If you had a strong suspicion of a coworker's diversion of narcotics, how you handle it?
I'm talking, a nurse in the ER who habitually walks into the room with narcotic drawn up on your patient, right after you medicated, so then you have to waste with him. He has a history of being on a restricted license. He's a great nurse, very experienced, works a ton of OT.
It would probably financially ruin his life to get in trouble again, I don't know how many chances they give people. He functions very well on the job. Is it really the right thing to snitch on someone like this?
You did the right thing. I've been in a situation (not as an RN) where I did the right but maybe not popular thing. It's a strange, conflicted feeling, isn't it? I think they are normal feelings to have and I would talk to someone about it. In my situation which I briefly describe below, I talked my friends' ears off for a few months. I had to talk about it as I was so heartbroken by the entire situation.
The right thing was done by me but someone still lost their job and she was a very nice person who did nothing "wrong" necessarily but she wasn't at all the right fit to lead a faith-based nonprofit organization as she just didn't "get it" and I couldn't go before people as a fundraiser and say the things that I knew should be able to be said about our mission since our leader and some of the board members were so clueless.
This nurse may not be a good fit to be working with patients right now and may need to work on himself. He may not get it as he may be clouded by addiction right now.
It all worked out in the end though, they got a new leader and new board members; it expanded and is now doing what God intended it to do.
Again, you did the right thing as human being and as a nurse. You may have saved his life and/or a patient's life.
Here are more reasons why you should be proud of what you did:
"On a single day in December if last year a nurse and doctor both overdosed on stolen pain medication in different areas of the sprawling University of Michigan Health System.
Both were found in hospital bathrooms with drugs meant for patients injected into their own bodies.
The nurse, 29-year-old Carla DelVecchio, died. The doctor, 32-year-old Timothy Sutton, lived and was subsequently convicted of a crime and lost his job."
"Donald Baldovin, a Staten Island University Hospital anesthesiologist who was found on a hospital bed in July, died of acute fentanyl intoxication, the city medical examiner has determined."
"A resident doctor found dead this summer at the University of Tennessee Medical Center died of an accidental overdose of an anesthetic, police said.
Dr. Zackary Kim Rose, who was a third-year resident at the hospital, was found dead about 2 a.m. June 24, according to records. He was found on a bed in the second-floor call room by another physician after he failed to respond to a medical page."
I'm feeling very tearful and upset about this. I was actually considering going to talk to the employee health person about this, unheard of for me. They offer some confidential counseling I've heard.
Not only do I feel like I'm wrecking someone's ability to earn a living, but I am paranoid about the social repercussions for me if word gets out that I turned in one of my own. I feel very anxious.
Do talk to EAP. And know that support will come in many forms--that you protected other nurses from this as well (you are PRN there's a bunch of other nurses who may have been put in the same position).
Bull-hockey on him for putting you in this position. And yes HE did--you did not.
HE wrecked his ability to make a living, not you.
He pulled you into his mess. And that is wrong on a number of levels.
Regardless of his seasoning or social standing, manipulators absolutely KNOW they are just this close to the edge but their perceived rep would save them.
He burnt his own bridge. If he chooses to get help, awesome sauce, if he does not, then you and your coworkers are out of this mess. The hot mess he created. Not you.
Strong personalities or not, the nurse in question knew better than to ask a more seasoned full time nurse to waste a non-existent and/or tampered narcotic. His personality can't get him out of his one. And him running amuck attempting to remedicate, using whatever was happening--then his loss wouldn't be noticed very much I wouldn't think as far as staffing. He was doing a whole lot, but taking/caring for patients was not one of them.
He has an addiction and relapse is a recognized part of the disease. He may relapse one or more times before he is successful in acheiving life-long sobriety. If it turns out he has relapsed, the best thing for him is to undergo early treatment. He needs to seek advice from the union in regards to his employers duty to help him obtain sick leave, benefits and if future accommodation is possible. It's a disease and doesn't help to make judgements about him as a person.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
I can so understand your emotional turmoil and I urge you to seek some assistance in keeping this in perspective. Those who would take you down for doing this aren't really concerned about that nurse at all. I would think if he is that beloved and popular, the overall reaction is going to be one of concern, pity, perhaps even some self recrimination because they suspected and did nothing. Hold your head high and determine that if/when this young man gets himself back to straight, you will maybe get opportunity to tell him how difficult this was and to hug him and congratulate him on battling through a relapse.
I have learned in life that the hard decision is almost always the right decision. It stinks. I am so sorry you are suffering for this. You did the right thing. If he is guiltless nothing will come of it. If he is guilty, he will get help, patients will get pain relief and you will never hear of something happening to him or his patients and wonder whether you could have prevented it if you had just had the courage to speak up.
Emergent, I applaud you making a tough choice and doing the right thing. Being turned in for diversion was my greatest fear for several years. I honestly don't know why it never happened. I was caught when I overdosed one night at work. Looking back, I wish someone had alerted pharmacy, management, or anyone else who could have stopped me. I don't know for sure if it would have changed the course of my life in a positive way, but I do know for sure it would have given me a chance, an opportunity. As it happened, I just kept getting sicker and sicker, thinking I could never stop, but also wanting desperately for the pain to end.
