I think you did the right thing. Especially with the supervisor saying to cover it up.

Hey, I'm no nurse, however if you were coming onto shift and things were'nt as they should be and after being told to basically lie, I would have definately done the same thing. Lets face it, there are shady people wherever you go, but that doesn't mean you have to be dragged down with them or because of them for that matter. Did you continue to finish your shift when the med count was off, or did you walk out then and there?I'm not familiar with abandonment laws nowadays,10 years ago was probably alot different.The real issue is that can you live with your decision? If you are able to keep your license, then I wish you all the luck in your next position!!!

The abandonment comment, 10 years ago I worked as a CNA in a nursing home, the law was then, that if you clocked in(accepted the floor) and walked out during your shift then you could and probably would lose your license!!! I know this because the DON tried to do that very thing to my co-worker and myself.However we didn't clock in this day and refused to accept the floor.After it was all over we kept our license and the DON resigned 2 weeks later. I'm sure the rules for nurses are different, I just wanted to share that with you. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. to I'm Afraid of losing my license:

No, I didn't walk out. To answer the question about the narcotic log, we have a shift change log that the offgoing and oncoming nurses both sign. We did not sign the drugs out as "dropped during count" as we were instructed to do but wrote in, "corrected count". The log we had to sign we both signed as "under protest". There had been numerous other shady things going on and I turned my resignation in that night!

Joyrider: you did the right thing by getting out of there. Watch the paper and the news. You will be seeing them there I am sure with what you have told us here. Good luck. Take your time finding a new job.

cdnurse said:

Joyrider: you did the right thing by getting out of there. Watch the paper and the news. You will be seeing them there I am sure with what you have told us here. Good luck. Take your time finding a new job.

Mickey said:

cdnurse said:

Joyrider: you did the right thing by getting out of there. Watch the paper and the news. You will be seeing them there I am sure with what you have told us here. Good luck. Take your time finding a new job.

watch the paper is right, but also, if in that event (news) watch your back, some one some where will try and prove the "missing narcs" and your resignation go hand in hand. It sucks, but it seems to be the norm.
In this "new age" people are always looking for others to blame. I coached my sons football team last year and when needed was on the field in a medical role, at one of the league board meetings these people wanted photocopies of ALL my certification "in case something goes wrong" As I told them, "I refuse to put my license/certs on the line when I know parents of these kids rarely follow advice and unless the child is ambulatory from the field never sees a Dr. for the injury. I then stopped bringing my personal EMT bag to the practice field and/or games. It was also just after that meeting and my subsequent actions that 99% of the LPN/RN moms refused to leave the stands in fear of their licenses, and if they did, it was to help me after whispering "I'm a nurse, don't say anything".
I'm learning to hate this PC, all about me, it's some one else's fault, mandatory CYA world.
Ya done good Joyrider, take pride in your decision.
sorry, I'm off the soap box now ;)

joyrider said:

P.S. to I'm Afraid of losing my license:

No, I didn't walk out. To answer the question about the narcotic log, we have a shift change log that the offgoing and oncoming nurses both sign. We did not sign the drugs out as "dropped during count" as we were instructed to do but wrote in, "corrected count". The log we had to sign we both signed as "under protest". There had been numerous other shady things going on and I turned my resignation in that night!

Joyrider I do admire your integrity. If anything, now that you have left the facility and the narcs still are not accounted for, it will surely prove it is not the result of your actions.

On the flipside I am responding with a high degree of angst this evening. I had the unfortunate incident of losing a fentanyl patch on a residents floor in her room this past Monday.It could not be located. It was out of the wrapper, unused, and as a result very fresh and a high potential of doing serious damage to somebody who may have picked it up. I could not located it and said truthfully what had happened. In my case however now I am sitting here on a one day suspension because of the patch being missing and technically producing a dangerous scenario to somebody finding it. Up here in Canada the Ministry of Health has a new law in effect citing that all occurrences must be reported to them . Consequently my boss had to do this, and I know she felt truly bad in doing so. And also, I am waiting on a response as to if the police in my area must also step in and investigate as well, because this is the new law here. So, even though I was honest about my actions, did not lie about it being missing or cover it up, I cannot help but feel that I am a scapegoat for this new policy that is in effect. Not to mention it is on my employee file and no doubt with the college of nurses in Ontario. I am devastated. I am stil employed at my facility but this is a very serious strike against me and I feel it will mark me now for the rest of my nursing career. I know I did the right thing by being honest in saying it was lost and unfound but still cannot let go of the devastation this will cost my nursing career in terms of potential employers and the like.

