Wish I had the number for the DEA policy maker

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

Grrr.. my vent for today

Resident actively dieing, moaning/flinching every time she is moved or touched. This poor thing is in misery. Call physician, get order for sublingual Morphine. Reminded Dr. that pharmacy is going to need that written Rx. Call pharmacy and they say they will get with Dr. and let us know when we can take it out of the E-kit. HOURS pass before all of the little i's dotted and t's crossed. I finally tell nurses start calling pharmacy and Dr. every 30 minutes until someone finally says its OK to give this poor woman some pain med.

urg.. the frustration! 6 feet from my fingers is the medication that she desperately needs and I can't give it to her!!!!

If this resident had been someone's mother in the DEA's office the policy would have been rewritten immediately.

My only other option I could offer the family was to send her to ER, but we all agreed she would probably never survive the trip across town and would only cause more suffering.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

hear you go: dea diversion control - compliments or comments

[oramar]

I cringe when I hear stuff like this. How much needless suffering like this is going on all over the country.

[mamamerlee, LPN]

How many days/shifts went by before someone even tried to get this order?

Seems like we wait until WE can't bear it before the doc gets that call.

As nurses, we should be anticipating the pt's needs......

[southernbeegirl, BSN, RN]

How many days/shifts went by before someone even tried to get this order?

Seems like we wait until WE can't bear it before the doc gets that call.

As nurses, we should be anticipating the pt's needs......

let me guess, you dont work in LTC do you?

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

let me guess, you dont work in LTC do you?

That would be why she posted in the geriatrics forum.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

My DON will open the narc e-kit only. She will come in from home to do it. And our on-call physicians are wonderful. Luckily, we can still do that much in NYS.

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

How many days/shifts went by before someone even tried to get this order?

Seems like we wait until WE can't bear it before the doc gets that call.

As nurses, we should be anticipating the pt's needs......

Ok, I'll tell ya how it is, but I chose not to say this earlier to avoid conflict... she was one of our residents who had been in the hospital for 2 weeks and they discharged her back to us in this condition. We started calling from the moment of admit! Her need should have been "anticipated" by the hospital discharge people. But hey, that's a whole 'nother thread.

My point was the frustration that our hands were tied and we couldn't help her because of some stupid rule by some stupid person that has never worked in our world and has no idea the pain and suffering that this has caused.

[southernbeegirl, BSN, RN]

Ok, I'll tell ya how it is, but I chose not to say this earlier to avoid conflict... she was one of our residents who had been in the hospital for 2 weeks and they discharged her back to us in this condition. We started calling from the moment of admit! Her need should have been "anticipated" by the hospital discharge people. But hey, that's a whole 'nother thread.

My point was the frustration that our hands were tied and we couldn't help her because of some stupid rule by some stupid person that has never worked in our world and has no idea the pain and suffering that this has caused.

can i get an "amen"! great post!