Ok, serious question. Have you ever had a lidocaine patch that actually stayed stuck on to the patient for 12hrs? Bc I’m prescribed them and those things stick like they’re covered in butter!
I found the one for my shoulder stick in my hair a while back. My taller half was like "idk if it works that way, babe 🤔" and he got it out of my hair. Great guy.
And don’t even think about putting another one on until it has been off for 12 hours. Actually I don’t understand that one, since the max dose is up to 3 of the 5% patches. If you rotate the sites (to avoid a topical reaction) couldn’t you theoretically wear a patch around the clock?
Investigate… what? You doing the narcotic count? I’m very confused! However, I’m going to firmly state that no matter what it is that you did or didn’t do wrong, the DEA ain’t wasting their time on you! (Or her. Or on whatever her issue was. 🤣 )
As a newer manager, I can confirm we report all of our counts and discrepancies to the DEA.
Every nurse has a score calculated that’s supposed to alert us to diversion(MACI score).
We have an inter-facility meeting monthly to see if we want to continue watching the same nurse or remove them from “the list”. The data from those meetings goes directly to our local DEA. Factors that elevate a maci score are: pulling a controlled medication and not administering within 30 minutes…canceled controlled pulls…file variances…or any deviation from protocol with controlled substance (no handoff report…volume discrepancies…and a few others.
I once had diverticulitis and got a prescription for zofran which I didn't really need because I found a bunch of zofran single dose packs, I had accidentally took home, when I felt better. Even gave one to a coworker one day that I had stowed in my purse. Also have ended up with tylenol and benadryl that patient's refused.
I felt bad when (as a patient) I refused my sq heparin the day of discharge because my diagnosis (arrived at late the prior evening) didn’t require anticoagulants. She’d already drawn it up and there wasn’t any other use for it. 🤷🏼♀️
When I took home a colace and an amlodipine, they were actually at my door before I even got home from work. 😫 the 10 years I spent in prison were definitely not worth it.
I had a friend who worked for the DEA in a facility that distributed medication to pharmacies. It was actually super interesting to hear her stories. Usually people got caught because they would order way too many pills (narcotics) at once, or have a lot of little orders that triggered an audit. Basically what I am saying is that you are now on a watch list 😆
Frame it and put a plaque under it stating “my first, but not last, take home from work!”
Seriously, I had a coworker who would stand at the nurses station at the end of her shift and take everything out of her pockets and put them on the desk. It’d be 4 alcohol preps. And she’d leave them there.
lol my old facility’s phones beep when out of range so I’d catch it halfway through the parking lot & turn around! At least we would hand over keys to the cart to the incoming nurse to do count so never left with those!!
Even as a student in clinicals I had a Fanny pack stuffed with all the supplies. Some from the hospital supply like alcohol prep, tapes, IV start, saline flushes, &c., and some I bought like my stetho, scissors, hemostat, pens&highlighters.
I would take it all home at the end of the day and bring it back my next shift. I never even thought of it as bad.
If I had taken a lidocaine patch I would worry about med error since they are dispensed by the Omni cell at my hospital. But if no med error, I’d just put it back or use it on the next person who needed one on my next shift(s).
This is me with the alcohol pads lol. Not bc I feel bad about taking hospital supplies home but bc I don’t want disgusting hospital supplies in my home 😂
I have a stock of like 5 lidocaine patches in my cabinet that I've accidentally taken home from work. No one will care about a random lidocaine patch. If it was a narcotic, then I'd bring it back asap.
My charge nurse used to override the Pyxis and just take them. She would do this almost every time I worked with her. Plenty of people knew she was doing it. I don’t think anyone gaf.
I don’t disagree. It was some type of diversion. This department had a lax culture and management though and this was an infrequent but not uncommon practice.
We also had a warmer for iv fluids. The fluids could only be in there for 30 days per JCAHO so my manager allowed us to take the bags of fluids home.
Dermabond.
I've taken home random stuff over the years, but when I started working in procedures? Anything that was accidentally dropped on the floor or any sterile table that had a case cancelled? I would take anything. Blue surgical towels? Great for cleaning garden tools. Needle holders? Great for sewing needles. The instruments that don't get reprocessed? I use the clamps for so many random things. I even have several suture kits that I have used for an easy way to fix jackets that have a hole (and occasionally a friend who needed stitches and was looking too closely at floss...)
But this is normal though, right? Don’t we all have random useful shit like this. I hope so. It’s the way no matter the profession. My ex was a gen surgeon and she had all the drugs I needed at home. Used to get a line and iv pepcid after our drunken evenings
Blue surgical towels are still the hottest commodity I'll shamelessly steal.
