"Nurses readily encourage drinking as a coping skill, use of anti-anxiety medicine is socially approved of, and sleeping pills are shared between friends," she writes. This is something that is probably happening but were not finding it, he says. She graduated from California State University, Sacramento in 2000 with a bachelor's degree in nursing. The DEA doesnt regulate the personnelthats up to the state and the facility. A nurse who tampered with drugs given to patients and stole pain medications from patients in her care was Den Ouden said she has been off drugs for more than three years. But the incidents continued. Nurses and supervisors who are helping patients through a changing health care landscape are weathering an evolution in their profession. A Miller Farm Place spokesperson issued the following statement: Ashley Marconi was never employed by Enlivant. WILLIAMS The harm comes in many forms: from putting a 4-year-old with cerebral palsy in the care of a home health nurse like Domonique Inge of Bedford who reportedly was so impaired she crashed her vehicle into a tree at the end of her shift to spreading hepatitis-C when tampering with narcotics-loaded syringes, as an addicted medication technician did in several states. "I was always so nervous and so uptight that it just helped me to feel better," Waite-Labott said.Now sober, Waite-Labotthas written a book for other nurses struggling to beat addiction. According to the article, the nurseabused some of the drugs she stole and sold others. A typical case is that of registered nurse Michelle Hayes. Pharmacy emplyees sometimes steal drugs, so count them before leaving the pharmacy or have the person helping you count them. Robert W. Carter, Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is dedicated to protecting the rights of the victims of nursing home and assisted living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia. Nurses have emotional attachments to patients that they see die. You have to keep those investigative skills up, but you have to spend equal amount of time on prevention and awareness.. A nurse at a Florida rehabilitation center faces several charges after admitting to stealing drugs while on duty, Hernando County sheriffs deputies say. "The issue is: Do we need to remove them from the profession?" Chemical changes occur in the brain of an addict, making it more and more challenging to recover and rehabilitate from the abuse. Mayo Clin Proc. 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. 2023 Robert Carter, Jr. - Attorney at Law. In her spare time she likes to read, travel, write, and spend time with her husband and two children. Its not doing the wrong thingyoure helping them, and thats the message we sent out. Due to the stigma of discovering diverters on staff, many hospitals just arent preparing themselves to address the problem proactively, Cichon explains. Talk to any healthcare provider who spends weekends on call. expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto 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. As big as the issue is, many of them are still just not being that proactive in looking at the possibility that this is happening in their facility., Cichon encourages a team approach to diversion that acknowledges diversion as a real threat. "Hospital facilities terminate people because of behavior and job issues. 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. Many states offer a graduated program of returning to work where there is oversight of the nurse with strict restrictions on the work environment. "But after ten years of sobriety, she said it's time for the industry to really come clean. WebA nurse is caught stealing narcotics from the automated dispensing machine on the unit and self-injecting these drugs while on duty. Her employer dismissed her for "poor documentation.

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing, who oversees each BON, has many resources for nurses and nurse leaders on addressing the disease of substance abuse disorder. "We all had to educate ourselves. [Recommended Reading: Whos Liable for an Active Shooter Incident? "It occurred to me one day when I was working in an emergency room that we throw away a lot of awfully good drugs," Waite-Labott said.Eventually she was caught and ended up in jail. We can not comment further on ongoing law enforcement investigations of third parties.. That's especially tough if you already have to ration them to get through a monthmany people dobut it may serve you well in the long run. Approximately one in 10 nurses has a substance use disorder, Swedeen writes. Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. Those systems aren't the only changes in the nursing field in Virginia in the last 20 years. The nameschange but the storiesall seem the same. Reinhart got addicted to OxyContin after taking it to deal with pain from a car crash. We didn't understand how you deal with impaired professionals," Conroy said. Similarly, it is important to rotate who delivers the drugs to the patient floors. Controlled substances were going missing at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), and the hospitals security investigator, William Leon, was determined to get to the bottom of it. She later resigned from the college. To order She has over 10 years of experience in the California public health system addressing communicable disease, health policy, and disaster preparedness. The doctor went to properly treat the patient and Leon called the nurse manager and the local sheriffs detective in to begin an official investigation into the nurses actions. And when it's not the patients who are at risk, it's the nurses themselves.Our review of state discipline records shows not only do most of the nurses self-medicate, but some of them try to kill themselves at work. 