DMU for those who want to be a Psych Nurse

[BeOne77]

Hi, Reading this just got to thinking about my own situation. I am in the DMU program not because I diverted, used or drank alcohol but because I am taking medication for depression. How about that? I know the feelings of guilt and shame but they seem to come from the program itself and the very nature of it. I feel scrutinized, publicly made to be on the spot and financially robbed because of this program not to mention the inconvenience it is to check for drug screens every morning. I have a biological illness and no it doesn't prevent me from doing my work.. Heck, Florence nightingale suffered from depression and no one had her go into a monitoring program . What is going on in nursing today? Why do people discriminate and even stigmatize those who have mental illness esp in the nursing field? I find this outrageous. I guess if I had diabetes I'd be more palatable or more accepted. I have 4years and 10 months left of this program because I take medication and I am being singled out like I never passed my boards. I did the work and I should be respected not made out to be a potential problem. Again I don't drink or do drugs. I find this feels like blackmail. If you don't participate in the program then you don't have access to your license. Now in order to practice you must tell all about your struggles why you are in the program, etc, etc. Nothing is private anymore. Everyone knows everything. This is emotionally painful.

So when is the stigma and discrimination going to end? All I can say is this is not what I signed up for when I spent 100000 on nursing school and years of sacrifice and hard work. I'm not any different than any other nurse just because I need to take 3 pills every day.

When are people going to treat us like we are human beings and not some horror story they heard on the news. This is fear driven and unbased on any fact that people with mental illness are violent out to kill their patients or a risk. I am beside myself and its about time we see people for who they are and not what meds they are taking. Nurses with mental illness have just as much potential as their so called healthy counterparts who may in fact not be so healthy afterall when they too feel they have to get help for something and then it is strewn all over the nursing boards. Disciplinary Monitoring? For an illness. Doesn't make sense. Who's going to step up and change this?

[BeOne77]

I don't think anyone is trying to judge you or be unsupportive. My mother is treatment resistant and has bipolar disease. I certainly empathize with your situation. But you keep making excuses for violating the no-contact order. There is never an excuse to violate one. They are very serious orders and no matter what your intention was, it was wrong to make that call. I am only saying this because I believe that you need to accept that part of your situation as something that you own. The past is the past, and you will get through it. I really wish you the best of luck and hope your journey is a happy and fulfilling one!

Don't you think I regret it and understand that it was wrong? I completely understand that. I made a mistake like we all do from time to time. I don't think anyone on these boards can look back on their pasts and see some of the mistakes and wrong choices they have made. And I am sorry your mother does not accept her disease and is treatment resistant but I am fully compliant with my treatment and follow my dr's orders to a tee and I am much better off for it. I would not have been able to finish nursing school if I hadn't and have done a lot with my life. I am grateful for my doctor and his advice and will continue down the path in which hopefully in the future I may make better choices.

[wish_me_luck, BSN, RN]

BeOne, I know you are looking for support here. Maybe a better question is this---what exactly are you expecting from us? What kind of support are you looking for? What bothers you about the DMU?

One thing that I will make clear to you and everyone else, I am going to try my best to not get into these complain fests about these monitoring programs and the Board(s). The Board members (and staff) may or may not even agree with this themselves; however, it is in the state(s) law(s). I can't speak for PA, but I know when I dealt with the Board in VA, I got so many copies of the laws that pertain to this.

I will be as much support as I can be and be as helpful as I can be (I do not know how helpful that is because I am in VA, but I will try), but it will a long 5 years if you can't move forward. Like I said the only thing that really bothers me is the making it public and that is because I do not understand how making a person's diagnosis public keeps the public safe. To me, that only perpetuates the misconception that all people with a mental illness are a danger to the public. So, I have considered writing legislature in my state and trying to get the law changed to having the information on file with the Board, but not made public unless a healthcare provider becomes an imminent threat to the public. I have made peace with being in HPMP. The drug screens are expensive and I have not been on a shopping trip in a long time because I do not have money (I spend it on drug screens), but I am jumping through the hoops.

I turned my mental illness into something beneficial--I volunteer and do advocacy and stuff regarding mental health, having BPD and it being highly stigmatized and people not wanting to be around people with BPD--at least having this, I willing to give patients with this diagnosis a chance/benefit of the doubt...open the door, so to speak because I have the same stigmatized diagnosis. Having a mental illness and using it as an asset can give you a leg up.

