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Discussion

Addiction eval

About a year ago a patient filed a complaint that she did not receive any of her meds through out my shift. These included narcotics. At the time I had been prescribed hydrocodone for a kidney stone. I was drug tested and passed the drug test. Office of long term care investigated it and I was cleared but then it was turned into the Bon. Now I am being required to do an addiction evaluation bc I have been prescribed several pain medications related to child birth, gynecology problems as well as kidney issues. What can I expect at the evaluation?

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    My evaluation included a "voluntary" release of information for all of my medical records.

    There was a cognitive test involving remembering names, drawing hands on clocks, etc...

    There was an intake form that asks about any type of drug/ETOH use- When it began, how much, how long, etc...I think some of these tests can be found under "Longer Screens" Screening Page / SAMHSA-HRSA

    You can also expect to do a drug/ETG(Longer ETOH) urine test. They also wanted to talk to two people who know me personally (voluntarily of course)- preferably a spouse and a family member.

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    Are you being sent to a psychologist, Psychiatrist or an addictionologist. If you are not an addict and only you know that for sure you need to be totally honest with your evaluator. Addictionologists are much better at looking at behavior than say a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Also a statement from the DR. who prescribed the medications describing the clinical reasoning and your patterns of use etc....

    I find it hard to believe that the hospital cleared you but reported you to the board anyway. Unless they are just trying to be insanely careful from a risk management standpoint. Are you in a Union do you have malpractice insurance that would pay for a legal consultatio with regard to your rights in this matter?

    Good Luck

    Hppy

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    Be cautious about who is doing the eval if you have a choice in the matter. Ideally, you really want to stay away from folks with ties to rehab/IOP programs because they may be less inclined to give a neutral eval and more inclined to recommend whatever form of treatment they happen to provide. I know it sounds paranoid but there have been court cases detailing this abuse of power, including a huge scandal in the early 90s involving MD monitoring programs.

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    Definitely be cautious of an evaluator tied to a treatment organization- they will likely recommend whatever the highest level of treatment that they offer (This happened to me, I have heard horror stories from other nurses too).

    I was told frankly by my third party evaluator that even though they are independent the board of nursing has a huge influence as to what they recommend. If they don't fall in line then they are dropped from the "board approved evaluator" list.

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    Im sorry to inform you but you are screwed. They pull a MAP on you and your evaluator will have it at your appointment. You are going to beo placed into HPRP for three years. Thousands of dollars, random drug tests (no alcohol either), 3 AA/NA meetings a week plus group therapy weekly, addictionist appointments, sponsor reports, and the list gors on.....You may even be accused of diversion of the patients narcotic. If you charted you gave her a narcotic and she said you never gave it and your MAP shows multiple prescriptions for Opioids, or any other controlled substance for that matter, you are in deep trouble. Sorry for the bad news but you wanted to know. You will give 5 names/phone numbers and the evaluator WILL call them. They call it an evaluation but its an investigation. HPRP ruined my career. Chapman law group filed a class action lawsuit against HPRP on February 28. Go to their website. If you can afford an attorney, GET ONE.

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    What is a MAP?

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