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. And within two years she had another job and was stealing fentanyl, oxycodone, morphine. Those who enroll can get a stay of discipline, and their record is confidential. This protection includes the ability to perform at a high level of critical thinking. Susan Hayes has been a private detective for healthcare facilities for more than a decade and says the opioid epidemic has magnified the drug diversion problem in recent years. By Adrienne Dellwo Today, automated systems count the medications and require each nurse to swipe an ID card, not only helping identify substance-abusing nurses but also protecting clean nurses like King. RegisteredNursing.org does not guarantee the accuracy or results of any of this information. Two-thirds of nurses sent into the state health care worker rehab monitoring program cannot or do not successfully complete it. Even the routine of charting medications is stressful when the count doesn't add up. But as outspoken as retired nurse JoAnn King of Greenville, Virginia, is on most subjects: "I wouldn't want to report someone. Diversion is the industry's term for drug theft. Experts agree that the most egregious diversion occurs during the wasting and dispensing process in scenarios similar to the incident Leon witnessed at HCMC. "I find it pretty appalling and certainly not the conduct you would expect of a nurse," says Gina Dennik-Champion, president of the Wisconsin Nurses Association.Stefanie Jones, a nurse at another hospital, was caught on camera removing morphine from vials and then refilling them with water without using gloves.A total of 42 patients were affected and five got a bacterial infection. Nursing is certainly not immune to the pitfalls of this terrible disease. Dr. Shelley Conroy, now dean of Baylor University's undergraduate nursing program, was among the Virginia nursing board members who helped set up Virginia's original program. ruling wasn't the first time a nurse who stole opioids was ordered rehired. What Are Some of the Challenges of Being a Substance Abuse Nurse? Healthcare providers are in very stressful jobs, Hayes says. Facilitiesidentify narcotic diversion in a number of ways. "I just don't think you can have a recovery program like that.". The registered nurse was peeling pain medicine patches off of residents' chests, scraping the narcotic off, ingesting it and sticking the useless bandages back on. "Her message is simple before you can help your patients, you might have to help yourself.If you are a nurse who wants to get help, you can self-report your addiction to the Wisconsin State Board of Nursing through the Professional Assistance Program.You can keep your license, and get help at the same time. Caring for patients while under the duress of substance abuse puts the entire nursing process in harms way. . In that area, I knew immediately, this patient could have a broken bonethey were in intense pain and requiring this medication, Leon says. The Health Practitioners' Monitoring Program allowed Hake to take a job with a plastic surgery center in Hampton Roads, where she wouldn't handle narcotics. Pharmacies. "This is a strict program," Lewis said. Box #1 If youre both ordering and putting away drugs, thats a bad thing because you can order six bottles when you only need five and keep one for yourself, Hayes notes. She currently works as a charge nurse in a busy outpatient primary care department. "People don't want to hear a health care worker might have a substance abuse issue," said Steve Langan, executive director of HonoReform, a patient safety advocacy group that's at the forefront of a national awareness campaign. In that broad category, you can hide a whole lot of stuff.". "I didn't want to be accused if someone came behind me and diverted them," she explained. He ruled D.S. Since that time, many states have enacted non-disciplinary rehabilitation programs to assist nurses with recovery. "I just couldn't, I couldn't stop it. She attempted to hide hermedication theftby documenting in the patients recordsthat thedrugs had been administered. 1625 Prince Street Nurses worry whether a patient got two instead of one, or if they were the last person to open the medication drawer, whether they'll be suspected of taking the medications. Florida's hidden asset is a statewide network of 150 support groups for its nurses in intervention that increases retention in the program. ", Texas also allows a nurse who slips up in the program to restart only once. Once a substance abuse disorder is suspected, the nurse is typically placed on leave until an investigation can be conducted. As well as possessing or using the drugs, attorneys say when Marconi was confronted, she fled work. West Virginia's program, like Florida's, offers nurse support groups run by experts, some of whom have been through recovery. Sometimes, despite internal audits, they steal pain medication for years before they get caught. Anju Goel, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine. More often than not the nurses would say, I wanted somebody to stop me. presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution And a comparison of average national drug addiction rates to years of Virginia Board of Nursing data indicates that only a fraction of nurses who struggle with substance abuse are ever caught by their employers and reported to the state. She pleaded guilty toacquiring a controlled substance through subterfuge. Most states offer them, all with important differences under the hood. Healthcare workers are not immune to the draw of opioids. Hayes says that she typically gathers evidence and gets a confession from diverters, at which point her client calls in law enforcement to arrest them. To get a Virginia nursing license, an applicant has only to self-report whether she has had any criminal convictions or a substance abuse or mental impairment on a questionnaire. Instead, she stopped, found a job at a greenhouse and went to AA meetings, the only help she could afford. RELATED: What Different Settings Do Addiction Nurses Work In and What Are Their Job Duties in Each Setting? Every case has different facts. This office will always stand ready to protect our most vulnerable members of society, said United States Attorney Peter E. Deegan, Jr. We especially thank the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations and the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for their outstanding work