I'm sure the wonderful nurses I worked with had suspicions, I'm sure they struggled with the same decision you made. I also feel that they were torn between liking me and not wanting to harm my future and doing the correct thing. What they didn't know, was that not turning me in harmed me worse............I still have a very tough time even thinking about how horribly our patients could have been harmed. I am not minimizing that aspect at all. We ARE there for the patients, bottom line.
Just turning someone in for spite, a vague suspicion, or a personal vendetta is horribly wrong. Turning someone in for unsafe practice and/or strong signs of diversion is the ethical, moral, legal, and right thing to do. There will be a thorough investigation. If wrongdoing is found, there will be punishment. But, most importantly, it will not only prevent harm to innocent patients, but give this nurse a chance to get their life together.
I'm sorry you and others are put in this difficult position. Just know that with the situation you described, you absolutely did the right thing. From everything you have posted in this thread, you are obviously a kind, caring, and compassionate person. Take care of yourself, you deserve it. Go talk to someone, get help to deal with your feelings. You did the nurse and the public a favor.
Here are more reasons why you should be proud of what you did:
"On a single day in December if last year a nurse and doctor both overdosed on stolen pain medication in different areas of the sprawling University of Michigan Health System.
Both were found in hospital bathrooms with drugs meant for patients injected into their own bodies.
The nurse, 29-year-old Carla DelVecchio, died. The doctor, 32-year-old Timothy Sutton, lived and was subsequently convicted of a crime and lost his job."
"Donald Baldovin, a Staten Island University Hospital anesthesiologist who was found on a hospital bed in July, died of acute fentanyl intoxication, the city medical examiner has determined."
"A resident doctor found dead this summer at the University of Tennessee Medical Center died of an accidental overdose of an anesthetic, police said.
Dr. Zackary Kim Rose, who was a third-year resident at the hospital, was found dead about 2 a.m. June 24, according to records. He was found on a bed in the second-floor call room by another physician after he failed to respond to a medical page."
I'm feeling very tearful and upset about this. I was actually considering going to talk to the employee health person about this, unheard of for me. They offer some confidential counseling I've heard.
Not only do I feel like I'm wrecking someone's ability to earn a living, but I am paranoid about the social repercussions for me if word gets out that I turned in one of my own. I feel very anxious.
Buck up, Why are you the one crying and upset? Why are you the one considering counseling (on your own time and unpaid no doubt)? Why are you the one worried about wrecking some drugpig's career? Why are you the one who must worry about "social repercussions) because this bozo is taken out of service? Why must you feel the need to feel anxious?
Listen, I have been directly involved in the end of two careers and probable end of one before it even got started (in RN school). because I was very sure of what I myself, I was dead-on right.
Those types do not belong in health care. As for their coworkers, would they really want someone of that ilk caring for their loved one? That is the way you must look at things.
Stop being sniveling and wishy washy, get pissed at the problems this selfish loser has caused. You have nothing to be ashamed or negative over. It is out of your character.
^I guess your message is tough love, ponymom, but your "of that ilk" and "drugpig" really rubs me the wrong way. As does the "wishy washy" and "sniveling".
I wouldn't do anything based on suspicion, but I would be chatting with your supervisor about him drawing meds for YOUR patient and no way in heck would I be co-signing his wastes. I would hope with a restricted license that he is already on someone's radar and that they are farther ahead in their investigation than you are.
If you had a strong suspicion of a coworker's diversion of narcotics, how you handle it?
I'm talking, a nurse in the ER who habitually walks into the room with narcotic drawn up on your patient, right after you medicated, so then you have to waste with him. He has a history of being on a restricted license. He's a great nurse, very experienced, works a ton of OT.
It would probably financially ruin his life to get in trouble again, I don't know how many chances they give people. He functions very well on the job. Is it really the right thing to snitch on someone like this?
I wouldn't do anything based on suspicion, but I would be chatting with your supervisor about him drawing meds for YOUR patient and no way in heck would I be co-signing his wastes. I would hope with a restricted license that he is already on someone's radar and that they are farther ahead in their investigation than you are.
I believe his license was restricted in the past, not currently, or he wouldn't be able to draw up narcotics to begin with.
Graduatenurse14
630 Posts
((((Emergent))))
You did the right thing. I've been in a situation (not as an RN) where I did the right but maybe not popular thing. It's a strange, conflicted feeling, isn't it? I think they are normal feelings to have and I would talk to someone about it. In my situation which I briefly describe below, I talked my friends' ears off for a few months. I had to talk about it as I was so heartbroken by the entire situation.
The right thing was done by me but someone still lost their job and she was a very nice person who did nothing "wrong" necessarily but she wasn't at all the right fit to lead a faith-based nonprofit organization as she just didn't "get it" and I couldn't go before people as a fundraiser and say the things that I knew should be able to be said about our mission since our leader and some of the board members were so clueless.
This nurse may not be a good fit to be working with patients right now and may need to work on himself. He may not get it as he may be clouded by addiction right now.
It all worked out in the end though, they got a new leader and new board members; it expanded and is now doing what God intended it to do.
Again, you did the right thing as human being and as a nurse. You may have saved his life and/or a patient's life.