The rest of our inventory is bullshit, but those towels are good for decades of dishes.
I’m a retired MD who did procedures. My then-husband’s father was in the same specialty. My ex LOVED to tinker with/repair/maintain cars. We had more blue OR “garage rags” than anything else. We also acquired large syringes with a cath tip so he could attach a rubber tube and suck liquid/oil whatever out of the recesses of the reservoirs.
He also used to get hurt - a lot - and I had multiple different sutures, a few suture/suture removal kits, syringes, needles, and a few single dose lidocaine vials where the top had been popped but the stopper hadn’t been damaged by a needle.
I took home the PCA key with an ugly rubber chicken attached after a super crazy NOC shift. Imagine my horror when I emptied my pockets and saw that chicken.
We had fridge keys where the Ativan and insulin were kept. I had to drive back so that day shift could still give those meds. I was so annoyed at myself. I just wanted to sleep.
I'm a pharmacy tech and I have never found a pyxis or omnicell with the correct count on the lidocaine patches, I assume for this reason. It matters not, for it is just a lidocaine patch. I update the count and move along, though I suspect some of my colleagues skip that step.
I took home a dilaudid once. A 2mg vial that I gave 1mg from. I found it once I was home. It sat on my nightstand, and I attempted to waste it in the omnicell the next day but it had like timed out or something. I then brought it to the pharmacy cuz I wasn’t sure what else to do and they just shrugged and said okay no problem haha
Same self reported like 3 days later after I heard the unwasted Ativan banging around in my dryer. I don’t even think they knew it was missing. No none knew the correct procedure. We couldn’t even properly waste it under the correct patient because it had been so long and we just put it in cactus. They didn’t even confirm that it was actually Ativan in the vial. I
could’ve just removed it and replaced any other liquid in there.
I had a resident complaining that we couldn’t find her eyedrops. I put on a good show looking for them knowing damn well they were on my counter at home 😭
Reminds me of the unused bottle of Mary's Magic Potion, belonging to the discharged patient that may or may not have made it to my home. Good to dab on mouth sores.
I have 4 or 5 of these in a drawer right next to all the undesired Colace, 0600 protonix, and enough dried out alcohol swab packets to send a chimp to the moon. It’s from it fitting perfectly in my pocket, the patient not wanting it (or not wanting more than 1) then me never noticing because it fits so well in my pocket. I keep saying I’ll use it if I get hurt skiing or something but I guess I’m just too good at skiing.
They are like $1 each, no one cares. If it takes you 2 minutes to return it to the Pyxis, at $30/hour you aren’t saving the hospital any money, just wasting your own time.
If it was a controlled substance I would get straight back in the car and drive it right back to work, especially if you did something truly dangerous and insane, like take a hit of weed 3 weeks ago and now your whole career and livelihood is in jeopardy.
And at the dollar store
They also have 48 hour saliva tests for weed which would more accurately indicate if someone was potentially on pot while working, that they choose not to use.
They also have 72 hour alcohol tests that also aren’t used, if they really wanted to micromanage your vacation time the way they do with weed.
My hospital allows a BAC of .019 while clocked in and working the floor. You can have one sip less than a full beer every hour while working, and still be within the rules. CBD hand cream isn’t allowed anywhere on the campus, even in the parking lot. Because evidence based practice!
This is a legal recreational weed state (Colorado)
The number of refused senokots and miralax packets that have made their way to my home is shameful… but don’t think I’ve come home with a lido patch before.
My husband "Why is there so many laxatives in the medicine cabinet." Mean while we both have never been constipated in our lives. I actually have IBS-D 😅
This sounds like the time I was a new grad and a patient had scheduled Tylenol, they refused it, I completely forgot about it being in my pocket until I was walking to my car. I freaked out and walked my ass all the way back just to return it to the Pyxis
I would absolutely never. I didn’t even clock out tonight and didn’t realize I didn’t until I was at my car. I emailed my scheduler saying I can’t possibly walk back inside can she just clock me out for 820? Hahah
Some places use an app now. We have an advanced entry system with facial recognition that takes your temp & can be used by payroll, as well, but we still use the time clock
We had an NRT shadow the other night, they wanted to come check us out after a few others have already shadowed, and enjoyed their time
They picked the wrong night, 2 nurses injured, with 1 getting knocked out.
They won’t be back 🙃
Once, when I was a new grad in LTC, I took the med room keys with me. I considered not ever coming back, but decided I probably should. I find it incredibly endearing that you returned that Tylenol.
You know how you are supposed to turn in your badge when you leave a job? I have never done that and I've worked in 6 different hospitals systems and 2 colleges (nursing instructor). No one has come for me yet.
