When EMS Providers Have Drug Addictions

[NYCEMS9115]

http://m.ems1.com/ems-management/articles/1048053-Paramedic-found-guilty-in-Calif-drug-tampering-case/

For Providers with Drug Addictions, please seek help. It is out there for you. Speak with your Employer before you get caught up with something you can't get out of.

[hatelilpeepees]

The problem is, if they were capable of admitting they needed help, they wouldn't need the help.

[paramedicmike]

The problem is, if they were capable of admitting they needed help, they wouldn't need the help.

Care to explain what you mean?

[Kaisu]

Care to explain what you mean?

Denial is one of the hallmarks of addiction... People in denial are not going to ask for help. They deny there is a problem.

[Lone Star]

Denial is one of the hallmarks of addiction... People in denial are not going to ask for help. They deny there is a problem.

Denial is the first symptom. Just as the cardiac patient denies their symptoms by dismissing them as 'gas' or 'heartburn', the addict will deny their symptoms with statements like:

1) I don't have a problem with ____________, I only use it to 'unwind' or 'relax'...

2) I can quit any time I want to!

3) It's not like I NEED _________________ (insert substance here)

Most, (if not all) rehabilitation/recovery programs will state that the first step to recovery is to admit that you DO have a 'problem'.

[flamingemt2011]

Exactly, thanks for that clarification, I should have messaged that better. Most addicts do not seek assistance until they have hit rock-bottom, and by then they are in real trouble. I believe we have a hollywood actor, who was recently fired due to addiction, and has still not sought help despite pleas from everyone. His behavior is typical of most addicts.

[paramedicmike]

Denial is one of the hallmarks of addiction... People in denial are not going to ask for help. They deny there is a problem.

I'm well aware of the psychological pattern displayed by addicts. I did not, and still don't, read the comment in question as merely an issue of denial. Which is why I asked what she meant.

[FireMedicChick164]

I agree with the statement that addicts need to admit that they have a problem before they can accept treatment. How many agencies are really equipped to offer some form of referral service or help in the event that one of their members does have a problem? What type of things could be do to PREVENT providers from stealing medications? It's not just the EMS field that this is a problem, I have also heard of docs and nurses stealing meds or diverting them from patients who need them to fuel their own addiction.

As of last year my vollie FD began carrying narcs on our ambulance. They are kept on the ambulance in a locked box with a numbered zip tab and that box is in a safe that requires the ALS providers key tag AND code to gain access. It records when the safe is opened and we have to have a witness if/when we even open the safe and we must fill out the log book. The restock safe is located in the dispatch office (same set up) and the only people who have keys to that are the 2 narcs officers. Witnesses are needed for that to be opened also. Hopefully we have put into place enough safeguards so if we did have someone involved in our agency with a drug problem they couldn't get access to anything.

I'm wondering what other agencies have put in to place to discourage providers from trying to steal narcs. I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any input. Thanks!

[Richard B the EMT]

At FDNY EMS stations, every tour, meaning every 8 hours, the supervisor and one of the Paramedics open the drug safe, and count the narcotics therin, both assigned to oncoming crews, and "leftovers" that go back to the citywide stockpile warehouse. Both sign the record book as to what the 2 counts are, and duplicate that into the station log book.

When the messenger van from the warehouse comes in with fresh supplies, the light duty Paramedic driving the van has their own book, which now makes 3 separate entries countersigned by the supervisor, the Paramedic designated to assist in the count at the station, and the Paramedic assigned to the messenger van.

I am presuming there's a log book at the warehouse, countersigned by the van operator and a supervisor at the warehouse.

If narcotics are opened, and either not used, or not used up completely, either an ER Nurse at the hospital, or the supervisor at the station, must witness the distruction of said narcotics, and sign the appropriate paperwork, which either is included on the call report, or a separate set of paperwork, with copies kept in the storage safes at the stations. I'll supply copies of the department's "Ops guide" at a later time.

[HotelCo]

Stealing narcs is as easy as marking down you gave a pt 10mg of morphine, when you've only given two. Put the excess into a separate container for yourself later on, and turn in the empty vial.

The only way I see to prevent that, is to have a supervisor in back at all times, and then who's to say the sup can't be in on it?

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