I thank you for your good wishes and reply Theresa. Yes I am so upset. It is a little about the suspension but more about having such a mark on me now after an umblemished record for 17 years of nursing. I personally feel I did what was right. When asked about the patch it never occured to me to say anything but the truth. I wanted that patch found as well. It stuns me that I could not locate it that night. They are small and transparent, and on a beige floor even harder to locate. It was a very hard pill for me to swallow, so to speak. I walked in expecting to work my shift today only to find another name in my sign in spot and the manager of practice sitting in the conference room waiting for me to give the suspension. All in all not a good day. I feel very affected by this. But, at the same time, I also feel a lot more thick skinned and dilligent about being careful about absolutely everything that I do when on duty. Yes, we have a very strong policy in place now that has become law, and the ministry has taken the permission from long term care facilities away to decide how they are to handle all occurrences, including this. Believe it or not this is classified under the new elder abuse law, and even tho I did not physically , emotionally, or mentally abuse a resident, according to them, losing a patch , even tho I had put another one on in its place, constitutes elder abuse because of the potential of another resident coming across the patch. I personally cannot believe any of my residents would be able to walk into a room and see this patch on the floor, because I got on my hands and knees and couldnt see it. It is like it just dissapeared into mid air. I suppose the only good thing about this is that it is very obvious to me that my employers do trust my credibility and believe that I truly did lose it, hence I am more than sure I would have been terminated over this. It has affected me emotionally. This facility is my second home, I have been there 17 years. And I thank god it was only a suspension. I can guarantee you I will be a 100 percent more dilligent in everything that I do now. Thank you Theresa.

It is truly scary that you would have supervisiors asking you to lie about the narcotics count-CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As all the posts are stating, you can't do your job with sweeping things under the proverbial rug-TOO STRESSFUL!!!!! Putting your license @ risk is only the start, pts. are @ risk,too!!! You may have a nurse on duty who is under the influence- you have people's lives in your hands, you must be clear-headed!!!!! I'm glad I'm not working there, I'd turn in my resignation,too!!!!! It looks like some higher-ups need to actually change their careers-That  would be in the nursing profession's best interest!!!!!!

To SANDYHYLLGRL,

As Teresah said, accidents do happen!!!! Any nurse can find themselves in similar circumstances-you did the right thing!!! It was a med that literally disappeared before your eyes-the same thing can happen to anyone, no matter how much experience they have!!!!!! You had the courage to say, hey I can't find my pt's. FENTANYL patch, and we need to locate it!!!!!!! As for your credibility, why wouldn't they trust a nurse who has worked for them 17 years-they would !!!!!!!!! You're a fine nurse, and I would like to welcome you to NL!!!!! My name is Shonna L. Potter, LPN or 09157238!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Account Removed says ...

Another thing I would do is report them to the proper authorities complete with a detailed letter of why you quit and what was involved. But then again, I'm a crusader

HELLO!!!!!   Yup, get the hell out of Dodge, but when driving into the sunset, make up your letter of names, times, and which meds were off EXACTLY;  I sure would have quit.  Teehee.  Heck, I quit for less crap, probably.

Steph, I am so happy fo you...That's a wonderful ending to your story..I always say, if you can't handle the situation, give it to God, he''ll take care of it.. But remember he doesn't need your help. Only but the best will happen.

I told you ,I have the most wonderful friends from Canada, (in Canada) so that's why I new you didn't do anything wrong... Have a very nice day and cont. to be the wonderful nurse that you are...

It's been a pleasure hoping with you that all works itself out..

So keep me posted and let me know how you are doing.. I am really ,really happy for you..

Good Luck to you amd may God Bless you in your future endeavors...

Hugs,Teresa

Steph,

I am very pleased with how your situation turned out.  Over-regulation is a pet-peeve of mine, because I used to be an FDA regulator and I was involved in getting rid of stupid and out-dated policy (when possible).

You did everything right.  If there had been a full investigation by the police, you probably would have been cleared (depending how good your police are there) of any intentional wrong-doing. 

Yes, it was an accident, but there are wimps out there who will not stand-up for there staff and do stupid s--t to protect there own backsides.  You have to be careful of those.

Having used Fentenyl myself on several occasions, you are absolutely correct.  The damn things are nearly invisible and the smaller the dose, the smaller the patch.  And they are slippery too.   The first thing that I was afraid of for you, as I was reading, was if it stuck on someone's shoe and they walked around until it wore off or fell off.  It would never have hurt anyone, but it never would have been found either.

Hopefully, you have good management and they can call this an accident and use it in training when talking about how devilish those fentenyl patches are.  You may even suggest that.  You were lucky and it may help someone else in the future.

Glad it came out okay.  Teresa has some good connections with her prayers.

Take care,

Tom

You DEFINATELY did the right thing by not "covering" for the perpetrator. Like you said, stealing and/or "misplacing" prescription drugs is a serious offense that could cost you your license and more! Plus, what do you think would have happened if the lie was ever discovered? You'd be stuck with the blame and I doubt the real perpetrator would come to your defense. It's better to just move on to a more "ethical" environment. YOU DID THE RIGHT THING . Good luck and best wishes!