Venting about BON involvement in DUI

Nurses Recovery

Published

:banghead:I am writing this because I am irritated that in the nursing field if you receive a DUI during your off duty time it can (and usually will) seriously affect your career. I have a colleague who has been nursing for over 40 years, they have never put patients in danger, and have never been intoxicated on shift. Yet this person receives a DUI and the BON immediately treats this person as if they are the scum of the earth. This is only one example of several that I could share. Nursing seems to be the only job, outside of the military, where if you get a DUI in your off time it directly affects your career. With the changes in state DUI laws and the greater enforcement of those laws this is a serious issue. I feel that the members of the BON are out to crucify people for making human mistakes. I understand that we can't have intoxicated nurse's on the floor taking care of patients but if it doesn't involve patient care/safety the BON should keep their #$%#ed nose out of nurses' business. I am afraid to go out and have 1 beer/glass of wine because I'm worried that if I get stopped for some trivial traffic violation I will wind up losing my nursing license. Back to my colleague, the BON put restrictions on their license, required the monthly random UA's and when the lab failed to file their paperwork in time, REVOKED my colleague's license. With the nursing shortage, this practice seems to be one more case of the system shooting itsself in the foot. :banghead: This is my opinion and I wanted to see how others felt on the subject. And please spare me the "Morals" speech because it has nothing to do with morals.

Specializes in LTC, SNF, PSYCH, MEDSURG, MR/DD.
Come on...we aren't talking about obscure laws preventing gentleman from wearing a hat on the shady side of the street on the second Tuesday of every month. This is driving while intoxicated...its a pretty well known (if not well followed) law.

Maybe 50 years ago ignorance could have been pleaded but not now, no matter how rural you are. If you can drive a car then you will know this law.

but unless i am driving a car as part of my nursing job, why should the bon get involved? i am not saying its ok, its just not the bons business imho.

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Specializes in ICU.
Come on...we aren't talking about obscure laws preventing gentleman from wearing a hat on the shady side of the street on the second Tuesday of every month. This is driving while intoxicated...its a pretty well known (if not well followed) law.

Maybe 50 years ago ignorance could have been pleaded but not now, no matter how rural you are. If you can drive a car then you will know this law.

I agreed with you earlier "In the case of DUI, I accept your position. If you imbibe EtOH, you probably shouldn't be on the road." Yes, DUI laws are pretty cut & dried.

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but when you get a dui and go to court (in my state), you get evaluated for alcoholism.

if they find that you dont have a problem, why does the bon need to further test you?

once you have satisfied the legal system, why should you be further punished by the bon?

unless you come to work drunk, the bon shouldnt get involved.

who know what they will decide to moniter next.

ps

you can do as much damage by coming to work with little to no sleep,

how many times have night nurses been up all day but still went to work?:nono:

Anyone who drinks and drives is making a POOR decision and and risking not only their safety but the safety of anyone who happens to be on the same road as they are. This is enough reason for the BON to be concerned, and to take action.

Each state BON provides specific lists of what they will investigate, and includes many situations, including any criminal activity, not paying student loans, not paying child support, not filing state taxes all which have nothing to do with pt safety but do involve personal responsibility, integrity and ( a favorite expression in many states) " matters of "moral turpitude".

What many nurss fail to grasp is that they are held to certain standards that include more than just their time on the job. It was repeated over and over when I was a student, maybe this is not included in the present day nursing school curriculums??

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I just graduated with my BSN and they made it very clear, time and again, that we are professionals and as such are held to a higher standard of conduct.

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Specializes in LTC, SNF, PSYCH, MEDSURG, MR/DD.

yes, i am not saying that its ok to drink and drive.

i am saying that after you do all the court appointed stuff, the bon steps in and some of those programs take 4 years to go through. they have a blanket policy which isnt fair to everybody. theres .08 and then there is .227. big difference.

the punishment should be specific to your problem.:nono:

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AMEN!! If you get a DUI, you will be paying a hefty price anyway!! The board of nursing has no right to but into your life!! I totally agree that as long as you were not working, it's nobody's business what you do!!!!!!!!!!!

