Consider taking legal action. Fast forward to your recent interview in a different health care system. Do I really need to fill out the form? I counsel them on whats substantial because the language is very loose.. I was falsely accused of drug diversion. The DEA doesnt regulate the personnelthats up to the state and the facility. The closest estimates of drug diversion rates come from people or organizations who dig up the numbers themselves. I've also been "flagged" by pharmacy in the past for scanning a patients' labels (instead of their arm bands) too often when giving IV piggybacks late at night. You have to keep those investigative skills up, but you have to spend equal amount of time on prevention and awareness.. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. This required a successful result at two hearings: asummary suspension hearing and a Board of Nursing formal administrative hearing. That doesnt help. These investigators are police officers with all the rights and abilities of police officers to conduct an investigation. Rate this book. When prospective employers are doing reference checks, who are they calling? Bridges was accused of misconduct in 2014 by Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, but it was never raised Wednesday in court. Once a drug is outside of the closed loop, when it gets dispensed from a pharmacy or administered by a doctor, its no longer in the purview of DEA rules and regulations, he explains. . You may be fired for failure to comply, but heres a news flash: if youre suspected of diverting, youre going to be fired anyway. You will be reported. In a few cases, we have even had a nurse accused of diverting because they GAVE more medication than other nurses never mind that they were working tons of overtime, so of course they were giving more! If they dont have you, you can only hurt yourself by talking. who 'always' asks for the PRN right at the moment it is due, I would not pull it out. After an investigation into a diverter is opened, it is unclear what happens to the offender. A person cando five thingsif he/she is falsely accused of a crime. Good luck to you. Perhaps you failed to properly waste a med. Has 7 years experience. var tag_id = document.getElementById('buylinkBridgesTestimony-CM-051916,ph02'); If you were accused of diversion, you would likely be drug tested and sent home until an investigation clears you. I was then sent for a urine drug screen and breathalyzer. I was ultimately terminated for documenting issues. If you are accused of diverting drugs from a Pyxis, Diebold, or other brand of automated pharmacy dispensing machine, please contact us, immediately. allnurses, LLC, 175 Pearl St Ste 355, Brooklyn NY 11201 The employer also may be named in the defamation suit under the theory of Respondeat superior. Drug diversion is a multifactorial and multidisciplinary issue, particularly involving pharmacy, nursing and medical staff. Placing a narc in your pocket can be grounds for immediate dismissal. Maybe his prints are on the container in which the drugs were found. Closing arguments are expected to follow. To ensure safe quality nursing care, it is critical to immediately address nurses suspected of diverting drugs or using drugs. Hospital staff called the pattern unusual. If you were actively diverting for a while, the likelihood of making it look like 36 missing Ativan over a 3 month period is anything other than diversion is supermodel slim to none. Sounds like, at a minimum, you ARE guilty of poor judgement and bad nursing practice. To be honest - your facility is right to raise red flags on you as your behavior is similar to people who divert medications. If we allow this person to resign rather than take action against him, then we dont have to report it.. 1-612-816-8773. allnurses Copyright allnurses.com LLC. Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical. Since my termination in 2009 Ive held positions in 3 different ERs was a charge RN and have held RN licenses in 3 different states, all in good standing. It would be right before the procedure that I pull it, and I would waste the unused portion right after the procedure is done. In fact, up to 15 percent of healthcare workers are addicted to drugs or alcohol, compared to 8 percent of the general population, according to the Mayo Clinic. You have nothing to hide, so don't hide yourself. A Georgia man who was busted for shoplifting at a Walmart found himself in even more trouble when officers found 37 pounds of marijuana in his trunk, according to the Morgan Citizen. and three counts of false statements related to health care matters. (NICK REID / Monitor staff) '"; We found out through the course of investigations that if someone resigns and was not sanctioned it may not be a reportable action, he says. Three nurses indicted this week in Warren County are accused of stealing opioids from their patients for their own use, according to authorities. She offered to take a drug test but the hospital declined, according to an order last year by the New Hampshire nursing board. In fact, Moir tried to show jurors Wednesday that there is no reason to believe Bridges has any history of drug use. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro. Alexandria, Virginia 22314-2882 To restock the shelves, pharmacy technicians compile lists of what medications they are low on to send to the wholesalers at the end of each day. The Associated Press used government-obtained data in its investigations on drug diversion at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. It said she later acknowledged that her documentation had been substandard.. Result:After successfully arguing our case, the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) promptly dissolved the summary suspension of the clients nursing license that day and delivered a favorable proposal to the Board of Nursing. 1700 Glendale, CA 91203 | 1-818-501-8600Copyright 2010-2012 Spiga & Associates. Problem solved. Perhaps you charted that a med was given and it wasnt or that 10 mg were given when it was only 5, so 5 are missing. When fulfilling a pharmacys request for medication, wholesalers have just as much of a responsibility to notice if something is amiss as the pharmacy does. Similarly, it is important to rotate who delivers the drugs to the patient floors. This study guide will help you focus your time on what's most important. NOTHING else. Create well-written care plans that meets your patient's health goals. Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN. And who wants to go back to community college for accounting yuck! Instead, they insist she was unfairly and haphazardly targeted, and that the case exposes the serious flaws of an emergency department that still depends on paper records and whose administrators dont realize how divergent policy and practice become in the rush of the job. var photocredit = photocredit.toUpperCase(); Just follow policy. HR continues to harras me and even mention that my director could have given me a heads up 2 hours before I was to report in for a meeting in which I knew nothing about. So I wasted the medication myself down the drain, and my job went with it. Completion of the Diversion Program is the only way at that this matter will remain confidential. Cichon notes that many hospitals throughout the country have no plan in place to actively look for diverters. The . Seek support. Your employer will also probably not require a drug test. Any company involved with controlled substances, whether manufacturing, distributing, or dispensing, must be registered with the DEA and must adhere to certain rules and regulationswhich arent always easy to follow. If you did divert, only you can decide if the BRNs Diversion or Intervention is right for you. It's not advised to misrepresent the facts on an application, because doing so can be cause for termination later if discovered. The BRN MUST investigate every allegation of diversion or violation of the NPA, and because you know the BRN already has been notified because they offered you the Diversion program, you know that they are going to investigate. 