contract work in 5 different surgical locations in the Houston area,
she says she had access to opioids in all 5 places.
"My thought processes were hijacked to this disease," says Ms.
Bertrand. "People's lives were in my hands and I'm thinking about
when I can get more narcotics. Looking back, there was nothing about
my day that was safe. When nurses, physicians and other healthcare
providers fall victim to this disease, they pose a danger to those they
care for as well as to themselves."
She had 2 car accidents after leaving work and shooting up. She was
found passed out in a hospital break room. But she kept working. Her
fentanyl usage ended only when a doctor spotted her passed out in
her car in a hospital lot, an empty syringe on the seat, the intravenous
port she installed in her ankle so she could inject herself more effi-
ciently in plain sight. She spent 18 weeks in an inpatient rehabilitation
program for healthcare practitioners.
Her relapse with propofol was short-lived, in large part because you
can't work in the OR when you're unconscious.
Ms. Bertrand's hope for sharing her very personal and painful story
at OR Excellence is to shine a light on drug abuse and addiction
among healthcare workers so it's no longer a dirty little secret
nobody's willing to talk about openly.
"There are so many practitioners working impaired and we have no
idea. ... We're doing a terrible job addressing this problem," she says.
The OR team has a critical responsibility to each other to detect
when one of its own is active in the disease of drug addiction.
"We must grant each other permission to save each other," says Ms.
Bertrand. "This disease will kill you. It will kill you and it will take
everything away from you."
OSM
M A R C H 2 0 1 7 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 9