I have a friend who is employed by a Travel Nursing Agency and got terminated from the assignment facility.
She was called for investigation by the Pharmacy team because of drug diversion after a month of the incident. She's working the night shift, exhausted, and nauseated at that time because of workload and 3rd night shift in a row, so she pulled out 1 blister pack (10 tabs) of Zofran from Omnicel without thinking what would happen. Though she didn't use and ingested it, she just drank ginger ale instead and felt mild relief. She brought the unused and non-tampered Zofran back home and totally forgot about it.
The pharmacy team investigated her after a month because they saw her on CCTV. They said they are required to report the incident to the BON. She confessed to everything, told them what happened, didn't deny the incident, and what led her to do that without thinking. The pharmacy team even praised her for her honesty. The nurse Manager supported her and recommended keeping her in the unit. She returned to this Pharmacy team the unused, non-tampered blister pack of Zofran.
They obtained urine drug tests and alcohol tests on that same day and of course, all were negative because my friend hasn't done drugs or drunk alcohol in her entire life.
Right now, she doesn't have a job and her employer is supportive and told her that she needs to complete a clinical remediation. After, they will search and help her to relocate to find a new assignment, though they are already working on finding a new facility for her. We asked if her previous facility reported her to BON, but they said they didn't have any idea and would notify my friend if they got any updates.
I'm really worried about her because she's not eating well and crying all the time because of that insident.
I know this is terribly worrying for your friend. Here's some things to consider:
Your friend may not or may not be technically required to report. I don't know. It depends on your state's BON's self-reporting guidelines. Some states have more detailed guidelines than others.
If the Pharmacy reported the incident, it may help her to self-report, and it would not hurt. It would show honesty and accountability.
If she does choose to self-report, it gives her a pre-emptive advantage. Include:
Why she took the medication, her physical state at the time and what she did with the medication afterward (returned it, didn't use it).
Her honesty: Mention that she admitted to everything and fully cooperated with the pharmacy team during their investigation.
Support from her manager: Include any statements of support from her manager, if applicable.
Actions she's taken since the incident, such as seeking additional support for managing stress, adjusting her work schedule, or any other corrective actions.
Thank you for the advice.
She already did self-reporting as her employer (Nursing Agency) told her to do so. She received a letter from BON investigator that she's under investigation because of diversion of non-controlled medication the same day that she submitted a self-report.
Why? It's not a controlled substance. She made a mistake, admitted it, and rectified the problem. IMHO, the BON will eventually get around to investigating and essentially determine it's not worth something worth pursuing.
I used to be a pharmacy tech back in the day. Ondansetron ODTs are not necessarily cheap. We typically don't think about it on our own as if we get it from a pharmacy, it may go through insurance, discount with the store's membership, etc. Uninsured patients would routinely get upset by the cash price of the ODTs. The NIH has published multiple articles about this issue. For instance, of an ODT tab cash price is $20 (depending on the pharmacy this would be a "conservative" number IMO, sadly). If you take a blister pack of these ODTs (10 total), that's $200 worth of prescription-only medicine you have diverted from the facility (and by virtue of prescription-only and it not being prescribed to you, that is not good). Not a controlled substance issue, sure, but technically if you take $200 worth of prescription medicine from a hospital or pharmacy for "personal use," it is a problem that the board will not necessarily just brush off. The nursing board is still obligated to do their part to appease the pharmacy board too.
Yeah, probably depends on how that BON views ethics violations for RNs in this particular state. Zofran isn't controlled, but it was theft. Businesses, at least, tend to look down on that.
Never worth losing your source of income and good standing for a seemingly trivial amount of hospital property.