1,509 Posts. We are often contacted by nurses falsely accused of diverting narcotics, abusing narcotics, or stealing narcotics from patients. Expectations Are Changing]. Prospective clients may not obtain the same or similar results. In this instance it helps to have a lawyer. Well gee, did you ever notice that John drives a Mercedes and has two boats and a house on Long Island? 7. Indirect questions help you as they mean the accuser has to reflect on their own behavior. It is literally worth millions of dollars. Nurses have emotional attachments to patients that they see die. Has 8 years experience. our Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"and your next! Often the reports they generate as to the errors are so complex and confusing that these errors and deceptions are not immediately noticeable. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been snubbed from a royal portrait that was taken at a reception they were "uninvited" from. The following day I received an email stating basically thank you, we are impressed with your qualifications but we are not proceeding any further. There is no overarching agency or organization that records every instance of drug diversion in the United States. In another, Bridges said that her patient, a man with cancer, had been taking high doses of morphine at home and was at risk of going through withdrawals while he waited for hours for a bed in the main part of the hospital. I can personally tell you that I dealt with the same issues 15 or 20 years ago that the healthcare arena is facing today, specifically in the drug abuse and diversion by their own hospital healthcare employees, says Charlie Cichon, executive director of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators (NADDI) and a member of the ASIS International Pharmaceutical Security Council. They MUST! The City of Trinidad has reached a $375,000 settlement in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Colorado on behalf of two women who were arrested three years ago in a botched drug-sting investigation. I hate to tell you, but if you have controlled substances and dispense narcotics, youve got diversion going on, says Cherie Mitchell, president of drug diversion software company HelioMetrics. You have people that are already in very stressful situations, and now you give them access to drugs. Prosecutors will continue cross-examine Bridges today. Choosing a specialty can be a daunting task and we made it easier. False accusations and gossip can destroy lives, even if the accused is innocent. There isn't any medication missing. Murphy encourages facilities to be in full DEA compliance to mitigate diversion. (NICK REID / Monitor staff), Support the This is something that is probably happening but were not finding it, he says. Should the false accusation take a turn and your employer believes the false statement, you could have a case for a defamation lawsuit. John Burke, president of the International Health Facility Diversion Association, extrapolated data he obtained from facilities in Ohio to estimate the presence of 37,000 diverters in healthcare facilities across the country each year. I think the combination is almost deadly.. Choosing a specialty can be a daunting task and we made it easier. Author, "Your Last Nursing Class: How to Land Your First Nursing Job"and your next! Your employer is a mandatory reporter, and regardless of how beloved you are, I can promise you that they are not going to put themselves on the line by not doing what they are required by law to do. allnurses is a Nursing Career & Support site for Nurses and Students. They have called all of their witnesses, and Bridges is the defenses only witness. Recommended Stories. It doesn't take long to got to the Pyxis for a med once patient asks for it. Sabrina Thalblum . If you were only warned, it sounds like your manager is trying to give you a gentle warning nudge to change your practice. How many times have you had things spill out of your pockets when pulling out a pen or bending over or something? Drug/alcohol abuse; Gross negligence/incompetence, resulting in patient endangerment; Patient abuse and neglect; Sexual, violent, or abusive offenses; . Did your manager write you up for this.. or simply make you aware that you cannot walk around with a narc in your pocket? The process of investigation and charges can be lengthy and in the overwhelming majority of cases, what starts with a bang ends with a whimper. There is too much at stake to try to represent yourself. Please spend some time reading the Diversion section of the blog, for more information. The patients were well-known to me and would have had to be woken up over and over to be scanned. Dear Falsely Accused, So basically you were falsely accused of diverting drugs and terminated for "documenting issues". He called the doctor and the nurse into the hall and explained that the patient had just gotten saline and still needed the proper pain medication because the nurse had diverted the hydromorphone in the medication room. Has 30 years experience. Review the policy.Pharmacy has a protocol that THEY must follow. Do not pocket or store anymore drugs in anticipation of needing them later. Falsely Accused: I'm wondering if you didn't get on the wrong side of someone in your previous job. Change your practice habits to keep your job and your license. Chapman Law Group has a team of attorneys skilled in representing licensed health professionals in state, federal, and administrative courts during trials and administrative hearings. I was brought to a conference room after a night shift in 2009. For a free initial consultation, call 866-970-0783 or contact our .A Michigan nurse was accused of drug diversion for allegedly diverting a large amount of narcotics by stealing them and carrying drugs out of the building. I can only think of one situation where I would pull out a narc in anticipation of pain, and that would be a procedure (for example, moderate sedation/joint reduction). Department of Justice investigator Mark Myrdek (left) sits on the stand. Its no secret that opioid addiction has reached epidemic levels in the United States. These investigators investigate all kinds of complaints regarding all kinds of professions and they are not experts in medical charting or the Nursing Practices Act. Murphy, who worked for the DEA for 25 years, now helps companies follow mandates he calls vague and difficult to interpret. 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