[BeOne77]

Hi Wish Me Luck,

I am only looking for other people who have had or are in the DMU/VRP and are willing to share their experiences/feelings of having been there. I thought that more people might be willing to share their experiences on this forum since it it mainly anonymous. In sharing experiences it gives one the feeling that they are not alone and also gives hope that one can get through it. I appreciate your honesty and willing to assist me in anyway you can because I have not heard or at least no one else has come forward to say that they are in this program so I thank you. Please keep in touch. I finished most of the initial paperwork today so that was a big accomplishment and I did not have a uds today. Yay!!! I too have taken steps to turn my illness into something beneficial by completing a CPS training in April which assists others who have this illness. I am awaiting my 2nd eval right now and have high hopes. So thank you and I'll see you on the boards.

BeOne

[wish_me_luck, BSN, RN]

Try the search bar at the top and type DMU. There are threads and also, try the Nurses/Recovery forum. You may find a better response as this section is actually for people who are working psych. So, you may not get many people in this section who have been in a monitoring program. People in the Nurses/Recovery and maybe, Nurses with Disabilities have and are going through monitoring programs.

[BeOne77]

Thanks Wish Me!!!!

[silverbat]

BeOne:

One thing I can suggest, is after a year or two of marching through their hoops and dancing their dance, write a letter to the BON telling how well you are doing following their guidelines, etc, going to therapists, etc., maybe include a note from therapist/Dr, and ask if it is possible to change your restrictions, or shorten your time in the program. This can happen, as I well know, and the worse thatn can happen is they will say no....

Hang in there and God bless.......................................

[BeOne77]

thank you..that is a great idea....

beone

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I was forced to release records to an evaluator hired by the state board who was evaluating my fitness who claimed he could access the records and threatened me with losing my license if I did not comply. I was investigated from a complaint against me (not while I was a nurse) after I broke a non-contact agreement innocently after being excited after graduating nursing school and called an old professor of mine to let her know I graduated. I had been in the no-contact agreement with the school because(see next sentence)and as a result they withheld my nursing degree and gave me a lesser degree a Liberal Studies Degree. This happened because I had been late to class and was hurrying around the school parking lot looking for a place to park and inadvertently parked halfway on the grass. Someone didn' t like this and had the campus police find me when I was taking a final exam and the had wanted me to go with them to explain but I refused to go with them. They had me removed. After this incident I went to another nursing school used my credits and spent another 2 years to graduate after spending 4 years initially. I had been hospitalized more than once for bipolar disorder. I can see the reader now (not run of the mill depression, oh that's different then, don't judge) Regardless, any person who made it through nursing school and passed boards who can do that should not persecuted for having a treatable illness. I have never put anyone in danger, harmed a patient or harmed myself. I simply was hospitalized voluntarily because I could not stand the depression on my own and felt that with the right medications I would be better off. Yes I have" Run of the Mill" bipolar disorder not so strange, weird or too terrible misunderstood.

Because I am now prohibited from ever visiting that campus or contacting anyone (really this is how the mentally ill are treated-banned for life. Just because of my bad parking skills and my stubbornness to leave when asked, I was investigated and when I was I was then evaluated and I was admonished to reveal my hospitalization history. I have no idea where my career is now going now that I am in the DMU but I have to hold my head up high and realize that I am dealing with a world who have misconceptions of the capabilities of the mentally ill and other nurses may not support me because of it but I went through the same schooling if not more and have yet to prove myself in the field. I think one of the important things to realize is that Florence Nightengale suffered from the same disorder which has just recently been revealed and if she could do it then so can I. Its just now in this century we are more likely to be "treated" for it where as in her time they weren't. So I guess I can say if I had put a patient in danger or was diverting and this complaint was as a result of that then I would be more willing to go into the DMU but this is just not the case. I have what most people would turn their back on me including what I would guess my fellow nurses as well because bipolar disorder just isn't palatable to most. But I guess what is most important is how we treat people in the end. That's it in a "nutshell". I could write more but I hope I am not too terribly judged here.

So basically your old professor was unhappy to hear you had gotten your BSN and went so far to start a witch hunt with the board. That is very sad to imagine someone was so against you becoming an RN that they would go to such lengths to try to prevent you from practicing as an RN. Who are they to judge you!

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

It won't change until nurses as a whole change, we need to be stronger professionally and stop tearing each other apart first. Look at doctors and how when they are faced with the same issues they have no where near the same consequences. Not because they are simply doctors, but because as a whole thy support one another. Nurses have been around for quite a while but we still have a long way to go. To empower ourselves we need to empower each other. Change only happens when we make it happen.

Actually doctors are in the same boat and face problems with the board if they get help for depression. Doctors actually have a high rate of suicide as well!

[BeOne77]

So basically your old professor was unhappy to hear you had gotten your BSN and went so far to start a witch hunt with the board. That is very sad to imagine someone was so against you becoming an RN that they would go to such lengths to try to prevent you from practicing as an RN. Who are they to judge you!

Yes this is the case unfortunately, now I am knee deep in bureaucratic demands and limited practice.

[Jooliaghoulia]

Sorry you have to go through this.