investigating these cases., Patients must have confidence in their health care provider that they are receiving appropriate medical care, said Special Agent in Charge Charles L. Grinstead, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations Kansas City Field Office. He believes sometimes the best outcome of alternative discipline is the recognition that some nurses shouldn't practice. The closest estimates of drug diversion rates come from people or organizations who dig up the numbers themselves. Cichon cautions that some hospitals hoping to avoid bad press and DEA scrutiny may look for loopholes. Monitoring is part of an alternative discipline model that was heavily lobbied for by the health care professions and put into Virginia law in 1998. More than a few nurses at Wisconsin hospitals were found unconscious at work. It's one of the only programs like this in the entire country. However, you're probably most likely to be victimized by someone in your life. Of course, if someone close to you has one of these motivations for stealing your drugs, it's a much bigger problem. This may provide an extra incentive for someone to take your pills. Whether its a retail pharmacy or a hospital pharmacy, wholesalers are responsible for cutting them off if they start to request unusually high amounts of opioids. 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. Lock

If the diverter has a license from one of those state agencies, usually its required that they be reported, and then its up to the board how they proceed with the personal license of the individual, he says. That leaves legitimate pain patients who are the victims of theft with little or no recourse. The idea of returning a nurse struggling with addiction to a workplace filled with drugs seems counter-intuitive to some. Alternative discipline programs were billed as having a higher rate of removing impaired nurses from direct patient care more quickly than traditional disciplinary approaches. "Every nurse's every action leaves what we call an electronic footprint," Rush said.Pharmacies and computerized machines are constantly auditing medicine cabinets and looking for red flags. By late 2003, with state monitoring starting to make it more difficult for her to take patients' drugs at will, she hatched a new plan. "That's a widely held myth that nurses are disproportionately more affected by this than the general population and that's just simply not true," Rush said.But nurses do, he admits, have more access.Which is why, over the years, it's become more difficult for nurses to steal drugs. The boy was receiving palliative care at home. Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. She was also ordered to forfeit her nursing license. "But it is still happening all around the state; in hospitals, in nursing homes and, sometimes even in patient's living rooms. DEA will look at these recordkeeping forms and determine if in fact everything has been filled out correctly, that they have been keeping good records, he says. Department of Health Professions spokeswoman Diane Powers told us by email: "The Board of Nursing has discussed criminal background checks for applicants and is currently pursuing authority to conduct State and FBI criminal backgrounds checks on all applicants for RN or LPN licensure.". Alternative discipline programs try to achieve two difficult-to-reconcile goals: help health care professionals keep their licenses while recovering from addictions, and keep patients safe. She began her career working night shifts on a pediatric/ med-surg unit for six years, later transferring to a telemetry unit where she worked for four more years. COLUMBIA, Mo. Wholesalers can even stop the flow of medication to pharmacies if they believe diversion is occurringwhich can be disastrous to a trauma center, Hayes notes. It also dictates how the substances are dispensed, and a facility may be fined if it does not comply. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Patrick Reinert and was investigated by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals and the United States Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations. The document shows she admitted to realizing she was engaging in drug-seeking behaviors in early 2019, which is when she went to rehab. Expectations Are Changing. He also notes the importance of following up internally on each diversion case and figuring out what went wrong, and adjusting procedures to address any lapses. Kristin Waite-Labott talks about the easy access she had to medications while a nurse at a Milwaukee hospital. The diverting healthcare worker typically isnt one whos going to be selling or diverting his or her drugs on the street, but they are abusing the drugs while they are working., Leon worked hard on diversion prevention at HCMC after discovering a surprising pattern: almost all of the diverters he investigated wanted to be caught. "It's monitoring, it's continuing with their therapy, it's continuing with their counseling," says Dennik-Chamption. National Council of State Boards of Nursing, How Nurses Can Promote Vaccines Without Promoting Vaccines, CDC Estimates of Nurse & Healthcare Worker COVID-19 Cases Are Likely Understated, How Nurses Are Keeping Up With Practice Agreement Changes During COVID-19, Fight Against Coronavirus: Issues Faced by Nurses in The Philippines. ", She said there's no question drug addiction is a disease and a disability. "Or you discover a patient on a ventilator had a bowel movement and the nurse before you didn't clean it up," he explains. WebWhen nurses at nursing homes and assisted living facilities steal and use or sell their own patients narcotics, narcotic diversion occurs. Verywell Health's content is for informational and educational purposes only. A facility that identifies a diversion problem might bring in any combination of players, from private investigators and local law enforcement to state accreditation boards or the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). We had a nurse who was highly suspected of diverting, he says. You might think it couldn't possibly happen to you. But it didn't find out right away. How?

) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. It recognizes addiction as a disease, unlike past models that treated it as a moral weakness. "It's costly, frankly," said McCantz-Katz, now chief medical officer of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. began taking opioids for kidney problems. With the cameras I was able to show that she wasnt diverting, just being sloppy. This is an abridged version of our investigative digital project from December 2014 examining Virginia's system to rehabilitate addicted nurses. When Cash relapsed in her state monitoring program, the board ordered her to continue nursing on probation. Nurses talk when one of their colleagues is accused of stealing narcotics. The state doesn't classify health care as a high-risk industry unlike trucking, airline travel or school bus operation so no random drug screens are required for workers. "It's also about discovering who they are and what got them into this situation in the first place. Langan believes the reason health care employers aren't attacking substance abuse in their workplaces head-on is good old-fashioned denial.

Don't leave them in your car, even hidden. 23, 2021 at 6:01 PM PDT. We dare not be transparent.". Approximately one in 10 nurses has a substance use disorder, Swedeen writes. As with all aspects of personal safety, it pays to be aware of your surroundings. You have a lot of options for protecting yourself from drug theft. The D.S. Residential treatment costs between $15,000 and $40,000, depending on length of stay and program requirements, according to state data. Whether in manufacturing plants, retail pharmacies, hospitals, or long-term care facilities, healthcare workers are stealing drugstypically for their own personal useand putting themselves, patients, and coworkers at risk.

"I didn't go to a rehab centre.". "Nurses are human," Rush said.While that can be their greatest strength when it comes to patient care, it can also be their biggest vulnerability, especially since their jobs put them in extremely stressful circumstances. 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.

John the technician has been taking the drugs up to the floors for the last 20 years, Hayes says. Web-- A registered nurse is facing multiple charges after allegedly stealing prescription medication from her the St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, according to court records. Attorney Jonathan Rose will help you fight for your career. She used to sit on Virginia's nursing board. There are different drugs today, of course, than there were 20 years ago.. Still, she called in prescriptions for Vicodin ES, pretending to be a surgical technician, and stole the keys to the narcotics cabinet from her worksite monitor's lab coat. Our website is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. USA, Supply Chain Challenges and Opportunities, Whos Liable for an Active Shooter Incident? Katie Louise Boll, age 31, from Manchester, Iowa, received the prison term after a September 3, 2019, guilty plea to one count of tampering with a consumer product, specifically liquid morphine prescribed to a patient, and one count of acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception and subterfuge. Its not just a nurse problem, though. "Health care workers close ranks rather than reporting a colleague's problem, and the continued enabling is harming patients," he said. Adrienne Dellwo is an experienced journalist who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and has written extensively on the topic. Human resources, pharmacy personnel, security, everyone is being brought into this investigation, because the bigger picture is patient safety. opiate or narcotic) abuse. It could be a child or grandchild, or a friend. Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner Programs (AGNP), Womens Health Nurse Practitioner Programs, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN). RELATED: How to Become a Substance Abuse Nurse. The Associated Press used government-obtained data in its investigations on drug diversion at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. If possible, get refills as early as you can, even if you're not out, so you have extra on hand. The College of Nurses prohibited her from practising nursing until June 2017. Cash, a nurse who lived and worked in Staunton and Norfolk, said her recovery journey from drug and alcohol addiction put her in a severe financial pinch. The statistics Ive seen at hospitals that are being proactive and looking at this are finding at least one person a month who is diverting drugs in their facility. A nursewho stole drugs frompatients of the nursing home at which she worked was recently sentencedinfederal courtto four months in prison. If patients are harmed, a nurse may risk permanent exclusion from working in healthcare, Nobody wants to talk about it," Waite-Labott said.That was certainly the case when we reached out to a handful of Milwaukee hospitals to discuss this story. Most healthcare providers will not refill narcotics prescriptions early, even if you have a police report of a theft. Cichon notes that many hospitals throughout the country have no plan in place to actively look for diverters. Wholesalers. Which Medications Interact With Grapefruit Juice? "Some can work and not be tempted. Read more about the nurses narcotic theft.

