Dismissed from the VHPMP

I do not know how it works in your state but in my state  - you would typically have a one year suspension and could re apply for the program (but only after jumping through some extra hoops); in the meantime- wishing you all the best; keep doing the next right thing. Cheering for ya.

The state will now do 1 of 2 things. The best outcome is number 1 below and the worst outcome is number 2 below.

1. The BON will suspend your license for 1 year or indefinitely, but you will remain in the program or possibly be out of the program for 1 year, then get a new contract that starts the 5 year process all over/back in the program and you being able to apply/reinstate your license in 1 year, and when you return to work, a 6 month to 1 year initial narc restriction, and since your license is suspended, you will automatically (by law) be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank. 

2. The BON revokes your license and this is the worst outcome.  Consider this a career ender and if not a career ender, consider you will not practice nursing for a minimum of 5 years. Why? Automatic report to NPDB and when licenses are Revoked (Revoke and Suspension are NOT the same) when a license is revoked, you will go into NPDB and far more important and worse, you will be barred (banned from Virginia's Medicaid for 5 years and also go into the Federal OIG disbarred list for 5 years. This means you can not work in ANY facility that does ANY business with federal government. Ths means, no hospitals, no dialysis, no community health clinics, no plasma centers, no jails, no schools, nothing, any facility that has one medicaid or medicare patient-you cant work there and thats badicalky 99 perecnt of healtchare facilities. The only place you could work as a nurse would be an aesthetic type place that accepts cash and takes no insurance and guess what? Those jobs are highly desired and very few of them hire nurses anyway and for the one's that do, there are basically zero openings as a nurse working at one of these places is often a co owner, aesthetician certified and has been there for years. It does NOT matter if you were to get your license back from the state board at the 2 year or 3 year time frame, once you are on the debarred federal OIG list, you aren't getting off for 5 years, so you will not be able to be hired, even if the BON says you can work, the employer would receive millions in fines for hiring a nurse on this list. Additionally, after the 5 year mark is done and you get off the Federal OIG list, you will now be required by the Board to go back for some type of nurse retraining since you will have been out of practice for so long and that retraining costs money and you don't get paid to do it. When a license is revoked, it over 95% of cases across the country, nurses move on to another field and I would do the same. It's just overwhelmingly difficult time consuming, and expensive to practice ever again.

WARNING to all nurses. A suspended license is overcomable. A revoked license is overwhelmingly not in most cases and if you surrender a license, it's considered Identical to a revoked license and the same process for debarrment by the state and Feds apply. 

See my post above about what the Board will likely do if you failed the drug test. One thing of importance that you wrote was that you were on predismissal status and you also wrote..... "I have stayed clean and had one relapse." 

Now, I wish the best for you but clearly you can see from your statement above that staying clean and having one relapse are NOT the same thing? I assume you meant to say 'you were not clean and relapsed and since that last relapse, you have stayed clean" until your most recent drug test. This means.....this is now relapse number two and you at this moment/the present, have technically NOT "stayed clean" if going by the words that you wrote.

I wish you the best and important, the single biggest relapse prevention method in the world that has been studied and verified over and over and over and over and over again is 12 step type recovery meetings 3 times per week. When nurses truly attend these meetings and buy in to them, they just rarely rarely relapse. When they don't attend or when they stop attending, relapse risk skyrockets and research has told us that for many years.

Thank you so much for your comments, and what you all have said above. All I can do is pray and ask God to take over this situation and to help me to stay strong throughout any decisions that are made. 

KC86 said:

Thank you so much for your comments, and what you all have said above. All I can do is pray and ask God to take over this situation and to help me to stay strong throughout any decisions that are made. 

You are still going to be OK and I wish the best for you. You got this and will overcome it and come out ahead regardless of the Boards decision