Co-worker stole my ID

angel's RN · Jun 16, 2007

there are a lot of us, not only nurses but many health professionals. tazzi's point was that the idea should not be to punish forever as in remand of license permanently as one poster seems to demand.:trout:
i don't see where she's rationalizing?

right on cattitude!

's rn

TazziRN, RN · Jun 16, 2007

Cat and Angel, thank you.

TazziRN, RN · Jun 16, 2007

You have my respect in that you have recovered. I have seen nurses that do not recover. As I am sure you have too. I do not believe you are correct in suggesting that there would be so few nurses that they would never see the inside of their house again. Yes there are no doubt more than we realize. But your suggestion implies that you still are rationalizing. Just an observation.:chair:

Rationalizing what? And what do you mean, "still"?

Nurses in recovery are not just comprised of nurses who diverted. They are also nurses who used street drugs and drank, and many who got clean before obtaining their licenses. I stand by my comparison. If all nurses who have chemical dependency histories lost or were denied licensure, the nurses left would be so overworked that what is considered "overworked" now would be a joke.

angel's RN · Jun 16, 2007

:eek: I have worked with a nurse that was diverting at a hospital several years ago, but I didn't realize it at the time. Someone turned her name into the board, which at the time I thought was harsh. Now I realize that it was the very best thing that could have happened to her, because she got the hel[p she needed, and as far as I know, she's been clean about 20 years now.:yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap: She got her license back, and I would not hesitate to let her take care of me, not for a MINUTE. :bow: KUDO'S TO ALL RECOVERING NURSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

's RN

Agnus · Jun 16, 2007

Rationalizing whatIf all nurses who have chemical dependency histories lost or were denied licensure, the nurses left would be so overworked that what is considered "overworked" now would be a joke.

You state the same rationalization much more clearly.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jun 16, 2007

You state the same rationalization much more clearly.

perhaps you could make YOUR point more clearly? i am a literate person, and i fail to understand what you are trying to say......

TCRNCOB61 · Jun 16, 2007

I for one am going to rationalize myself to my homegroup meeting this morning after reading the past few posts....... I need to talk to some recovering people, yes there are other nurses in my homegroup.

I feel I am a VERY safe nurse as long as I keep my recovery 1st in my life.

TC

Cattitude · Jun 17, 2007

You state the same rationalization much more clearly.

:confused: Ok, I'm puzzled.

perhaps you could make YOUR point more clearly? i am a literate person, and i fail to understand what you are trying to say......

I thought ot was just me, that I was missing some secret code

I have worked with a nurse that was diverting at a hospital several years ago, but I didn't realize it at the time. Someone turned her name into the board, which at the time I thought was harsh. Now I realize that it was the very best thing that could have happened to her, because she got the hel[p she needed, and as far as I know, she's been clean about 20 years now.:yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap: :yelclap: She got her license back, and I would not hesitate to let her take care of me, not for a MINUTE. KUDO'S TO ALL RECOVERING NURSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
's RN

Thanks for the ongoing support Miss Angels. You have a compassionate heart!

TazziRN, RN · Jun 17, 2007

Oh, good, I'm not losing my mind, 'cuz I don't got it either!