Im a private citizen, I understand law enforcement procedures, and I can help them get at the root of the problem before they call in law enforcement.. Bonnie Zientek spent years stealing drugs from patients in Richmond, as a nursing director at more than one facility, and sick people went without narcotics. Controlled Substances Actafter committing record-keeping and dispensing violations that allowed millions of doses of controlled substances to enter the black market. He references several high-profile diversion cases in which the diverters used the same syringe full of medicine on both themselves and their patients, spreading bacterial infections and hepatitis. Zientek went back "to visit" people at a Stratford Hall Nursing Home in Richmond, where she once worked and had been fired. Williams. Prescription Drug Overdose in the United States: Fact Sheet. The people who are your real problem are the people who are hiding in the weeds, not doing enough to get caught, and those are the ones you want to find, Mitchell says. She falsely claimed residents at the long-term care home asked for injections and then falsified their charts to show they got them. All rights reserved. She was convicted of theft and ordered to do 100 hours of community service. Have a question about Government Services? After being fired, she successfully completed an in-patient drug treatment program. 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. The earlier the disease and abuse is recognized and treated, the better the outcome for recovery for the nurse and the option to return to the work environment. But many large employers don't want to talk about the problem. WebIn 2016, registered nurse Leigh Wardlaw, a drug addict working for Closing the Gap Healthcare, stole morphine she was supposed to inject into a young Kitchener teen dying of Marconi says she and her attorney have evidence that will prove her innocence in court. In each of these stories, thereis the sadness of a nurse caught up ina drug addiction, but there is alsothe moredisturbingreality thatpatients throughout the facility have been receiving care from anaddicted and impaired nurse. In the first case, an unnamed nurse was suspended for two months after it was found they had taken medical narcotics and was impaired at work for a three-month period. Others shouldn't be there.". "I applied to about 20, 25 jobs in the summer, and I got one phone call back. Although Virginia employers are supposed to report a nurse's addiction, and state law lists a fine for not doing so in practice, employers are not punished in Virginia when they fail to report someone. "You go to an expensive rehab," Cash said. "You don't have normal hours. Before the facility started the annual training, Leon caught at least one diverter a month. When she led the drug monitoring program in Virginia, Elinore McCantz-Katz said it was hard for nurses to pay for full care. "Then (the state) won't let you work for a time, so how do you pay the bill?". 2012;87(7):674682. Assistant Director Robin Lewis reports a retention rate of 73 percent thus far in year two impressive, given that recidivism for addicts is highest in the first year, experts say. A unique challenge to the nursing profession and substance abuse is the access to narcotic medications. Documents show in January 2021, Marconi admitted to showing impaired-like behavior and having multiple medication discrepancies during her shift at Judson Care Center. ", Den Ouden said she got addicted to hydromorphone after trying it once at a party in high school. After the hospital caught her stealing drugs, she quit again and sought treatment. Murphy, who worked for the DEA for 25 years, now helps companies follow mandates he calls vague and difficult to interpret. For example, DEA requires anyone carrying controlled substances to report the theft or significant loss of any controlled substance within one business day of discovery., This hospital had 13 vials of morphine that went missing and someone called me in to find out why, Hayes says. A lock ( Several common places are high-risk when it comes to pill theft. Even better, put them in a container that keeps them hidden. Substance abuse can affect any socioeconomic class, gender, race, and profession. Colleagues is accused of stealing narcotics caught stealing narcotics from the abuse is stressful when the count n't! From California state University, Sacramento in 2000 with a bachelor 's in! 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Wardlaw was convicted of theft, possession of a controlled substance, breach of trust and impaired driving - more serious charges than Reinhart's one charge.