to admit there's a problem. AA calls it "hitting bottom" - that point at which the personal destruction wrought by the addiction becomes so overwhelming that it becomes impossible to fool oneself any longer. For some, bottom is losing home, family, job and self-respect. For others, it's the threat of death. For a few, it never comes in this lifetime.

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How does one get addicted "by accident" ?

isn't that the way all addictions start, by accident?

i honestly don't believe a person takes that first drug/drink, thinking "i think i'll become an addict".

these people take a drug to escape some form of pain and find themselves wanting/needing more, to remain in this state of painlessness.

before they even know it, they're addicted....

by accident.

it is certainly not a disease i would want.

when i think of the thousands of diseases out there, addiction is on the very bottom.

leslie

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Specializes in Home Care, Hospice, OB.
should drug addicted nurses be allowed to return to practice when their rate of relapsing is incredibly high?

should they be allowed to potentially harm pts. and compromise the careers of innocent rns in their attempt to place blame for their behavior on others?

perhaps it is time to start hoding people accountable for their behavior and not allow them to hurt others anymore.

wow, nothing like a nice neutral question to get unbiased answers! why don't you tell us how you really feel about this???:clown:

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Geriatric Rehab.
One doesn't ... but bear in mind that denial is a central mechanism in addiction. You wouldn't believe the shyte an addict has to go through just to get to the first step in recovery, which is to admit there's a problem. AA calls it "hitting bottom" - that point at which the personal destruction wrought by the addiction becomes so overwhelming that it becomes impossible to fool oneself any longer. For some, bottom is losing home, family, job and self-respect. For others, it's the threat of death. For a few, it never comes in this lifetime.

I am just not sure between this and your first post which addicts you deem worthy of getting their licenses back. In the first one you mentioned those that get addicted by accident as being an exception to your opinion that you don't think addict nurses should return to work. Now I think you may be saying non-recovering should not. But those (like I) who reached, hit and returned from our bottoms, and know how and why it happened (and daily go to EVERY length to keep it from happening again) may be ok. Not trying to put words in your mouth, just trying to understand the "ex" in you 1st post.

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.
I do not think a nurse with a drug addiction should have a license depending on what and why the addiction.

Alcohol is a drug. Should alcohol abusers have their licenses pulled as well? So you are saying not all nurses should have the option for treatment and recovery? I must say it is certainly scary reading some of these posts! :nuke:

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