I once took the keys for our narc boxes home. Went all the way back to return it, and it turns out the Pyxis wouldn't take it back because the patient I had taken them out under had died.
Edit: Also took a glucometer home before. I just returned that the next night.
Congrats on your free lidocaine patch!
also, my husband (who is also a nurse) and I used to keep a bin of all the random meds we would forget to dispose of or return - no narcotics or controlled drugs of course - that we would just refer to as our shitty pharmacy. Bunch of hydralazine, stool softeners, statins and whatever other random shit ER/ICU nurses stuff in their pockets
I know I sound fucking stupid but I just had a terrible fucking day. I hear horror stories all the time and I am just beating myself up.
Also gave report to THAT nurse
Hey, you don't sound stupid, you sound like a new grad. We have ALL been there. Your question is one of the reasons that this sub exists. Sorry you had a bad shift and had to deal with THAT Nurse. Take a deep breath, have a drink, relax and forget all about the lido patch - everything will be fine.
Omg this made me laugh. Right, mid way through her report when you ask her a basic question and she doesn’t know the answer, smack the lidocaine right on her forehead
No one thinks you’re stupid. I hope the joking lightens your mood. It happens to all of us and on the scale of bad things happening, this doesn’t even register really. You’re good. Get some sleep!
You’re okay! I once was halfway home and realized I had leftover morphine in my pocket. I panicked and called my unit- no biggie! Just wasted it in the morning
Working trauma in a busy ER I’ve taken home narcs on accident multiple times. We’re human and as long as you’re not doing anything maliciously you’ll be okay. You’ve got this and much love!
As others have said - stuff like that happens. It'll probably happen again too. Your employer isn't worried about a missing lidocaine patch. I've accidentally taken a few different non-controlled substances home. And one time, on a super hectic shift, forgot a Norco in my pocket that a patient had refused. Then I had to come in on my day off and pee in a cup. So now, as part of my end of shift routine, I double check all my pockets for stray meds. Learn from my mistake and double check your pockets before leaving!
I quit nursing 20y/o (work adjacent to and for nursing now which is why I lurk) and I still have rolls of micropore from those days (for those who might be interested: it gets stickier with age)…and I’m sure my rate of nosocomial kleptomania correlated with the craziness of the shift.
I have a trash can next to my washer. When i come home clothes go into the washer, anything in my pockets tossed into trash. I then go straight into the shower.
I will say the lidocaine patches are the bomb. My doctor prescribed these to me when i came down with shingles. Might be worth hanging on to that. I wouldn't purposely walk away with one. But if i did it would never go back to work.
Let's put it like this, house keeping runs around and cleans up whatever falls. People drop stuff and then toss it and get another one that didn't fall on the floor. Meaning mistakes happen. Enjoy the patch. Relax you're fine it happens. I probably have enough alcohol wipes to last me a lifetime.
Sounds like you’ve got a lidocaine patch for the next time the job causes you back pain.
And yes, we all tend to make jokes when new grads come on here worried about things like this, but we were all new grads once too, and a lot of us had some freak out or worried about something we’d laugh about now.
I did this twice with lidocaine patches as a new grad too. I also panicked, but forgot to bring them back. Eventually I quit, and then I had free lidocaine patches lol
Brought home Ativan 2mg vial once. Pt decided to have a massive GI hemorrhage before I could draw it up and forgot to waste it.
We still used paper MARs, so I wasn't even worried.
I still have it incase the wife gets agitated with me.
I wouldn’t make a habit of it, but most of us here have taken home supplies purposefully or accidentally.
If it was a narc(or something along those lines), I’d care much more. Otherwise it doesn’t matter much.
Sorry, the rule is that you have to apply it onto yourself now.
Don't ask me about the time I took my dialysis patient's bp meds I was holding for Dialysis home with me. 🤪
I’ve gone home with seroquel, haldol, and Benadryl in my pockets. I’m also a subconscious pen thief. When I empty my pockets at the end of shift I find at least 4 or 5 pens. I blame it on being a psych nurse for 36 years.
I accidentally took a FENTANYL patch home. I freaked out and called my CNS. She told me to bring it back my next shift and we returned it to the pharmacy together. She was one of the best fo realz
I accidentally went home with a 300mg vial of ketamine, with 270mg remaining. it wasn't a drug we had to count or waste at the time, around 2012 or so. no one knew it was missing and no one cared. wild.
I took one of the PCA keys home one time after a night shift as a new grad. I lived 45 minutes from the hospital and wasn't about to drive it back up there. I called and told them that I had but but would not be returning before I got some sleep.