I used to be a pharmacy tech back in the day. Ondansetron ODTs are not necessarily cheap. We typically don't think about it on our own as if we get it from a pharmacy, it may go through insurance, discount with the store's membership, etc. Uninsured patients would routinely get upset by the cash price of the ODTs. The NIH has published multiple articles about this issue. For instance, of an ODT tab cash price is $20 (depending on the pharmacy this would be a "conservative" number IMO, sadly). If you take a blister pack of these ODTs (10 total), that's $200 worth of prescription-only medicine you have diverted from the facility (and by virtue of prescription-only and it not being prescribed to you, that is not good). Not a controlled substance issue, sure, but technically if you take $200 worth of prescription medicine from a hospital or pharmacy for "personal use," it is a problem that the board will not necessarily just brush off. The nursing board is still obligated to do their part to appease the pharmacy board too.
this is a good point. I completely forgot about the blister pack (I.e. multiple tablets/units) and was only thinking of a single tablet
Also stealing something is not a mistake, it's a choice... A poor choice at that!
Yes. It was a poor choice, not a mistake. She didn't mention it's a mistake. She's already under investigation. She take full responsibility for her actions and willing to comply with any corrective steps necessary to address this matter professionally and ethically.
Yeah, probably depends on how that BON views ethics violations for RNs in this particular state. Zofran isn't controlled, but it was theft. Businesses, at least, tend to look down on that.
Never worth losing your source of income and good standing for a seemingly trivial amount of hospital property.
"Trivial" might mean something different to you than me, it seems. An entire blister pack of zofran ODTs worth $300 or more isn't "trivial" like a handful of alcohol swabs or a personal-sized bottle of Purell. It may go farther than simply "ethics" violations. "Stealing" hundreds of dollars of prescription medications for what was admitted as personal use is potentially more than just "ethics" unfortunately. Regardless, as I don't know if the BON will even look into it or make recommendations to other agencies, but there are multiple negative ways to look at this that are reasonably valid and thusly OP absolutely needs to get an attorney to help them immediately.
this is a good point. I completely forgot about the blister pack (I.e. multiple tablets/units) and was only thinking of a single tablet
Yeah. I have seen people get write-ups about things like this when it's like one tablet, but a whole blister pack could be 200-300 dollars or even more (which is likely) which would likely be perceived as "stolen." The pharmacy board will likely have objections as the diversion is of prescription-only medicine (and again, quantity is gonna be an issue here). Pharmacy staff/dept at the hospital will likely be *** as if nobody came forward on this, pharmacy would potentially eat the cost of the missing meds and some poor pharmacy tech might be accused to stealing the medicine themselves. Lastly, and I would hate to think of this, but let's be honest. Depending on how pissed the hospital is, you have to think of it like taking expensive equipment or supplies. This isn't accidentally taking home a handful of alcohol swabs. If you "steal" hundreds of dollars worth of prescription medicine from the hospital for what is admitted to as "personal use," that could be something the hospital might refer to law enforcement about. There are so many cans of worms that might open up on this issue. OP absolutely needs to get an attorney ASAP.
Fatima Marei said:
Yes. It was a poor choice, not a mistake. She didn't mention it's a mistake. She's already under investigation. She take full responsibility for her actions and willing to comply with any corrective steps necessary to address this matter professionally and ethically.
In my previous Manager job in PA, I was responsible for verifying physician and nurses license verification including checking board of nursing (BON) monthly disciplinary actions. It rare for this type scenerio to appear before the BON - unprofessional conduct for taking a RX med without an order to at worse--charge of theft. Suspect disciplinary action: ethics course or medication administration course with monetary fine $500-to sev thousand + permanent note on license.
The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (TAANA) has a referral service listing attorneys with experience appearing before BON --consultation might ease your friends mind re how your state may handle similar case.
If charged with theft and adjudicated as guilty, doesn't that end up going back to the BON anyway? I imagine that you would have to report that kind of conviction.
BON offered a Letter of Concern/Warning Letter as the resolution to her case, a non-disciplinary action that will not be published on the Board's website.
Based on the investigation conducted, the Board has chosen not to take any formal disciplinary action.
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
Thanks for the resolution followup --non-punitive BON action. Your support and asking for advice during this time added to this outcome. Hope your friend has found a new job and will have a long career.
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Thank you for the advice.
She already did self-reporting as her employer (Nursing Agency) told her to do so. She received a letter from BON investigator that she's under investigation because of diversion of non-controlled medication the same day that she submitted a self-report.