[pickledpepperRN]

I was asked to orient a nurse who had been terminated from another hospital for taking Vicodin.
Her union representative had encouraged her to participate in the BRN diversion program.http://www.rn.ca.gov/div/div.htm

She never told me details but it was more than two years of treatment before she got her license back. Then she had taken a refresher course. She had been a critica care nurse before.
She was still not allowed to give controlled substances.
Many of my fellow nurses were sceptical but after more than a decade she is our friend and valued colleague.
Any time one of us needs help with a bath, pulling up a patient in bed, entering orders, or bringing supplies to a room she can be counted on.
In exchange we give controlled substances to her patients.
Although she is now allowed to we are happy to do so.

It is so sad that a nurse who wasn't forced into treatment killed herself.
Statistically licensed nurses who admit their addiction and seek treatment have the highest rate of success of any other group. Much better than physicians.
Success does not only mean staying clean. It is considered a failure if the person leaves the program or stops going to meetings.

[kate76]

A word from down under. In Australia, nurses who use drugs carry a heavy penalty. Not only loosing their registration, but also facing criminal charges.
I am an RN with over 10 years experience and I have seen a couple of addicts thru my time.
Repeating on what has been suggested already. Tell your Unit Manager/Nurse in-charge immediately. However, ensure you have concrete evidence such as physical characteristics like drowsiness, stuppor, weight loss, dialated pupils, or tremor. It may also be worthwile to keep a journal of your interactions with her in the work place as this will provide you with the amunition to support your claims as well as providing evidence should she go to court of law.
My experiences have involved marajuana use before work and fortunately the impact of the drug use prior to work was sufficient enough for my nurse UM to identify, so my intervention was not required. I wish you good luck.

[VivaRN]

This is an interesting thread with a lot of angles on this issue. I thank all of you for being so honest about your experiences and feelings as you deal with this illness.

I have a question, though: to move forward, I agree that we need better support for nurses who have a problem. But looking at it from the other end: how does this happen to begin with? Of course it wasn't your choice to continue abusing, but was it your choice to begin in the first place? How did it start, and why? Was it that you didn't realize how far it would go and what could happen?

As someone who has never had this experience, I'm trying to understand. Maybe we should talk more about this in nursing school - how would you do prevention?

Thanks,
VivaRN

[pebbles]

Originally Posted by Cattitude

Your workplace sounds like IT needs work when it comes to supporting recovering nurses. Many others do as well and this is one area that needs a lot of change. Hopefully it will get much better.

THAT, I very much agree with. Mentally and rationally, I would love to be supportive to nurses coming back to work. But honestly, I can say I never encountered any. So it's hard to say. Maybe I would feel differently.

The experience I recounted above - where we all knew and it was an "open secret" that we had an impaired nurse at work... I think it was truly a Critical Incident for me. I know at the time we asked our manager when she left if we could have a debriefing with our Critical Incident stress Management team. She said no (of course) because of the nurse's privacy needing to be respected.

the next time I encountered an impaired nurse, I went home shaking and crying, and could not stop for hours. Having flashbacks to the first one.

I truly think that management did not effectively deal with a serious problem, and it affected me and frightened me so badly that it's part of my reactions now. I wish things had been different. All the ones I hear about who came back as nurses are not in acute care areas any more.

[vickynurse]

Originally Posted by Cattitude

Addiction is a horrible disease an rampant in our profession. I wish that more of us would be supportive when you find out that "Jim" or "Sarah" has a problem. It really can happen to anyone...


Beez

It cannot happen to you if you do not take drugs for recreation. This is a choice. This is NOT a rampant problem in our profession.
Because of a drug addicted dr., I saw a peds pt end up in a veg state. Myself and 3 other nurses ended up in court. I have no use for impaired colleagues.

[Dalzac]

Originally Posted by vickynurse

It cannot happen to you if you do not take drugs for recreation. This is a choice. This is NOT a rampant problem in our profession.
Because of a drug addicted dr., I saw a peds pt end up in a veg state. Myself and 3 other nurses ended up in court. I have no use for impaired colleagues.