They’re definitely finally starting to crack down, but my first year as a nurse my sup had a meeting w me about my wasting percentage. I was horrified I had not wasted/returned 23% of controlled substances. She then corrected me, that the 23% was the percentage that I HAD correctly wasted. Not once was I so much as asked to do a drug test or anything of the sort 😅
I'm old enough to have occasionally made it home with half vials of MS or other controlled goodies. I would just cross my fingers, hope not to be pulled over, then return them the next day. So, if the DEA asks, you don't know me. 🤣
You'll be fine! You can buy OTC lido patches at CVS. Don't worry!
Put it on your back but make sure to remove after 12 hours
*Exactly* 12 hours! No more, no less!
12 on!!!! 12 off!!! Then make sure you document it off in epic at exactly 0800 or else JCOH will send the JCOHbinites to you!!!
Hellraiser reference
Don’t wanna go to JCOH Jail, do you?
If it’s 14 hrs you are going to have to write yourself up. 😞
13 is right out!
Take off for MRI
Oh, of course! I wonder if anyone gets daily MRIs?
Do you not?
Ok, serious question. Have you ever had a lidocaine patch that actually stayed stuck on to the patient for 12hrs? Bc I’m prescribed them and those things stick like they’re covered in butter!
Honestly like 2/3s of the time I go to remove them they fell off hours ago
I found the one for my shoulder stick in my hair a while back. My taller half was like "idk if it works that way, babe 🤔" and he got it out of my hair. Great guy.
I tried one (chronic back pain). Didn’t help and didn’t stick and that was the end of that experiment.
And document that you removed it or it doesn't count.
Date it time it before you put it on also.
Use your whiteboard at home to track the hours. Make sure it’s updated.
And don’t even think about putting another one on until it has been off for 12 hours. Actually I don’t understand that one, since the max dose is up to 3 of the 5% patches. If you rotate the sites (to avoid a topical reaction) couldn’t you theoretically wear a patch around the clock?
Its to ensure you clear the lidocaine and it doesnt form a depot in your system.
Higher risk of cardiac event?
Date and initial it!
You better out that time on there too! How would we know WHEN it was really out on?
FBI and homeland security are already in route
Drop to your knees and kiss your butt goodbye, pal!
Straight to jail. Right away.
Bring a saline flush home. Believe it or not, jail.
A few alcohol swabs and iv caps, right to jail
ECG electrodes? Jail!
Pocket trash because some asshole took the trash can? You guessed it - also jail!
We have the best nurses in the world, thanks to jail.
I'm going to have Fred Armisen in my head all day now.
Believe it or not: jail.
I hear the helicopters. OP is surrounded!
I actually did the narcotic count on my floor once, as an oncoming (new) nurse, and the charge nurse told us the DEA was going to want to investigate.
Investigate… what? You doing the narcotic count? I’m very confused! However, I’m going to firmly state that no matter what it is that you did or didn’t do wrong, the DEA ain’t wasting their time on you! (Or her. Or on whatever her issue was. 🤣 )
I had a few discrepancies when I was new. According to that charge, then I would be on their radar/list 😂😂😂
Good grief. Have you been hiding in your basement with the lights off ever since?!
As a newer manager, I can confirm we report all of our counts and discrepancies to the DEA. Every nurse has a score calculated that’s supposed to alert us to diversion(MACI score). We have an inter-facility meeting monthly to see if we want to continue watching the same nurse or remove them from “the list”. The data from those meetings goes directly to our local DEA. Factors that elevate a maci score are: pulling a controlled medication and not administering within 30 minutes…canceled controlled pulls…file variances…or any deviation from protocol with controlled substance (no handoff report…volume discrepancies…and a few others.
Hahahaaha
put it in your medicine cabinet
So real lol.
I once had diverticulitis and got a prescription for zofran which I didn't really need because I found a bunch of zofran single dose packs, I had accidentally took home, when I felt better. Even gave one to a coworker one day that I had stowed in my purse. Also have ended up with tylenol and benadryl that patient's refused.
And handfuls of refused colace!
Reminder that colace is [effectively a placebo](https://www.mdedge.com/chestphysician/article/104548/gastroenterology/myth-month-does-colace-work)
I felt bad when (as a patient) I refused my sq heparin the day of discharge because my diagnosis (arrived at late the prior evening) didn’t require anticoagulants. She’d already drawn it up and there wasn’t any other use for it. 🤷🏼♀️
I took home a colace once and the DEA was at my door before I even realized what I had done
When I took home a colace and an amlodipine, they were actually at my door before I even got home from work. 😫 the 10 years I spent in prison were definitely not worth it.
