Integrity vs Thievery
Heard 5 tabs of voriconazole went missing in the wards. According to the pharmacy assistant (PA), who placed the medicine into the medicine trolley, the staff nurse looking after the patient requested for the medicine to be topped up again the next day. Puzzled, the staff went to the ward to search for the medicine in case some stupid nurse misplaced into another patient's medicine compartment. What she found was the blister pack, in a nearby bin, with all the voriconazole removed. When the PA queried the staff nurse looking after the patient, her disinterested reply was to go look for the night staff who was looking after the patient prior to her.
Naturally the PA reported this to the in-patient in-charge who then informed my manager. My manager was understandably angry, after all we are talking about a few hundred dollars that went missing. Nobody was apprehended for the missing tablets, and my manager now wanted all expensive tablets to be stored under lock and key in the control-drug cupboard. All usage of the medicine will also have to be recorded in a book. *roll my eyes*
Crux of the matter is not the location which the medicine is stored, rather it is the integrity of the staff looking after the patient. The tablets were entrusted to the nurses looking after the patient and they simply shrugged their shoulders when queried why the medicine went missing. Sure know how to shirk their responsibilities do they not. The tablets were obviously stolen by a staff of the hospital as we are the only ones with access to the medicine trolley. Narrowing things down, if the tablets went missing in a span of less than half a day, then only 2 groups of people could carry out the act: nurses or doctors. Only these 2 groups still remain in the ward after pharmacy office hours.
Whatever it is, I am surprised no action was done to further investigate or to bring the police into the matter. After all, this is theft, and if you consider the act of pushing a tablet from a blister pack, it is likely to obtain at least one complete print of the thumb. Identifying the culprit is probably easier via this method. Unbelievably, this matter was not raised up to higher authorities either, the thief continues to work amongst us, and the theft was simply glossed over.
Naturally the PA reported this to the in-patient in-charge who then informed my manager. My manager was understandably angry, after all we are talking about a few hundred dollars that went missing. Nobody was apprehended for the missing tablets, and my manager now wanted all expensive tablets to be stored under lock and key in the control-drug cupboard. All usage of the medicine will also have to be recorded in a book. *roll my eyes*
Crux of the matter is not the location which the medicine is stored, rather it is the integrity of the staff looking after the patient. The tablets were entrusted to the nurses looking after the patient and they simply shrugged their shoulders when queried why the medicine went missing. Sure know how to shirk their responsibilities do they not. The tablets were obviously stolen by a staff of the hospital as we are the only ones with access to the medicine trolley. Narrowing things down, if the tablets went missing in a span of less than half a day, then only 2 groups of people could carry out the act: nurses or doctors. Only these 2 groups still remain in the ward after pharmacy office hours.
Whatever it is, I am surprised no action was done to further investigate or to bring the police into the matter. After all, this is theft, and if you consider the act of pushing a tablet from a blister pack, it is likely to obtain at least one complete print of the thumb. Identifying the culprit is probably easier via this method. Unbelievably, this matter was not raised up to higher authorities either, the thief continues to work amongst us, and the theft was simply glossed over.
posted by Yamosh at 10:00 AM
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