How sad you feel this way. I am retired now but also I have 18 years of recovery and haven't used any drugs or alcohol in that 18 yrs either. I have been working clean longer than not. If you just met me you would have no idea I used. You would have thought I was some nice little old granny nurse. I worked in Critical care and ER the whole time, and yes I even diverted in the first part of my career. People change their lives every day. And the ones I know did it with 12 step programs. I even volunteer with the board of nursing to help other addicted nurses. If I can change then others can too. And since I see hundreds of nurses a year that have addictions It is a far bigger problem than you think. I didn't start out with drugs I started with a huge amount of alcohol but drugs were faster.
At peer we tell our nurses to watch out for folks with your mind set. I have seen nurses like that They will do anything to get rid of a recovering nurse that includes setting them up.

[Cattitude]

Originally Posted by vickynurse

It cannot happen to you if you do not take drugs for recreation. This is a choice. This is NOT a rampant problem in our profession.
Because of a drug addicted dr., I saw a peds pt end up in a veg state. Myself and 3 other nurses ended up in court. I have no use for impaired colleagues.

Who says every addict took drugs for recreation? Many addicted nurses started out taking meds for pain issues. Was THAT a choice?

Did you even read this whole thread? The part where I stated about being an addict BEFORE picking up the drug. Can you understand that concept? I was an addict way before using. In recovery, I am learning to change a lot of those behaviors.

Oh and by the way, it is a bigger problem than you think, don't fool yourself. Not only nurses but Dr's, pharmacists, etc...

[vickynurse]

Originally Posted by Dalzac

At peer we tell our nurses to watch out for folks with your mind set. I have seen nurses like that They will do anything to get rid of a recovering nurse that includes setting them up.

Recovered nurses have nothing to fear from me. I respect anyone who deals with their problems. An impaired collegue cost me 3 years of my life in a nightmare lawsuit and I was not at all liable. Not to mention a 12 year old left in a veg state. If I suspect anyone of using, I will be the first to turn them in ... recovered or not. Pts come first, me second, ..... addicts last. Maybe there are a lot of recovered nurses around and I don't realize it. That is a good thing that the rehab worked. Happy for you. But if I know a recovered nurse and suspect s/he is using, I will not feel sorry for the person and avoid reporting. I don't want that blood on my hands.

[vickynurse]

Originally Posted by Cattitude

Who says every addict took drugs for recreation? Many addicted nurses started out taking meds for pain issues. Was THAT a choice?

Did you even read this whole thread? The part where I stated about being an addict BEFORE picking up the drug. Can you understand that concept? I was an addict way before using. In recovery, I am learning to change a lot of those behaviors.

Oh and by the way, it is a bigger problem than you think, don't fool yourself. Not only nurses but Dr's, pharmacists, etc...

What do we teach pts? Have pain --> take a drug. No, we also are supposed to teach and utilize non-pharm methods of pain relief. So why don't we practice what we preach? I had a major pain issue for 3 years and didn't get hooked because of non-pharm methods. The pain never left for 3 long years, but it was tolerable because of my determination to avoid narcs. We all have a choice weather to refill that pain prescription.

Yes, I understand the theory of addictive personality. but as you indicate, the answer is therapy, not drugs.

Yes, I know it is a big problem. The stats are easy to find. A physician user drug my good name through the dirt and nearly destroyed my career. That is why I will not tolerate drug use among any of my colleagues. It is not ok

[Cattitude]

Originally Posted by vickynurse

What do we teach pts? Have pain --> take a drug. No, we also are supposed to teach and utilize non-pharm methods of pain relief. So why don't we practice what we preach? I had a major pain issue for 3 years and didn't get hooked because of non-pharm methods. The pain never left for 3 long years, but it was tolerable because of my determination to avoid narcs. We all have a choice weather to refill that pain prescription.

Yes, I understand the theory of addictive personality. but as you indicate, the answer is therapy, not drugs.

Yes, I know it is a big problem. The stats are easy to find. A physician user drug my good name through the dirt and nearly destroyed my career. That is why I will not tolerate drug use among any of my colleagues. It is not ok

Because YOU did not become an addict is great. But that's not true for everybody and the bottom line is, there are sisters and brothers in nursing that need our help. Yes, our compassion and not disdain.

I'm not asking you to tolerate drug use at all. Whatever gave you that idea? What I am asking is that you maybe find it in your heart to believe that a recovering nurse CAN be a safe and healthy nurse. That if a nurse walks on to your unit and you find out she/he has 2 years clean, you won't treat them like garbage. Just give them a chance.
As you can see by this thread, some have been hurt by addicted nurses. But there are also many of us that ARE clean and in recovery, working among the rest of YOU and doing great!