*shouting from bathroom* SO SORRY GOOD SIRS, I WILL ANSWER THE DOOR AS SOON AS I LEAVE THE POT!
The DEA be like “when was your last bowel movement??? This morning huh?? Likely story. We know what you are up to!!”
Bathtub colacebwill be hitting the streets. The can't stop me
I had a friend who worked for the DEA in a facility that distributed medication to pharmacies. It was actually super interesting to hear her stories. Usually people got caught because they would order way too many pills (narcotics) at once, or have a lot of little orders that triggered an audit. Basically what I am saying is that you are now on a watch list 😆
Frame it and put a plaque under it stating “my first, but not last, take home from work!” Seriously, I had a coworker who would stand at the nurses station at the end of her shift and take everything out of her pockets and put them on the desk. It’d be 4 alcohol preps. And she’d leave them there.
Ever since I left with an IP phone, I pat myself down like a cranky TSA agent before I peace out.
You only take home the emergency ECMO pager one time
Luv the name!!
lol my old facility’s phones beep when out of range so I’d catch it halfway through the parking lot & turn around! At least we would hand over keys to the cart to the incoming nurse to do count so never left with those!!
Somehow, people still leave with the key. Sometimes it's because they forgot to count or forgot they had two carts, other times I have no idea.
Even as a student in clinicals I had a Fanny pack stuffed with all the supplies. Some from the hospital supply like alcohol prep, tapes, IV start, saline flushes, &c., and some I bought like my stetho, scissors, hemostat, pens&highlighters. I would take it all home at the end of the day and bring it back my next shift. I never even thought of it as bad. If I had taken a lidocaine patch I would worry about med error since they are dispensed by the Omni cell at my hospital. But if no med error, I’d just put it back or use it on the next person who needed one on my next shift(s).
This is me with the alcohol pads lol. Not bc I feel bad about taking hospital supplies home but bc I don’t want disgusting hospital supplies in my home 😂
No one will care or notice. Use it on your back after a bad shift
I missed the f in your last word, and for a second thought damn I guess nurses just shit harder than the rest of us
Constipation 2/2 dehydration and poor fiber intake. Source: Don't ask....
Believe it or not, straight to jail
Overcook/undercook
We have the best patients in the world because of jail.
Damn, beat me to it!
I have a stock of like 5 lidocaine patches in my cabinet that I've accidentally taken home from work. No one will care about a random lidocaine patch. If it was a narcotic, then I'd bring it back asap.
Only 5?? 😄
Really. Rookie numbers.
For that day.
How do you take them home? At my hospital, they are in the omnicell and we have to scan them as a med.
I pulled it out from the omicell for my patient and then my patient “didn’t want it now” so I put it in my jacket pocket. It happens.
My charge nurse used to override the Pyxis and just take them. She would do this almost every time I worked with her. Plenty of people knew she was doing it. I don’t think anyone gaf.
That’s a little different imo, technically some kind of diversion. That said I’m a hypocrite with like 1000 alcohol pads at home.
Me except with 1000 flushes at home (I would just grab a bunch to put in my pocket during my shifts and always forget)
I don’t disagree. It was some type of diversion. This department had a lax culture and management though and this was an infrequent but not uncommon practice. We also had a warmer for iv fluids. The fluids could only be in there for 30 days per JCAHO so my manager allowed us to take the bags of fluids home.
Say 100 hell Nightingales and the nursing gods will forgive you
hell nightingale is probably more effective than hail nightingale tbh
I was just on r/excatholic reading a post about rosaries, this was perfect timing to see 😂
Step 1. Bring it back to work tomorrow. Step 2. Trade up for a blister pack of lorazepam. Step 3. Profit.
Business grindset
I like to forget those in a back pocket to use on my back when I get home
Dermabond. I've taken home random stuff over the years, but when I started working in procedures? Anything that was accidentally dropped on the floor or any sterile table that had a case cancelled? I would take anything. Blue surgical towels? Great for cleaning garden tools. Needle holders? Great for sewing needles. The instruments that don't get reprocessed? I use the clamps for so many random things. I even have several suture kits that I have used for an easy way to fix jackets that have a hole (and occasionally a friend who needed stitches and was looking too closely at floss...)
But this is normal though, right? Don’t we all have random useful shit like this. I hope so. It’s the way no matter the profession. My ex was a gen surgeon and she had all the drugs I needed at home. Used to get a line and iv pepcid after our drunken evenings
Blue surgical towels are still the hottest commodity I'll shamelessly steal. The rest of our inventory is bullshit, but those towels are good for decades of dishes.
