Healthcare Systems Module: Case Study

1. What kind of additional information would you need to gather to confirm the nurse was diverting narcotics?

To determine if the nurse was diverting narcotics, I would first want to discuss with the staff that stated that she suspected a fellow coworker of diverting and get the whole story from that nurse. I would document everything that the staff nurse told me, all subjective and objective data. Then, I would document what I saw that made me suspected the nurse as well. I would have all information about the first and second incident ready to present to either human resources or my supervisor. Then after discussing with the staff and gathering the data, I would discuss with the correct personnel about organizing a drug screen for all of my employees that were working during the shift in which the narcotics went missing. This would be to see if any of the employees had narcotics in their system, including the nurse suspected, and we would be especially aware of the type of drug that was missing (morphine, etc). I would then sit down with the staff member who was drug diverting or tested positive for the drug, to discuss consequences. I would also sit down with my staff as a whole about how to handle this type of situation in the future, the importance of reporting, the problems of using drugs and drug diversion, and debrief the staff about necessary information they needed to know about this incidence.

2. Review a current facility’s policy of suspected drug diversion. Summarize the process.

I reviewed Vanderbilt University Medical Centers Substance Abuse Policy that highlights protocol and drug diversion (Vanderbilt University and Medical Center Human Resources Policies and Procedures, 2012). The process is as follo...

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...ssociations for actions, reporting, and advice in these situations. Drug diversion and drug use are serious problems in the nursing community and it is very important to understand how to handle these situations as a nurse leader in the future.

Works Cited

American Nurses Association (2001). Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive

Statements. Retrieved from

http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Code

ofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.pdf

North Carolina Board of Nursing (2014). Discipline and Compliance: Should I

report? Retrieved from http://www.ncbon.com/dcp/i/discipline-

compliance- employer-complaints-should-i-report

Vanderbilt University and Medical Center Human Resources Policies and

Procedures (2012). Substance Abuse Policy. Retrieved from

http://hr.vanderbilt.edu/policies/HR-035.php