Nurse says fentanyl was blown in face
B.C. hospital staff say illicit drug use creates several problems, worries
A nurse at North Island Hospital in Campbell River said she's been exposed to illicit drug smoke six times and is worried about the long-term health effects.
An agency nurse at Burnaby Hospital had a cloud of fentanyl smoke blown in her face and witnessed an erratic man who had taken street drugs flail around nude in his hospital bed next to two terrified seniors sharing the room.
A veteran Vancouver-based nurse said patients who use drugs in their rooms often become volatile and a danger to nurses and fellow patients in shared rooms.
A nurse in Interior Health said she and her colleagues constantly worry about whether the medication they give to someone who just used illicit drugs could trigger an overdose.
The nurses are speaking out in light of revelations from B.C. United and the B.C. Nurses' Union that illicit drug use in emergency rooms is rampant, and it's putting nurses and fellow patients at risk.
B.C. United MLAS say it's one more example of how the B.C. NDP'S decriminalization experiment is putting the rights of drug users over the safety of other members of the public.
Health authorities have a harm reduction policy, which means if someone with addiction wants to use illicit drugs, they would be directed either to an adjacent overdose prevention site or an outside smoking area.
However, Health Minister Adrian Dix acknowledged that people don't always follow the rules, which presents “difficulties” for health-care workers.
Nurses who spoke to Postmedia News said people often use illicit drugs in bathrooms and even in shared rooms next to other patients. Nurses don't know if they're walking into a cloud of drug smoke until they're hit with the acrid smell that often triggers headaches and dizziness.
The nurses spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear repercussions in light of health authority policies that bar them from speaking to the media.
The Campbell River nurse said her six exposures have happened in the last five years, but she and her colleagues have noticed that drug inhalation in North Island Hospital has become more common. She's witnessed several colleagues, including some who are pregnant, and hospital patients experience the effects of drug smoke.
The nurse said she filed a Worksafebc complaint as a result of her drug exposure.
The agency nurse at Burnaby Hospital said she was exposed to fentanyl smoke two months ago after walking by a bathroom where a patient had locked himself in for 30 minutes.
“I said to him, `What was that?' And he was like, `I don't know. They say it's fentanyl, but we don't even know what's in it,'” the nurse said. “He was being discharged that day, which I think is why he was bold enough to blow the smoke right in my face.”
The nurse felt a tingly feeling in her spine and felt light-headed. She asked fellow nursing staff if she should be checked by ER staff.
“No one seemed to give a s--t. It's just like business as usual for them.”
The nurse also said not enough is being done to prevent drug dealers from coming into Lower Mainland hospitals and providing patients with illicit substances.
“I think that the policy should be that there is zero tolerance for any type of street drug usage in the hospital,” she said.
Patients are also at risk of exposure, said a nurse at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, since most of the rooms on her ward can accommodate up to four patients.
“So patients in the beds next to them are definitely exposed if they're doing any kind of inhaling like illicit drugs,” said the nurse.
The nurse said she and her colleagues often worry about giving medication to some patients because if they've consumed illicit drugs shortly beforehand, the medication could trigger an overdose.
“It gets quite tricky because we don't know what everybody's using. We don't know how much they've used or how recently they've used, especially if they're able to leave the floor and use outside,” said the veteran nurse of 14 years. “So if they come back in, we don't know if they've recently used. And then if we give them something that increases the effect, then who's liable for that if somebody were to have an overdose?”
The Vancouver nurse said toxic drug smoke is just one of the hazards related to the health authority's harm reduction policy.
“More importantly, patients who do drugs are verbally abusive, demonstrate erratic behaviour that cannot be predicted and often lie about their drug use,” said the nurse.
She also said when friends or family visit them in hospital, they bring in drugs that, when taken, can interfere with their treatment.
“The unpredictable behaviour often is demonstrated by demands that cannot be met, or requires an increase in interactions with them, which is unpleasant to say the least, and dangerous at best.
“The idea that hospitals should be safe injections sites will only increase the use of (drugs),” she said.
He was being discharged that day, which I think is why he was bold enough to blow the smoke right in my face.