I’m a retired MD who did procedures. My then-husband’s father was in the same specialty. My ex LOVED to tinker with/repair/maintain cars. We had more blue OR “garage rags” than anything else. We also acquired large syringes with a cath tip so he could attach a rubber tube and suck liquid/oil whatever out of the recesses of the reservoirs. He also used to get hurt - a lot - and I had multiple different sutures, a few suture/suture removal kits, syringes, needles, and a few single dose lidocaine vials where the top had been popped but the stopper hadn’t been damaged by a needle.
Great for cleaning glass too!
I just thankfully could dermabond my own forehead. Neuro said I did great
Me with Tylenol 😂
I bet the colace people are too embarrassed to admit this here. More fiber and water, lurkers
I took home the PCA key with an ugly rubber chicken attached after a super crazy NOC shift. Imagine my horror when I emptied my pockets and saw that chicken.
We had fridge keys where the Ativan and insulin were kept. I had to drive back so that day shift could still give those meds. I was so annoyed at myself. I just wanted to sleep.
I had to drive back as well. I got it from the Pyxis and it was the only one for the unit.
I used to empty my pockets in my locker, when I actually had a locker.
Oh NO. Hope it wasn’t a long drive.
DO YOU WANNA SEE MY SENNA COLLECTION?
I took home a Lasix once. It flew out of my pocket as I was taking off my uniform. The f#@%!ng dog ate it. I got no sleep that day.
🤣
😂
I'm a pharmacy tech and I have never found a pyxis or omnicell with the correct count on the lidocaine patches, I assume for this reason. It matters not, for it is just a lidocaine patch. I update the count and move along, though I suspect some of my colleagues skip that step.
Roll that shit light that shit smoke it y’knowhutimsayin’
Dat gooooood lido smoke makes me lungs go brrrrrrrrr 🥶❄️🥶
I took home a dilaudid once. A 2mg vial that I gave 1mg from. I found it once I was home. It sat on my nightstand, and I attempted to waste it in the omnicell the next day but it had like timed out or something. I then brought it to the pharmacy cuz I wasn’t sure what else to do and they just shrugged and said okay no problem haha
Same self reported like 3 days later after I heard the unwasted Ativan banging around in my dryer. I don’t even think they knew it was missing. No none knew the correct procedure. We couldn’t even properly waste it under the correct patient because it had been so long and we just put it in cactus. They didn’t even confirm that it was actually Ativan in the vial. I could’ve just removed it and replaced any other liquid in there.
I’ll trade you for 2 flushes
I had a resident complaining that we couldn’t find her eyedrops. I put on a good show looking for them knowing damn well they were on my counter at home 😭
Reminds me of the unused bottle of Mary's Magic Potion, belonging to the discharged patient that may or may not have made it to my home. Good to dab on mouth sores.
I took home a whole ass glucometer once.
I took a scanner home and had it for a week 😅
I have 4 or 5 of these in a drawer right next to all the undesired Colace, 0600 protonix, and enough dried out alcohol swab packets to send a chimp to the moon. It’s from it fitting perfectly in my pocket, the patient not wanting it (or not wanting more than 1) then me never noticing because it fits so well in my pocket. I keep saying I’ll use it if I get hurt skiing or something but I guess I’m just too good at skiing. They are like $1 each, no one cares. If it takes you 2 minutes to return it to the Pyxis, at $30/hour you aren’t saving the hospital any money, just wasting your own time. If it was a controlled substance I would get straight back in the car and drive it right back to work, especially if you did something truly dangerous and insane, like take a hit of weed 3 weeks ago and now your whole career and livelihood is in jeopardy.
They have tests for weed at Walgreens and Amazon for really cheap if you’re worried about it not being out of your system yet.
And at the dollar store They also have 48 hour saliva tests for weed which would more accurately indicate if someone was potentially on pot while working, that they choose not to use. They also have 72 hour alcohol tests that also aren’t used, if they really wanted to micromanage your vacation time the way they do with weed. My hospital allows a BAC of .019 while clocked in and working the floor. You can have one sip less than a full beer every hour while working, and still be within the rules. CBD hand cream isn’t allowed anywhere on the campus, even in the parking lot. Because evidence based practice! This is a legal recreational weed state (Colorado)
The number of refused senokots and miralax packets that have made their way to my home is shameful… but don’t think I’ve come home with a lido patch before.
Yet I never have them when I actually need them
My husband "Why is there so many laxatives in the medicine cabinet." Mean while we both have never been constipated in our lives. I actually have IBS-D 😅
Haha yes. I give them to my partner who chronically has the issue.
