Unemployed and Monitoring Program

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Sep 2, 2016

On the interviewing issue, yep, yep and yep. Many figure out real fast to not say a thing to HR. I find that recruiters are rarely nurses themselves, especially in smaller hospitals. A lot of times a non nurse has no idea what these programs even are. They see what may be on the license or the hear "contract" or "monitoring" and stop listening. Might be preconceived prejudice or just being clueless. If you can make it the 56 weeks (and yes, we all count weeks, day, etc.) you might try to make it instead of flogging yourself. Do you emphasize that you've only barely a year left? Don't know if it'll help but it can't hurt.

heynow1313 · Sep 3, 2016

who exactly are you supposed to disclose to?

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

Me personally, i bring it up at the end of the interview.

Interviewer So do you have any questions?

Me: Well, there is......

Within the department, the person interviewing me is more than likely the person I will have to answer to so they of course would need to know. What I don't do...and i learned this the hard way (like I learn most things)...Do not put it in a cover letter, do not mention it in that first contact with HR and do not treat it like it is a stone you've been dragging for the last few years. You are not obligated to discuss the dirty details of your background. Just that you have this thing and it'll go away in a year. By the time you get this far, you may well find out that this kind of a background is more common than you think.

Interviewing is a ghastly chore, as is being the new kid on the block. It's easy to feel you are hiding something from people, but then you don't share what color underwear you are wearing that day, so why should this be much different.

I consider this to be a "need to know" thing, and most people don't need to know.

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

I must admit that I am also slightly jealous of you in that you've got a 3 year sentence. In my state, 5 years with identical stipulations (key restriction, no home health, no agency, therapist, psychiatrist for med management, no overtime, pee tests, and 12-step meetings, etc) for everyone regardless of why they are there. Supposedly "research shows that 5 years of this results in a lower relapse rate." Right, ok...is that evidence based or a nicely twisted statistic to justify laziness?

You will make it the next 56 weeks. You've made it this far. You've done so much to rise above this. I do have one other suggestion. Do you have to attend a nurse support group? Even though I am a mental health participant, attendance is part of my contract and the particular one I am assigned to is addictions focused. I must admit, it has been a handy thing. (God, I hate when i have to eat a large slice of humble pie!)I have learned a lot about the folks there and addictions in general and truthfully, I've a new respect for them. They've been a great source of job leads and generally good people.

Not every nurse job is in a hospital. Insurance companies, outside case management (usually things like Medicare utilization review companies.) etc.

I hope I've helped.

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

Supposedly "research shows that 5 years of this results in a lower relapse rate." Right, ok...is that evidence based or a nicely twisted statistic to justify laziness?

It is evidence based, although the most often cited study only ran for 8 years... Relapse rate drops to less then 15% after five years of continuous sobriety. An eight-year perspective on the relationship between the duration of abstinence and other aspects of recovery. - PubMed - NCBI

Some studies put relapse rate down to 7% after five years.

Agree that the best place for job leads is going to be with other recovering medical professionals. OP, if you don't have to attend a monitoring meeting with other nurses who are also under monitoring, you might try looking around for healthcare professional based AA groups and/or Caduceus groups. (Caduceus can be hard to find because they tend to cater to physicians, at least in my area, so don't exactly advertise.) You're not the only one under monitoring in your area and not the only one under monitoring with a crappy work history, so hopefully something will work out...I'm assuming you've tried dialysis, nursing home, psych hospitals?

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

My snark about the flat 5 year thing is that study was regarding addiction/sobriety statistics. For the addicted persons, that may very well be true. The mental health folks get put in the same box because "we just don't have that many." so I've been told. Kind of a "we don't have the medicine for your illness so we're going to give you this other one which will probably do more damage than good" mentality. The standardized contract for a nonstandard illness has been discussed in other threads.

Starprism888 · Sep 3, 2016

Trust me, I originally thought I was only going to be in the program for 2 years. I then learned it was 3 years and was let down. Then I found this site and saw that the norm is 5 years. I feel I was let off easy compared to what some of these nurses are going through. I have restrictions too (like you: no home health or anywhere without direct supervisor, urine tests, therapist, NP Psychiatry for Meds, 12 meetings...I'm not sure about the key restrictions, I worked in the OR so I never gave meds anesthesia did and my boss allowed me to stay out of med counts). I read the post about the changes that should be made regarding these programs...individualizing the care. I agree with everyone of them. I have been struggling with whether or not I would advise a nurse who told me they thought they had an addition to self report to the BON. I feel if they were putting patients in danger or diverting then yes it would be a duty to report. But if it was something different, these programs are not to help you. I have never experienced this much stress in my life. Worrying about what I eat, whether it has poppy seeds or was cooked with alcohol. If I use too much hand sanitizer. An over the counter medication can give you a positive test result and then you're accused of using. And they won't believe you, because you're an addict and addicts lie. Then if you are unemployed because of the monitoring program, you have to decide if you want to feed your children or pay for your urine tests. Can't pay for your urine tests? No problem, that's breaking your contract and you'll lose your license. My life is better now than it ever was, so yes I do owe something to be in this monitoring program. But there needs to be another way besides "this is the contract - sign it" or "lose your license."

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

I too am OR. Although the stress of a badly run OR is what helped out the crash and burn episode that got me here. My first job out of the gate with this ball and chain was also run like a nursery school sandbox. I am looking for something outside OR now. Its difficult considering that's all ice done for 15 years. I'm at 2 years and 11 months to go....not counting or anything.

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

My snark about the flat 5 year thing is that study was regarding addiction/sobriety statistics. For the addicted persons, that may very well be true. The mental health folks get put in the same box because "we just don't have that many." so I've been told. Kind of a "we don't have the medicine for your illness so we're going to give you this other one which will probably do more damage than good" mentality. The standardized contract for a nonstandard illness has been discussed in other threads.

But the OP identifies as an addict.

Fwiw I would never tell someone to self-report. However, if you end up in monitoring for a legit addiction issue, you've usually earned that spot by diverting and/or acting erratic or impaired enough that someone reported you. Obviously this doesn't include folks under monitoring for most mental health problems, positive UDS for marijuana, most first time DUIers...etc.

catsmeow1972, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2016

Agreed! And precisely my points.

Twoyearnurse · Sep 4, 2016

Agreed. I earned my contract! I do feel for individuals stuck in these programs for mental health. Really, how is paying for $$$$ of UA's helping someone who has bipolar disorder? I am pretty fortunate, my state- though it does not have an alternative to discipline program, does take the individual into account and adjusts the contracts accordingly.