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I would love to connect with some fellow nurses in probation or diversion. I am in diversion and live in the Bay Area. 

Specializes in Home Health/Hospice, Public Health, Case Mgmt.
59 minutes ago, jnks said:

Something to think about… Diversion is a voluntary program for nurses with substance abuse or other mental illness. I have seen them turn people down who formally request enrollment in Diversion but state they are there for one bad occurrence and do not have any substance addictions. Then they get the chance to to Probation.  

This is very true. Good point. My lawyer actually just told me about this happening to a client because they didn't/wouldn't admit that they have a "problem." Good thing to keep in mind. Diversion may not be an option. I feel like the instance of med diversion, though, is something they would consider for the diversion program. Just my opinion. You never know what they're going to do. If I've learned anything throughout this process, it's that the BRN is absolutely not consistent. 

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Does diversion ppl know the extent of the allegations? Like can I join for stress? Or do they know it’s med diversion? Maybe if I joined for something like that my restrictions wouldn’t be for a year or whatever! It’s hard to opt into that when I know I can’t work and I truly don’t have a “problem” thank God

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Specializes in Home Health/Hospice, Public Health, Case Mgmt.
8 minutes ago, Hnh1993 said:

Does diversion ppl know the extent of the allegations? Like can I join for stress? Or do they know it’s med diversion? Maybe if I joined for something like that my restrictions wouldn’t be for a year or whatever! It’s hard to opt into that when I know I can’t work and I truly don’t have a “problem” thank God

Diversion will be informed of the allegations because they would be reported to the board by the employer. You cannot hide the med diversion. Unless it is deemed that you did not actually divert meds. Is it still under investigation?

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This is all new, a week old. I haven’t even received anything from BRN for diversion referral. Im Just doing research and weighing my options and trying to decide what’s best for me. I’ll discuss with lawyer on Monday but find 99% of time they advise against diversion. Who knows what the investigation will produce.

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Also, can anyone outline to me how this goes? I’d like to know what to expect as far as time lines, hearing, agreeing to probation, etc. thank you! 

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I am also waiting on an outcome from the BRN for something I did outside of work. But I received an offer to diversion a few months after my incident, without me reporting anything to the BRN yet because I hadn’t even gone to court at the time.  They somehow became aware even though I didn't have a court conviction yet.  I simply had my lawyer contact them to decline diversion.  However, its just a waiting game now, not sure what is going on on their end or how they are investigating the manner.  But from what I’ve heard from other nurses it takes about a year for all the probation stuff to be offered/take into effect.

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Specializes in Home Health/Hospice, Public Health, Case Mgmt.
33 minutes ago, R000N said:

I am also waiting on an outcome from the BRN for something I did outside of work. But I received an offer to diversion a few months after my incident, without me reporting anything to the BRN yet because I hadn’t even gone to court at the time.  They somehow became aware even though I didn't have a court conviction yet.  I simply had my lawyer contact them to decline diversion.  However, its just a waiting game now, not sure what is going on on their end or how they are investigating the manner.  But from what I’ve heard from other nurses it takes about a year for all the probation stuff to be offered/take into effect.

@R000N, @Hnh1993 Same thing happened to me. My issue (10/2019) occurred outside of work and wasn't even a conviction. Never went to court. It was a bogus arrest that never made it past the arresting agency. Never sent to the DA. I'm actually in the process of getting it sealed right now. Got a letter for diversion about a month later (11/2019) and declined. Diversion called me about another month later (12/2019) to make sure I didn't want to join and I didn't return the call. Received an accusation letter about 3 weeks after that (1/2020). They give you 14 days to respond. Responded and received a default court date in 6/2020, but the date got postponed to 9/2020 per the request of my lawyer (d/t COVID being terrible at that time). Throughout all this time, my lawyer was trying to negotiate with them for me to not have probation. She tried getting it dismissed, letter of reprimand. They said no and actually wanted my license suspended pending mental health/physical health eval. She had me do the eval and since it went well, she was able to negotiate for probation without the suspension. She let them know right before my court date (9/2020) that we were settling for Probation and I signed the probation stipulated settlement 9/2020 and never went to court. Took about 3 months to receive official probation order (early 12/2020). Began Probation officially on 12/31/2020. 