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2007

This is a hard topic for me, as I have experienced the emotional trauma of being the victim of an alcoholic, who almost cost me my career, when he spent the day in a bar, added a few narcs, and drove home, totaling my car, hitting me head on in my lane of traffice after dark with no lights on. Basically, I have spent 5 years trying to get to the point I can go back to work as House Supervisor, not what I do now, more like office work,but nursing, in its title.
I did turn in a young nurse, as I was charging ICU,when all of a sudden, I was ordereing narcotics, daily, when before I could go a week most of the time. In addition, things never added up. I had a patient who was so out of it, I was afraid to give him much medication at all, and supposedly on nights she gave him big injections of demerol, ativan, etc. But I doubted it. Then I was checking, and found that a patient on tele ( who used our narcs) had his MS dc'd at around 8 pm on rounds, and she supposedely gave him a dose after 10. Another was a deaf and dumb patient, whose wife never left his side,and had a PCA, with orders to adjust if necessary, and did have breakthrough meds ordered, but this nurse was the only one who gave him three doses during the night. I actually went to check if he needed the PCA adjusted, as he was supposedly requireing so many boluses, and asked his wife, to aske him about his pain and if it was controlled, She said Yes, and I asked what happened about the increased pain requiring more meds, and she kept saying, NO NO He is doing great, he just pushes his button. I did not want to set off suspicions in any patients, so just sort of checked around. Then I saw the same nurse come out of the BR, and she had a blood spot onher pants about mid thigh. And another RN came to me and said they bumped into her, and she had a syringe in her pocket, immediately prior to theBR incident,and she said it was a saline flush. Unfortunately, she had just returned to work following the SIDS death of her newborn daughter. They did drug test her, and supposedly, according to unit director, she tested for Darvocet, ativan and some other thing she had scripts for. BUT I was never sure whether she was diverting for money, the director or what, I just knew she was in trouble. I also had heard nurses talking about the director asking different nurses about pain meds, and if the had any extra or with them, as she had lupus, and needed meds. In addition, she had a script she secured from one of the drs. there, and used a 30 tab script in two days. That speaks for iteself, usually. BUT she was not the one who was giving all the different meds.I did not see the nurse (D>) after she left the unit, but two years later read of an incident in our nursing newletter from BON, and another year or so later, she lost her license. I have never felt bad about reporting these suspicions. But have always hoped it was handled in a manner that hoped to help her. It was amazing to me that the pharmacy never caught any of this, probably don't really check them well.
Another time I came on as House Sup, and found that the pharmacist had decided to mix a 1000cc bag with morphine for a drip, rather than use PCA, as he thought they were too expensive. Naturally, no control, over this, so I asked the nurse to pull it, and save it for me, I needed to turn it in. The lady died in the meantime,and when I went to retrieve the bag, it was supposedly wasted by two nurses. DON was not happy.
Opportunity is available no matter what precautions are taken. We also have to trust each other, so the trust issue is a problem. I don't judge my patients,and am an advocate for their pain control,be it emotional or physical. I do not judge fellow nurses. I don't have a problem with those in recovery, in fact applaud them. BUT my weakness is I can't stand the alcoholics, be they patients,friends,family, etc. I work on it and try to view it as a disease,but simply have a very difficult time, due to the personal involvement with one taking my career, and one , in my family, ruining so any people's lives. I do hope I can overcome this,but it is my personal demon to be able to see it as a disease. So I guess I can understand the problem some have saying "anybody can quit if they want, they do it to themselves."
Taking licenses and not offereing the opportunity to rehab is not right, and would, as mentioned, only contribute to the shortage we already have. In fact, having never been to a meeting, I would bet anybody who did go to one, would meet somebody they knew, and yet did not really "know about their recovery".
More than the sober recovering nurses, I worry more about who we will lose,now that our state seems to see the credit score of each nurse as the barrier between her and the job she seeks. What could it have to do with her nursing expertise. I guess this might be equivalent to some sort of management issue, but really, finances could be knocked out by many many situations unrelated to a personal management issue. I had no idea that it was even part of a job application, until a colleague told me that she had recently applied for a new job, and was asked to sign that they could read her credit report.
It is too bad that each individual is not welcomed for their strenghts, experience, and resolve. There will always be somebody who makes a mistake,intentionally or not, who will pave the way for some new requirment we all will be required to meet.
Sometime,people get careless and caught as a way of seeking help. We cannot punish those who ask for help, it makes no sense. But once it is offered we must appreciate those who have the self conviction to accomplish on their own.

Nicely written

However do we seem to forget that diversion, what a nice term, really means theft, and theft is illegal.

We should also differentiate between those who come in voluntarily for help as opposed those who go boo hoo Im busted feel sorry for me. Once busted, then as far as I can see you should face criminal charges and be forever removed from nursing.

TazziRN, RN · Jun 17, 2007

But Tom, not every nurse diverts!!!! And you're right, diverting is theft however it is recognized that were it not for the addiction, the theft would not happen, therefore take care of the addiction problem and the theft will not happen again as long as the nurse stays clean.

And getting busted is often a silent cry for help. Chemically dependent nurses are so scared of asking for help because of attitudes like yours, so we ask for help the only way we know how: we get caught. It is often not a conscious act but a subconscious one.

Why are you so dead set against nurses being human? What happened in your life to make you so intolerant of those of us who are not perfect?

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2007

But Tom, not every nurse diverts!!!! And you're right, diverting is theft however it is recognized that were it not for the addiction, the theft would not happen, therefore take care of the addiction problem and the theft will not happen again as long as the nurse stays clean.
And getting busted is often a silent cry for help. Chemically dependent nurses are so scared of asking for help because of attitudes like yours, so we ask for help the only way we know how: we get caught. It is often not a conscious act but a subconscious one.
Why are you so dead set against nurses being human? What happened in your life to make you so intolerant of those of us who are not perfect?

I have coded 2 friends who were dependent nurses, they died ugly.

criminal behaviour is grounds for losing your license forever. You commit robbery, you lose your license forever, You commit any of a wide number of crimes you lose your license. You steal Drugs licenses should be lost.

Being busted is not a silent cry for help, just means you were dumb enough to be caught. Saying your sick and need help "after" you are busted, is trying to manipulate people to say were sorry for you. I Will Not Do That!!!!!!