"For the Fallen" the 9%

Nurses Recovery

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Hi all:

I read a post last night that got me thinking. It was by Hppy describing her sobriety & a description of her history with the monitoring program.

Hppy states that she was an alcoholic whose depression got so bad that she attempted to end her life. She was placed in a monitoring and this may have helped save her life. She also in my opinion correctly described the financial links to the rehab industry that soaks millions from nurses who can't afford to pay their fees. Hppy is one of the few nurses I know who had a severe substance abuse that these programs have helped.

In the past couple months I've seen 4 nurses from my small group get either thrown out or quit my monitoring program after being in it for years for either relapses or minor rule infractions that occurred while they were sober. These are the 9% of nurses in my state that don't make it for either financial reasons or due to the fact that they actually have substance abuse issues that got the best of them. These people will never be allowed to be a nurse again. These nurses probably helped thousands of sick people over the years and were an asset to the profession and were thrown away like last weeks leftovers. These are the nurses who are desperate for help. The strong and devoted like Hppy make but from what I've seen most others don't. The majority like me that are most likely to make it probably didn't have a substance abuse issue to begin with and are just being fleeced and pushed around for our period in Purgatory. We do what we have to. We go to meetings and eat the goodies and play with our phone & all the other stuff. We know that the pee test awaits & that's enough for us not to use. Its not enough for the truly addicted. In the army when a fellow solider died we used to toast them with a title of an old poem about those struck down too early "For the Fallen" and as soon as I'm able I'll raise a toast to my fellow nurses who had the same fate. I rejoice in Hppys success but am saddened that so many were done in by the punitive mechanisms in these programs.

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Specializes in OR.

If any more proof that these things are a pure money suck, I have been in more than one small group due to relocations because of crappy jobs that were the only thing I could get. In one group in particular, there were 2 that went down in the way you describe. Another, it was infraction after infraction after infraction. By the language in their own manual, that contract should have been axed ages ago, but as long as the money kept flowing in in the form of fees and P tests, it was allowed to continue. I left that group soon after so I don't know whatever happened but so much of his is all left open to convenient interpretation that one begins to wonder that if it all works out well for a person and they benefit from it, maybe it was an unintentional happy accident.

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Illinois will keep giving you a chance. You'll be suspended for a year if you mess up your contract but then will be allowed to continue with the program if you apply again. You'll have a mark but you can try again. I knew a nurse who had 3 seperate marks on her license and was still working as a nurse (doing utilization review).

I also knew a nurse who had no idea she could even do anything about her license so when she was reported, she just didn't show up to the BON hearing and let herself get suspended. Years later she discovered our nurse support group and found out she could apply to get on probation and have her license active and she did just that.

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Illinois will keep giving you a chance. You'll be suspended for a year if you mess up your contract but then will be allowed to continue with the program if you apply again. You'll have a mark but you can try again. I knew a nurse who had 3 seperate marks on her license and was still working as a nurse (doing utilization review).

I also knew a nurse who had no idea she could even do anything about her license so when she was reported, she just didn't show up to the BON hearing and let herself get suspended. Years later she discovered our nurse support group and found out she could apply to get on probation and have her license active and she did just that.

Yes, Indiana is the same way. Their program isn't nearly a punitive as many other states. If you have a positive uds, they will typically tack on another 3 months to your contract. They will continue to work with you if you continue to make some sort of effort. However, their leniency has allowed some nurses in the program to run amok before finally giving them the kibosh.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
Hi all:

I read a post last night that got me thinking. It was by Hppy describing her sobriety & a description of her history with the monitoring program.

Hppy states that she was an alcoholic whose depression got so bad that she attempted to end her life. She was placed in a monitoring and this may have helped save her life. She also in my opinion correctly described the financial links to the rehab industry that soaks millions from nurses who can't afford to pay their fees. Hppy is one of the few nurses I know who had a severe substance abuse that these programs have helped.

In the past couple months I've seen 4 nurses from my small group get either thrown out or quit my monitoring program after being in it for years for either relapses or minor rule infractions that occurred while they were sober. These are the 9% of nurses in my state that don't make it for either financial reasons or due to the fact that they actually have substance abuse issues that got the best of them. These people will never be allowed to be a nurse again. These nurses probably helped thousands of sick people over the years and were an asset to the profession and were thrown away like last weeks leftovers. These are the nurses who are desperate for help. The strong and devoted like Hppy make but from what I've seen most others don't. The majority like me that are most likely to make it probably didn't have a substance abuse issue to begin with and are just being fleeced and pushed around for our period in Purgatory. We do what we have to. We go to meetings and eat the goodies and play with our phone & all the other stuff. We know that the pee test awaits & that's enough for us not to use. Its not enough for the truly addicted. In the army when a fellow solider died we used to toast them with a title of an old poem about those struck down too early "For the Fallen" and as soon as I'm able I'll raise a toast to my fellow nurses who had the same fate. I rejoice in Hppys success but am saddened that so many were done in by the punitive mechanisms in these programs.

