TPAPN Quarterly reports changed?

Recovering_RN · Mar 9, 2018

I haven't heard anything yet either. My quarterly "meetings" are a breeze. My advocate doesn't attend (I know some do, mine just says call her if questions), so I just complete my page and also as much of the manager's page as I can (name, phone number etc), and put it in my manager's mailbox with her parts highlighted (the 5 questions that she has to circle yes/no, the optional comment line and the signature). She fills it out and puts it back in my mailbox and I fax it in. Easy peasy! I always leave a note saying I'd be happy to discuss, but since I work nights and she's in her office days, this works well for us. Other people have told me their meeting is a 5 minute minor thing, but I figured even that's difficult to schedule with me on nights. It makes it much easier for her, too, and I made a point during the interview to try to minimize how time consuming the administrative side would be so I would have a better chance of getting the job.

StillRN · Mar 9, 2018

What is your advocate? Is that the same thing as your as your case manager (or Monitor as we call it)?

Recovering_RN · Mar 9, 2018

What is your advocate? Is that the same thing as your as your case manager (or Monitor as we call it)?

An advocate is a volunteer for TPAPN who is assigned to you to help you through the process, help answer questions, mine helped by sending me articles and resources about getting a job, interviewing tips etc. Some are previous TPAPN participants, others just have a desire to help people in the recovering substance abuse arena. They are supposed to sit with you and guide the process of the "return to work" meeting you have with your new employer when you get a job offer, to help explain all the requirements and get papers signed. Mine did not, she just said "call if you have questions". She's very hands off, which I like. I don't like the idea that there's a third party, beyond TPAPN itself, getting in the middle of my relationship with my manager. I was required to check in with her by phone weekly when I first started TPAPN. That tapered to monthly, then after two years I requested that check in be dropped, because I was stable in my job and didn't need any support (I made sure to say she was great and very supportive etc). I think the advocates are like a peer assistance, someone to help you through the process because the case managers just have way too many nurses on their list. I've been told that the advocates are getting overwhelmed too, because there aren't enough of them, which is why they changed from having the advocate present at the quarterly and "back to work" meetings to having them just be available by phone.

So I guess the difference is that my case manager is employed by TPAPN and therefore is my "parole officer" in a sense, and will be the one to approve/reject my requests for things like vacations, etc, and would be the one to discipline me if I did something wrong, whereas the advocate is a volunteer and supposedly there to help me. But I never let my guard down with her, even though she's very nice and friendly I always knew that anything I ever said to her would get back to my case manager!

StillRN · Mar 9, 2018

That sounds like a nice thing to have. Other than being involved in meetings with your manager.. I wouldn't like that at all. It just puts the spotlight on you even more. I don't want my managers even thinking about the program other than filling out the report.

We don't have an advocate or peer group meetings. That means we have to figure everything out on our own. Unless your employer tells you to self report (mine did) or you somehow know about self reporting from someone else in the program... you have no way of knowing you even have the option to self report and be in the confidential program. I know several Nurses who are on board orders because they didn't even know they had another option.

I'm on my 3rd different monitor in 2 years (high turnover rate) and they don't guide you in any way unless you specifically ask (like where can I find a job? Where do other Nurses in the program work, How do i disclose to employers, how do I find an aoda counselor, etc... they give very generic answers or say I don't know. I work with a nurse who is 4.5 yrs in on her 5 yr contract and she didn't even know you could request having stipulations dropped. She still doesn't have her narc key, still does AODA, still does 48 screens/yr (she could be down to 14 plus a hair) but they don't tell us anything voluntarily.

My other Friend is 6 years in.. just got suspended for a positive screen so she has to start all over- she asks me questions she still doesn't know much because they don't tell you anything! The only reason I know stuff is I read the monthly board meeting minutes and read through other people's contracts to find out how it works.

It's a very lonely program if you don't know anyone else in it. When you are clueless and scared to death it just sets us up for failure.

So having an advocate would be really nice (though I would also prefer the hands off method.. just be there for me to ask questions).

Ash2213 · Mar 17, 2018

The online forms are no longer available. I am guessing they are supposed to do it through email now. Although my advocate had no clue what I was referring to...

Recovering_RN · Mar 21, 2018

Well I got the message today, through Affinity, about the new quarterly report process. The meetings go away, we don't fax in the completed forms anymore. Now, our manager just gets an email and it will have a link to an online form they have to fill out. Sounds good in theory, easier, less hassle than setting up a meeting. However, this puts all the responsibility on the manager to actually get it done! Mine is frequently overwhelmed with details in her job, and I can easily see this not getting done. And I have no way of helping her get it done. Totally takes control out of our hands, but I can bet that we will still be held responsible if these quarterly reports aren't completed!

Plus a big change is that now I will have no knowledge of what she says. Before, she'd sign, check the check boxes, and maybe, rarely but it happens, she'd write a comment on the Optional Comments line, then give it to me to fax it in. So I could read what she wrote. Now, that's all behind the scenes. I really hate that! I get along well with my manager, but now that she knows I won't be reading her comments, I wouldn't be surprised if she thought maybe she should enter a little "constructive criticism"! Of course she'd have no way of knowing how damaging anything negative at all could be to us in TPAPN!!

Well I only have two more quarterly reports before I'm done, so hopefully this will be no big deal.

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Mar 21, 2018

I've always hated how reports (or chats) between supervisors and CMs do not include us. It's been like that for the duration of the time I've been in this nightmare. Now that being said, at no time did any one have thier **** together to actually get the email to my manager. I usually just handed them the form. In one job they handed it back to me to fax. In the other, they faxed it. I never worried about what they had to say but that wasn't the point. I just have issue with there being any discussion about me that I am not party to. Otherwise, it smacks of gossip.

Kel65, MSN, RN · Mar 21, 2018

I just received a message from Affinity that we are now electronic for both supervisor and Advocate reports. No quarterly meetings with supervisor and employer or Advocate are required anymore.

Ash2213 · Mar 22, 2018

Yeah, I got that too. I wonder if we get to see what our supervisors and advocates are saying about us when they are done? I don't contact my advocate much anymore. When I do, it takes him at least a week to reply and he only texts me back, lol.

Kel65, MSN, RN · Mar 22, 2018

Mine is going to have to print it for HR, and for my records.