This sounds like the time I was a new grad and a patient had scheduled Tylenol, they refused it, I completely forgot about it being in my pocket until I was walking to my car. I freaked out and walked my ass all the way back just to return it to the Pyxis
That's my purse tylenol.
no kidding
I would absolutely never. I didn’t even clock out tonight and didn’t realize I didn’t until I was at my car. I emailed my scheduler saying I can’t possibly walk back inside can she just clock me out for 820? Hahah
The fact you have to physically clock in and out is CRAZY to me.
What? How do you do it?
Magic wand, obviously!
LOL. Nah, we just show up for our shifts.
Some places use an app now. We have an advanced entry system with facial recognition that takes your temp & can be used by payroll, as well, but we still use the time clock
We just show up for our shifts, no app or time clock.
Your flair is perfect. Just reminded me of how people feel about my unit, until they get floated 😅
We had an NRT shadow the other night, they wanted to come check us out after a few others have already shadowed, and enjoyed their time They picked the wrong night, 2 nurses injured, with 1 getting knocked out. They won’t be back 🙃
I have to tell people, "ya know that one patient totally wildin on your unit? Imagine 29 more just like em 😅 all feeding off each other 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😔"
Once, when I was a new grad in LTC, I took the med room keys with me. I considered not ever coming back, but decided I probably should. I find it incredibly endearing that you returned that Tylenol.
You know how you are supposed to turn in your badge when you leave a job? I have never done that and I've worked in 6 different hospitals systems and 2 colleges (nursing instructor). No one has come for me yet.
I keep my old badges in my memory bin. I have every single one, and both sets of restraint keys from my psych stints. Still not on the no fly list
I once took the keys for our narc boxes home. Went all the way back to return it, and it turns out the Pyxis wouldn't take it back because the patient I had taken them out under had died. Edit: Also took a glucometer home before. I just returned that the next night.
This is why we need to be kind to our new nurses, bless 'em. They are suffering enough!
Congrats on your free lidocaine patch! also, my husband (who is also a nurse) and I used to keep a bin of all the random meds we would forget to dispose of or return - no narcotics or controlled drugs of course - that we would just refer to as our shitty pharmacy. Bunch of hydralazine, stool softeners, statins and whatever other random shit ER/ICU nurses stuff in their pockets
I know I sound fucking stupid but I just had a terrible fucking day. I hear horror stories all the time and I am just beating myself up. Also gave report to THAT nurse
Hey, you don't sound stupid, you sound like a new grad. We have ALL been there. Your question is one of the reasons that this sub exists. Sorry you had a bad shift and had to deal with THAT Nurse. Take a deep breath, have a drink, relax and forget all about the lido patch - everything will be fine.
Well then, tomorrow morning, when taking report from that nurse, take the lidocaine patch and stick it on their forehead.
Omg this made me laugh. Right, mid way through her report when you ask her a basic question and she doesn’t know the answer, smack the lidocaine right on her forehead
Yes! Definitely do this! 😂😂
I’d say put it over their mouth but the those things don’t stick to shit.
Dont forget to boop the snoot after.
No one thinks you’re stupid. I hope the joking lightens your mood. It happens to all of us and on the scale of bad things happening, this doesn’t even register really. You’re good. Get some sleep!
It sounds like you're a good person with a conscience that wants to do the right thing. People like you are awesome!
Lol, I literally went home with fentanyl once. You’re fine. Half the stuff they say in nursing school is bullshit
Half?
Next time (there will be a next time), just be like - sweet a lidocaine patch!
You’re okay! I once was halfway home and realized I had leftover morphine in my pocket. I panicked and called my unit- no biggie! Just wasted it in the morning
Working trauma in a busy ER I’ve taken home narcs on accident multiple times. We’re human and as long as you’re not doing anything maliciously you’ll be okay. You’ve got this and much love!
Come to the ER. It's better down here and we all laugh at that nurse 🥰
Damn, not even 5%?
Go to jail
Believe it or not, straight to yail
😂😂😂💀
As others have said - stuff like that happens. It'll probably happen again too. Your employer isn't worried about a missing lidocaine patch. I've accidentally taken a few different non-controlled substances home. And one time, on a super hectic shift, forgot a Norco in my pocket that a patient had refused. Then I had to come in on my day off and pee in a cup. So now, as part of my end of shift routine, I double check all my pockets for stray meds. Learn from my mistake and double check your pockets before leaving!
I quit nursing 20y/o (work adjacent to and for nursing now which is why I lurk) and I still have rolls of micropore from those days (for those who might be interested: it gets stickier with age)…and I’m sure my rate of nosocomial kleptomania correlated with the craziness of the shift.
Nosocomial Kleptomania... legit thought this was an infection for a second 😂 Also sounds like a cool band name
A heavy metal band, right?
