Suboxone and Nursing

Nurses Recovery

Published

Hi,

I'm very interested in working in health-care, however, a couple years ago I had an opiate addiction, admitted myself to rehab, and I am now on Suboxone. I've been clean ever since and do not have cravings. Will my past not allow me to par-take in a health focused career?

Thanks,

Fulfillment

Specializes in CRNA, Finally retired.

Whoa: The above is simply a position statement endorsing the idea of methadone maintenance programs. It it NOT and endorsement of methadone use among practicing nurses. NYSNA has not taken an official position on the issue of nurses who use opiates chronically for pain management. This is such a complex issue and we don't have enough data to support either a pro or anti status. Having said that, a small amount of study does support the use of suboxone over methadone because there are suble differences in judgement skills. We don't have ANY studies supporting the safety of nurses who use either drug. Until these come in, the employer has to decide whether to hire someone on maintenance drugs.

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I live in Missouri. I have chronic back pain which is what got me into trouble in the first place. Almost the entire time of my probation I was enrolled in a pain clinic and took vicoden on a daily basis. I needed it to function!

The BON was fully aware of this and was perfectly fine with it.

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