Teacher offering Ativan scripts....?

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I am in second year of nursing school and during our orientation a teacher (he happens to be an N.P.) offered his help in providing anti-anxiety medication for testing purposes. He mentioned something along the lines of "It has worked tremendously well for other students... amazing turn around". He can teach very well, but I can't stand how he/the program itself, have decided to handle certain issues 'at hand'. Right now, I feel like I have been pushed around and I'm not sure who to go to (other than a lawyer). I am going to post another topic that is related to what I have had to deal with in previous semesters, but I wanted to really address this ativan issue. Is this more than weird? As in.. illegal? Seems the position of power and the sense of 'showing off' is rather obvious.. to me anyway. I'm looking for other opinions that can see it from the outside in (as I'm already biased)!

Having a prescription for meds is not an issue. If you are prevented from caring for yourself by being told you cannot take prescribed medications (provided you are not impaired by them) you have a great legal case.

If an instructor suggests that you are a nervous wreck and that impairs your ability to function then it's fine to suggest you might seek help. THAT HELP WILL NOT COME FROM THE PRESCRIPTIVE ABILITY OF YOUR INSTRUCTOR. If an instructor actually gave a med or wrote a script for a student, you would have an absolutely fabulous legal case. Also that would put your entire nursing program on the rocks, my friend!

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

It sounds pretty bizarre to me and not very responsible of your instructor. I wonder if he would offer Adderal scripts to people who waited until the last minute to do an assignment.

I can see your point. I did not say a lawyer for anyone to pay for anything... I mentioned a lawyer so I know what my rights are and I am able to address issues correctly. I suggest you re-read my post and acknowledge just one key point for now, addressing your concern. I stated

"Is this more than weird? As in.. illegal? Seems the position of power and the sense of 'showing off' is rather obvious.. to me anyway. I'm looking for other opinions that can see it from the outside in (as I'm already biased)!"

I can re-word it for you, since the first time wasn't clear enough. I've never been a teacher, I've never been in the position of being able to prescribe medications and I have acknowledged that I am biased and what better place than to get some feed back looking in. Does that help?

First off.. easy does it. You're repeating yourself and seem to have a lot of assumptions to a simple question I presented.

I did not say a lawyer for anyone to pay for anything... I mentioned a lawyer so I know what my rights are and I am able to address issues correctly. I suggest you re-read my post and acknowledge just one key point for now, addressing your concern. I stated

"Is this more than weird? As in.. illegal? Seems the position of power and the sense of 'showing off' is rather obvious.. to me anyway. I'm looking for other opinions that can see it from the outside in (as I'm already biased)!"

I can re-word it for you, since the first time wasn't clear enough. I've never been a teacher, I've never been in the position of being able to prescribe medications and I have acknowledged that I am biased and what better place than to get some feed back looking in. Does that help?

Honestly, it sounds like he was joking... and ativan jokes before big tests are very common in nursing school.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
I mentioned a lawyer so I know what my rights are and I am able to address issues correctly.

Sorry if this seems rude, but what rights do you think you have in this or which rights of yours has been violated? I can see if the instructor said "take this script for ativan or else I will fail you"; otherwise, no you have suffered no harm. In my mind, consulting a lawyer would just be a waste of money.

Report him to the dean. If you are close to any other classmates, talk with them about it, and see if they will go to the dean with you. This instructors behavior is totally inappropriate, and, if he actually writes scripts, illegal. He needs to be reported. As for some affront towards you--just not there. Sorry.

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
. He can teach very well but I can't stand how he/the program itself, have decided to handle certain issues 'at hand'. Right now, I feel like I have been pushed around and I'm not sure who to go to (other than a lawyer). I am going to post another topic that is related to what I have had to deal with in previous semesters, but I wanted to really address this ativan issue. Is this more than weird? As in.. illegal? [/quote']

Are you really concerned about him brining up Ativan for test anxiety, or are you looking for a way to attack him because of your own struggles?

If he did not hand you a script or force you to do anything, there is nothing illegal.

Specializes in critical care.

Can someone (OP maybe?) help me understand a few things?

How would it be illegal for this professor to write a prescription if they have prescription writing privileges and if they take on the student as a patient?

If a student has a medical need for anti anxiety medications, how can they get in trouble for taking those medications if they are taking them as directed?

And OP, can you please describe how it is that you feel like your rights have actually been violated? Like, what specifically happened?

No... there is plenty more to the story. I'm not 'attacking him' - I'm trying to get second opinions on what I think is odd. If I wanted 'real' advice, I'd be take it from a lawyer. This is just one of the issues I have come acrros and I'm simply trying to be as objective as I can to see it for what it is... not for how I feel it is. I made it very clear I am already biased. Why would I be on the attack....

Are you sure this instructor wasn't joking around? It's very common for instructors to crack jokes about anti anxiety meds and things like that...I can't imagine an instructor announcing to the class that they will prescribe meds to students...its incredibly illegal and obviously some people wouldn't agree/might report the instructor. So why would he even be serious about this?? I personally think that this instructor wasn't serious based on everything you just said. Are other people in the class concerned about this? If they aren't, I think you took what he said the wrong way. I would make sure you are REALLY sure this is legitimate before you take action and tell someone.

That is just it... I don't want to put the whole program on the rocks. Sure.. it may feel good but there are also a lot of great teachers. I have turned my head a number of times and I'm done pretending and hoping that some issues are going to go away. I don't want to put the good teacher's in harms way and even the dean at this point. She's been fair.... as far as I know (though I'm starting to question it). I don't know how to handle it without having retaliations and destroying the good that does exits. Does that make sense? Maybe I need to just stop being scared.. I don't know.

Here is the thing.... He even told me I would have done better if I had better "med/psych" help and I "should have aced his class". Seriously... I don't know what to think. I would hope he was joking but... I don't really think he was and I don't think it's something to even joke about.

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