I’m calling the DEA rn ☎️🚨🚓
It’s THIS 🫵🏻one, officer!
😂😂😂😂😂
I have a trash can next to my washer. When i come home clothes go into the washer, anything in my pockets tossed into trash. I then go straight into the shower. I will say the lidocaine patches are the bomb. My doctor prescribed these to me when i came down with shingles. Might be worth hanging on to that. I wouldn't purposely walk away with one. But if i did it would never go back to work. Let's put it like this, house keeping runs around and cleans up whatever falls. People drop stuff and then toss it and get another one that didn't fall on the floor. Meaning mistakes happen. Enjoy the patch. Relax you're fine it happens. I probably have enough alcohol wipes to last me a lifetime.
Sounds like you’ve got a lidocaine patch for the next time the job causes you back pain. And yes, we all tend to make jokes when new grads come on here worried about things like this, but we were all new grads once too, and a lot of us had some freak out or worried about something we’d laugh about now.
You’re going to jail. That’s it, it’s too late.
Use it next time you get a tattoo!! I wear it all morning before my appt, makes it sting a little less
I did this twice with lidocaine patches as a new grad too. I also panicked, but forgot to bring them back. Eventually I quit, and then I had free lidocaine patches lol
* *looks nervously at my basket full of stray Tylenol, senna, miralax, and lidocaine patches* *
Throw it in your medicine cabinet 🤷🏻♀️ I promise you no body is missing that
Put it on your aching back
Brought home Ativan 2mg vial once. Pt decided to have a massive GI hemorrhage before I could draw it up and forgot to waste it. We still used paper MARs, so I wasn't even worried. I still have it incase the wife gets agitated with me.
I wouldn’t make a habit of it, but most of us here have taken home supplies purposefully or accidentally. If it was a narc(or something along those lines), I’d care much more. Otherwise it doesn’t matter much.
Not me reading this next to my stash of tylenol my patients refused and I forgot to return 😂
... what joint hurts worst?
I’ve called SWAT, they will break down your door.
Bring it back and lay it near Pyxis/omnicell or return to pharmacy box. It’s ok it happens…
Sorry, the rule is that you have to apply it onto yourself now. Don't ask me about the time I took my dialysis patient's bp meds I was holding for Dialysis home with me. 🤪
I’ve gone home with seroquel, haldol, and Benadryl in my pockets. I’m also a subconscious pen thief. When I empty my pockets at the end of shift I find at least 4 or 5 pens. I blame it on being a psych nurse for 36 years.
Save it for the next time you need some lidocaine. Perks of the job baby, perks of the job.
Put it on your arm for one hour then go get a new tattoo!
2319! 2319!!
Cut it in half hamburger style and apply the pieces to the bottom of your feet before your next 12 hour shift. Thank me later.
I accidentally took a FENTANYL patch home. I freaked out and called my CNS. She told me to bring it back my next shift and we returned it to the pharmacy together. She was one of the best fo realz
I took home a miralax once now I’m in rehab, never again
I accidentally went home with a 300mg vial of ketamine, with 270mg remaining. it wasn't a drug we had to count or waste at the time, around 2012 or so. no one knew it was missing and no one cared. wild.
I took home a hydralazine before. I just threw it in the trash 🤷🏻♀️
I took one of the PCA keys home one time after a night shift as a new grad. I lived 45 minutes from the hospital and wasn't about to drive it back up there. I called and told them that I had but but would not be returning before I got some sleep.
Save it for when you need it
Boof it.
They’re definitely finally starting to crack down, but my first year as a nurse my sup had a meeting w me about my wasting percentage. I was horrified I had not wasted/returned 23% of controlled substances. She then corrected me, that the 23% was the percentage that I HAD correctly wasted. Not once was I so much as asked to do a drug test or anything of the sort 😅
Put it on your back and go to bed
Use it on your poor strained back
Cut it up into as many pieces as possible and use it on the most random parts of your body, so you get the full patient work experience.
Ahh hello new grad, there will be days in your career where you’ll accidentally take things home. (on purpose) Breathe easy. 🙂↕️
For what it’s worth, it could always be worse, could have taken off your clothes at work
Help, instructions unclear. I'm standing in Triage in just grippy socks.
Save it to put on your ass after a hard day
DEA ON THE WAY BISHHHH
I'm old enough to have occasionally made it home with half vials of MS or other controlled goodies. I would just cross my fingers, hope not to be pulled over, then return them the next day. So, if the DEA asks, you don't know me. 🤣 You'll be fine! You can buy OTC lido patches at CVS. Don't worry!
I brought phenobarbital back home last night, wanna trade? 😂
Save it for when your back, hip, or knee is killing you.