Spanked thank you for your kind words - early in the process I had an incredible addiction's counselor who told that I needed to decide to start living again or get on with dying. The thousand torments of my diversion program just pushed me to adapt, improvise and overcome. The sobriety part was actually easy and once I figured out what the monitoring program was all about I leaned into the collar like Boxer the horse and proceeded to get it done. I learned to walk the walk and talk the talk. I could quote the Big Book chapter and verse and essentially made the diversion evaluation committee love me. In fact when I finished they gave me a standing ovation. When I left that room I got in my car and gave them the finger as I drove away. The program really did have the intended outcome of saving my life and sanity because if I could put up with that unmitigated BS I could withstand anything. I do wish though that I could have the 60 grand back as it would have paid for my BSN. I recently came into some money from my mother's estate and am planning a trip oo Ireland in the near future to have one great mother/son adventure before the man cub graduates from High School and joins the Marines. Everyone is afraid I'll fall into a vat of Irish Whiskey and never come out but hey that's why God created whiskey to keep the Irish from taking over the world. Just kidding though - I wouldn't trade the life I lead today for anything and if I can give some small ray of hope to others caught in this nonsense it has all been worth it. Someday I'll tell the story of why I almost died by suicide. I am almost ready to share that tale but not today.

Hppy

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Specializes in OR.

That's the whole crux of this thing. Take away the "one size fits all", the abuse of power, the nonexistent ethics and money sucking attributes. Add in the use of the evidence based practice that we as nurses should be acknowledging anyway, accepting that 12 step woo does not fix the world and the result just might be a model that really does advocate for the impaired nurse and sifts out the nurse that may have merely made a dumb choice.

As an example, "Beazy" in another thread...I can see the purpose of an evaluation with all of that going on. However, with everything being appropriately documented and no evidence of misuse and no diagnosis, why the need for any monitoring? This is a clear example of abuse of the existence of these programs.

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These things could be run a heck of a lot better. One good easy first step is to ensure that those doing the evaluations should have no financial interest in the outcome of that evaluation. In short the evaluator should not work for the rehab center that is going to profit from your warehousing

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Specializes in OR.
These things could be run a heck of a lot better. One good easy first step is to ensure that those doing the evaluations should have no financial interest in the outcome of that evaluation. In short the evaluator should not work for the rehab center that is going to profit from your warehousing

Nor should the program have such a strict say in who you go to for an evaluation. I should think it fine to require that an evaluation be done by someone with certain credentials such as psychiatric, addiction medicine (actual board certification) or psychology, etc. i also think it, utterly ridiculous that any program has a hand in where a person goes for treatment, if recommended. Why should I have to travel clear across the state? They claim that family support is important. Not likely when one is forced to be 200 miles away. Also why am I forced to be where my insurance won't pay? Oh yeah, cuz it's all about the money, honey.

In the real world of medicine, (as an example) don't doctors have to disclose if they have ownership in the surgery scented that they are sending you to for them to do your procedure. We have the choice of which doctor we want to go to fe that procedure, yes? What makes this any different?

Just asking. I know, common sense......does not apply here.....

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Those are excellent points Cats!!! Really so long as I go to an approved facility for treatment if recommended by an approved evaluator why should the monitoring program care??? I think they care because they have gotten way too cozy with their favorite providers. Honestly, I think the whole rehab "experience" was such a colossal waste of time and money. Perhaps we should just send the people who need medical detox there and then to the 12 step rooms. Pretty much all they did in rehab was tell us to go to AA and feed us horrible food. Useless, useless industry

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Specializes in OR.
Those are excellent points Cats!!! Really so long as I go to an approved facility for treatment if recommended by an approved evaluator why should the monitoring program care??? I think they care because they have gotten way too cozy with their favorite providers. Honestly, I think the whole rehab "experience" was such a colossal waste of time and money. Perhaps we should just send the people who need medical detox there and then to the 12 step rooms. Pretty much all they did in rehab was tell us to go to AA and feed us horrible food. Useless, useless industry

You were fed? This ****hole dragged us to the grocery store of thier choosing once a week, gave you money and 30 min to shop. You know that money came out of what you were paying them too.

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Yeah the rehab center I was in had a very loose affiliation with the local hospital. We got hospital trays

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Specializes in Clinical Leadership, Staff Development, Education.

Thanks for this post and all the responses. I am also one that found themselves at life or death situation with my alcoholism. Although the BON program has elements I find annoying.... treatment and continually working a program of recovery has given me a life I did not think possible.

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