I am shocked!!!!

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I met one of my classmate I had last semester. I asked her how she did, and said: about a b+ average. Not bad for a pothead, huh?

I was like WHAT?!? She said: yeah, I smoke in the evening sometimes.

I couldn't believe it! Being a nurse, according to the McGill model, is about promoting health. How can marijuana promote health? Also, I don't think that her attitude is professional. Am I right? What do you think?

The original post is two years old, a little late to report it don't you think? :lol2:

Well, yes. I didn't notice when it was originally posted.

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I think you're overreacting a little. Smoking pot sometimes in the evenings? I wonder how many nurses have a drink in the evenings. To me it's the same thing, even though one is illegal. I beleive what a nurse does on her time off is her own business.

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I think you're overreacting a little. Smoking pot sometimes in the evenings? I wonder how many nurses have a drink in the evenings. To me it's the same thing, even though one is illegal. I beleive what a nurse does on her time off is her own business.

Smoking pot wouldn't be the end of the world if it wasn't illegal, but it is. I'd guess failing a drug test could be a career-ending situation too; in my line of work you'd be fired for failing a drug test, and all I do is program computers. Lives aren't exactly at stake where I work but it's still grounds for immediate dismissal. I'm in England, where firing works more on a 'three strikes and you're out' system. There are some offenses that will get you shown the door immediately, though; showing up to work drunk, hitting someone, stealing, or failing a drug test. Those are the big four.

To me it's a question of judgement and maturity. Someone who does something that they want to do even though they know it's illegal and damn the consequences is showing poor judgement in my opinion, and it's kind of a juvenile thing to do. If you think pot should be legal, fine; fight for it, write letters, sign petitions, do whatever you want; but until it's legal, you shouldn't touch it for that reason and that reason alone.

That's just my opinion though; obviously nobody has to agree with me. However, even in my line of work if someone was using I wouldn't shed a single tear if they were fired immediately. You know the rules going in and if you get caught, that's your problem and I don't have a shred of sympathy for you. Sure, we all do bonehead things sometimes and we all make mistakes; but taking illegal drugs is a particularly dumb thing to do. It isn't a question of being forgetful, or having to make a tough decision and ending up being wrong; it's a matter of having terrible judgement.

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i suppose if she is prepared to take the risk of getting caught..each to her own

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What you do on your own time DOES matter if it affects patient care. After all, airline pilots are not allowed to drink alcohol for some period before flying (something like 24-48 hours.)

NurseFirst

As a Flight attendent, the general rule is no drinking 12 hours before a flight. The joke with crew is that it is actually "12 feet"...

Another side to look at is, what about sleep deprivation?

How many nurses go to work deprived of sleep. I think that too is a very dangerous practice.

Doctors are expected to work with very little sleep. Is that ok?

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What you do on your own time DOES matter if it affects patient care. After all, airline pilots are not allowed to drink alcohol for some period before flying (something like 24-48 hours.)

NurseFirst

As a Flight attendent, the general rule is no drinking 12 hours before a flight. The joke with crew is that it is actually "12 feet"...

Another side to look at is, what about sleep deprivation?

How many nurses go to work deprived of sleep. I think that too is a very dangerous practice.

Doctors are expected to work with very little sleep. Is that ok?

They're changing the rules on the hours junior doctors are allowed to work here in the UK, and some doctors are up in arms about it because they're concerned about how the quality of their training will suffer if they're restricted to 58 hours a week. I think it's sort of stupid to expect someone to be on top of their game after they've been on duty for 24-36 hours, and dangerous too.

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Specializes in Med-Surg so far.
WHAT!...... no drug screens at that nursing school?

At our school we are subjected to a MANDITORY drug screen test and background check and passing both are conditions of acceptance.

This person is most likely not in a clinical rotation yet - as I was under the impression that in order to attend clinicals drug tests were pre-requisite, so if this be the case for her, she could be in deep trouble when the time comes.

Leash

We also have drug screens and background checks after you are accepted but before you are allowed to begin the program. After that though, there are no random checks that I know of (except maybe if you are under suspicion, but maybe not even then).

I know of classmates who abstained to pass their drug screen and then picked it up again after they were cleared to enter.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

Wow, this is an old thread but I'll chime in with my two cents anyway...

It's illegal. It's against licensing requirements. Almost any facility would terminate you if you tested positive. I'm sure it's against the school's policy and the student would be kicked out if she was randomly tested, etc. A nursing student and a nurse are held to a professional standard which does not include use of illicit drugs, recreational or otherwise. It is a very simple standard to meet. Personally, I would have reported this student. I know many others would not go as far...but that's just my stance on such issues. If I have to follow the rules, so does everyone else. We can all smoke pot when we retire. ;)

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WHAT!...... no drug screens at that nursing school?

At our school we are subjected to a MANDITORY drug screen test and background check and passing both are conditions of acceptance.

This person is most likely not in a clinical rotation yet - as I was under the impression that in order to attend clinicals drug tests were pre-requisite, so if this be the case for her, she could be in deep trouble when the time comes.

Leash

I don't know where you students are going to school, but, we are drug tested and background checked before every clinical and facility we go to, so, say we have 3 facilities to work at in 2 weeks of clinicals,, we are drug tested and background checked at each. Also, some facilites have drawn blood out of our arms to check for alcohol. People would have to jump through pretty big hoops to do drugs where I go to nursing school and not get kicked out.

Which I am very happy about, because, I have strived hard for years not to become involved in anything addicting, and I know I will get blasted on here.... but my pet peave it cigarettes, I don't want to smoke them, smell them or be anywhere around them, but, unfortunately that is impossible, every place I go in, there are people standing in front of the doors smoking, so, If the facility is non-smoking, you have to walk through a cloud of smoke to get in and get out. What is up with that??? Is there no where else to smoke??? And half my nursing class smokes, so after all our breaks everyone comes back reeking of cigarettes,,ugh,,,. Please don't blast me to hard, I know it is a difficult thing to quit, my husband smokes, but, he has enough respect for me and our sons, that he smokes outside and not in our house or vehicles and he will not smoke in anyone elses either, even if they smoke, and after he goes outside to smoke, he comes in and washes his hands and face, so he does not smell like them. He is a very sweet guy. :o

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reading through all these responses i'm actually surprised to see so many people who think negatively about marijuana. after all the studies, it's basically been concluded that the active compound, THC (edit: oops wrote TSH, still thinking about my A&P1 final), does nothing to effect you negatively in the long term. the main problem is the way the drug is consumed - by smoking it (no matter how you do it, joint, bong, bowl) - which leads to lung cancer, emphysema, etc. smoking through a vaporizer, nothing negative - safer than drinking alcohol.

of course, this is solely if you are doing it in your off time and there is no chance of it hurting anyone. and it is also only applies to non-addicts.

by the way, the information above was recited to a class of medical students in pharmacology class in an ivy league medical school.

also, i don't know how many of you will be surprised, but i know that a number of people (at least 10% of his class) in my partner's ivy league medical school smoke MJ - even MD/PHD students. you know, to destress.

on the other hand, it is still illegal. i haven't smoked it in over two years and don't plan to do it until it's either legalized or i don't have to worry about being drug tested. it's not worth being high for a few hours and then lose your license over it. this is why we need to work on legalizing it to the level of alcohol.

We just finished psych our 3rd semester of nursing and according to our book, long term use of MJ, leads to memory loss, adenhony (no motivation or interest) lethargy and lots of other things, I am sure they would not have this in a new Nursing book if it weren't true or had been researched.;)

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