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After declining diversion, could you have opted into it at a later time? I want to see what their investigation produces. If it’s obviously damning then I’ll do diversion but if I end up with a low level offense I might just settle for that. I don't want to be out of work for a whole year in diversion when again…..I don’t have a substance abuse issue.  

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16 minutes ago, LMRN2003 said:

@R000N, @Hnh1993 Same thing happened to me. My issue (10/2019) occurred outside of work and wasn't even a conviction. Never went to court. It was a bogus arrest that never made it past the arresting agency. Never sent to the DA. I'm actually in the process of getting it sealed right now. Got a letter for diversion about a month later (11/2019) and declined. Diversion called me about another month later (12/2019) to make sure I didn't want to join and I didn't return the call. Received an accusation letter about 3 weeks after that (1/2020). They give you 14 days to respond. Responded and received a default court date in 6/2020, but the date got postponed to 9/2020 per the request of my lawyer (d/t COVID being terrible at that time). Throughout all this time, my lawyer was trying to negotiate with them for me to not have probation. She tried getting it dismissed, letter of reprimand. They said no and actually wanted my license suspended pending mental health/physical health eval. She had me do the eval and since it went well, she was able to negotiate for probation without the suspension. She let them know right before my court date (9/2020) that we were settling for Probation and I signed the probation stipulated settlement 9/2020 and never went to court. Took about 3 months to receive official probation order (early 12/2020). Began Probation officially on 12/31/2020. 

 Wow, it’s just so crazy to me to continue hearing about stories that didn’t even lead to conviction and they still result in probation!  @Hnh1993 I hope you can fight your case, but not trying to be a downer, it sounds like the BON has a one size fits all type of punishment.  Many stories I’ve heard result in the same length of probation and restrictions for everyone who receives an accusation.  Sounds like once the BON issues an accusation, its really hard to fight and they find everyone guilty.  It’s very punitive and unfair.  I really hope this isn’t the case for you, but wish you luck.  

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Specializes in Home Health/Hospice, Public Health, Case Mgmt.
47 minutes ago, Hnh1993 said:

After declining diversion, could you have opted into it at a later time? I want to see what their investigation produces. If it’s obviously damning then I’ll do diversion but if I end up with a low level offense I might just settle for that. I don't want to be out of work for a whole year in diversion when again…..I don’t have a substance abuse issue.  

@Hnh1993 You need to talk to your lawyer about that. I know for me, it was too late, but I did not retain my lawyer until I received the Accusation. I was naive and thought that since nothing was being pursued legally, that I was in the clear. I didn't know that Accusation essentially means Probation, either.I didn't know that declination of Diversion = Probation. I thought my lawyer may be able to get me a letter of reprimand or possibly dismissed. I did know that dismissal was unlikely, but I thought a Probation outcome was absurd and unlikely because my incident had zero to do with work. I was still in freaking nursing school when the incident happened but already had my RN because it was a MSN program, so the BRN was notified automatically when I was arrested. So essentially, by the time I realized Probation was very likely, I asked my lawyer and she said it was too late for Diversion. I have heard of others negotiating for Diversion at a later time but I feel like it may be a short window. I'm not certain on this, though, which is why I think you should definitely ask your lawyer. 

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For me, I think a letter of reprimand is probably unlikely. My lawyer did say that I could still do diversion once we get to the interview phase. I want to confirm that and I don’t want to be misled. That means I would HAVE to go on probation. All that comes with it is just a price I have to pay I guess, but the fact that it’s on my license forever with a diversion offense is a hard pill for me to swallow and is what has me leaning towards diversion. Do you know of ppl that worked during diversion- just non-nursing jobs since your license is inactive for that time? I was thinking if I did diversion I could just take an entire break from bedside and so case management or something and just return to bedside when my name is clear and I’m done with the diversion program. 

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Also, if you know anyone currently in the program please try to link me to them if they’re open to it. I have a lot of questions 

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