I'm at my wits end because I'm dealing with the Michigan HPRP (Health Professionals Recovery Program) and now the Nursing Board after being reported for substance abuse after a NEGATIVE screening.
Here's the story; in March I applied for a job at a hospital and was refered to a third party screening lab. I had recently had severe stomach pains that had put me in the hospital, which my doctor believed could have been severe gastritis or the beginnings of an ulcer. He prescribed Vicodin 5mg as needed and Aciphex for severe reflux that I had also been having.
At the same time I'd been have very severe migraines, so he felt that the narcotic was justified. I didn't even take that much of the Vicodin, just enough to let me sleep, and to get me through the Aciphex taking effect and helping with my stomach issues. Those issues have pretty much resolved themselves, although for some time I was having relapses and my doctor would treat with pain meds and aciphex.
Because I had a script and I had taken ONE vicodin a week or two before I went in and took the script and my history into the center and showed them to the doctor. After recieving a negative report as to narcotic use, he ordered another test and told me he needed my doctor to write a note saying why he had prescribed the pain meds. My doctor was on vacation, but his partner complied. Again, I tested negative for any drugs. The doctor was exceptionally rude to me and insisted that I had some sort of drug problem. I tried my best to explain that I didn't, gave him my full history, and showed him a month old bottle that was almost full, trying to show that I had only taken a few of the pain meds as needed, and he made several remarks about women and being able to tell when they were lying.
I called the hospital's HR department to report the behavior of the doctor and was met with complete disinterest. I called the nursing supervisor who had just a week before been excited to hire me and got nowhere and told them that I would be turning down the job.
I went on to get a job at a larger hospital here, and again, passed the drug screen and told them that I had a script and they recorded the info and I was negative for anything so they hired me and I've been working there with no problems for seven months now.
However, I recieved a letter from the HPRP saying that the other hospital, who I had never worked for, had reported me and that I would have to undergo an intake and monitoring because of suspected substance abuse.
I tested negative once again but the intake person marked down that according to their information I didn't have significant reason to have a script for narcotics and that I showed signs of "anxiety". Well, yes, I did. I was terrified because I had done nothing wrong and was being treated as a drug addict, of COURSE I was anxious. I only graduated with my RN in January and suddenly I'm being told they can take it away because, again, of a NEGATIVE drug screen.
I don't understand this and I'm very concerned. I don't know how to follow this up. I refuse to go through a monitoring program when I don't have a problem (which they see as me saying I have a problem) but I don't see how a company I NEVER worked for and that recieved only NEGATIVE samples can report me to DCH and this HPRP for substance abuse.
Where do I go from here? How can I fight it? I now have a formal complaint due to refusing the HPRP and fighting them, so now I have to deal with the DCH, something I never dreamed would happen. How do I get them to see that this is for a NEGATIVE drug screen and is coming from people I never worked for?
I'm feeling horribly lost right now over this whole thing.