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an interesting thread, mainly because of how strongly some people feel about this.

many have expressed the opinion that the bon has no business investigating incidents outside work. do you really believe this? would you be comfortable working with a convicted pedophile? to be clear about this: i am not equating pedophilia and drunk driving. my point is that of course the bon should look at some incidents outside the work environment. the only question is where you draw the line.

every bon draws the line in a different place. in other words, every bon clearly spells out what may or may not be considered an actionable offense. so- if it's important to you to work in a state in which dui is not a consideration for nursing license, go there.

i personally believe marijuana should be legal. i believe it is far safer than many legal substances. i know quite a few marijuana users whose judgment, while unimpaired, i fully trust. i also know that if i smoke marijuana, i might lose my license. s0- i don't smoke marijuana. if you smoke a little pot outside work, i won't think less of you as a nurse. i also won't have much sympathy if you lose your license.

some people have pointed out how easy it is to accidentally drive while over the legal limit. the equation for figuring out blood alcohol levels relate to volume, concentration, weight, and time. this calculation is a lot simpler than many medication calculations. if you can't do this calculation, you probably shouldn't be a nurse.

just my thoughts.

btw- to the poster who cited the statistic that 65% of men over 35 have at least one dui. interesting statistic. source?

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i agree. not just for nursing but in other areas as well. you are right.. we do not want impaired nurses working. however, i do feel like " big brother " is going too far. if someone shows up to work impaired, do a drug screen go from there. if the bon is able to punish on bad judgment , than when will they start punishing for multiple sex parteners, poor financial judgment, divorce, driving home after a 12 hour shift with no break, driving home after a night shift and no sleep in 24 hours, driving home emotinally upset because a child died in your er so on and so on. nureses are human, if you are a nurse that has never made a poor decision than you are either a liar or god. :cool: a dui should be punished as the law states but no further. it seems we are spinning our wheels in this country trying to fix everything with new laws and constant threat. it baffles me how the rich and famous can get away with almost anything yet the average joe is pounded. don't get me wrong i adore mj but can you imagine what would have come of the average person if there were even a hint of doctor shopping let alone the amt of drugs he had available to him. we have the ability to pull up name, social , address, drivers license no etc to see how many narcs a pt got over the last year, yet some how all was missed for him. go figure. too bad it was overlooked, maybe he could have found some peace in his life too. namess

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I believe it shows your judgment- and why should someone with poor judgment that may have killed someone be able to take care of patients! Yes even nurses are human and make mistakes- but even if this is the first "mistake" made the person still could have killed or seriously hurt her or someone else!

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I have read thru 6 pages of text....and it all come down to personal responsibility! Nothing or no-one changed anything for you. You made a choice. You had a moment in time when you thought it would be O.K. and it was not. Now...you spend all this time looking for justice! Sometimes...when we make a mistake....the answer is just NO! Believe that and move on.

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Anyone who drinks and drives is making a POOR decision and and risking not only their safety but the safety of anyone who happens to be on the same road as they are. This is enough reason for the BON to be concerned, and to take action.

Each state BON provides specific lists of what they will investigate, and includes many situations, including any criminal activity, not paying student loans, not paying child support, not filing state taxes all which have nothing to do with pt safety but do involve personal responsibility, integrity and ( a favorite expression in many states) " matters of "moral turpitude".

What many nurss fail to grasp is that they are held to certain standards that include more than just their time on the job. It was repeated over and over when I was a student, maybe this is not included in the present day nursing school curriculums??

the bold has nothing to do with "moral turpitude" and everything to do with the state using your lic to force payment....

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an interesting thread, mainly because of how strongly some people feel about this.

many have expressed the opinion that the bon has no business investigating incidents outside work. do you really believe this? would you be comfortable working with a convicted pedophile? to be clear about this: i am not equating pedophilia and drunk driving. my point is that of course the bon should look at some incidents outside the work environment. the only question is where you draw the line.

every bon draws the line in a different place. in other words, every bon clearly spells out what may or may not be considered an actionable offense. so- if it's important to you to work in a state in which dui is not a consideration for nursing license, go there.

i personally believe marijuana should be legal. i believe it is far safer than many legal substances. i know quite a few marijuana users whose judgment, while unimpaired, i fully trust. i also know that if i smoke marijuana, i might lose my license. s0- i don't smoke marijuana. if you smoke a little pot outside work, i won't think less of you as a nurse. i also won't have much sympathy if you lose your license.

some people have pointed out how easy it is to accidentally drive while over the legal limit. the equation for figuring out blood alcohol levels relate to volume, concentration, weight, and time. this calculation is a lot simpler than many medication calculations. if you can't do this calculation, you probably shouldn't be a nurse.

just my thoughts.

btw- to the poster who cited the statistic that 65% of men over 35 have at least one dui. interesting statistic. source?

please cite the equation.....and specify if it is live wt, and the dif between male/female

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