drugs addiction and nursing

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I work for a vocational rehabilitation facility. We have a client right now that wants to go to nursing school. She was a IV drug user of heroin and crack. She is clean only 8 months. Do you all feel she should attend nursing school? Should an addict be around drugs like nurses are?

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if this is what she really wants then educate her on what it takes to be a nurse and what she will be exposed to as a nurse.... maybe becoming a nurse and doing something good for society will be what helps her through her battle with addiction....

if she really wants it she'll make it... if she can't continue to stay sober she won't make it.

just my .02

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

There are several requirements she would have to meet and several questions she would have to affirm. I really am not up on the length of sobriety required before someone is a recovering user. Can you tell us?

I did work with two nurses who admitted they had lied on their state board applications about substance abuse, and one that said he had taken a job knowing he would be close to narcotics. He is no longer a nurse.

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Specializes in CCU,ICU,ER retired.

It will take her quite awhile to get thru NS. If she can't stay clean thru that process she will weed out herself. She has to do her pre-reqs and that will take time. And as a recovering nurse,I know, that if she starts using again she won't go to school. I would suggest to her if she really wants it she should stay clean for a couple of years first and then think about it. Just so she can adjust to life being clean and have a good base of recovery under her. 8 months is just not enough time for her to take on such a huge challenge.

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Thank you for your input! She will be required to disclose by the state board of nursing. I also agree that 8 months is not enough time for her to be sober. She should wait and then to go nursing school.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Why not encourage her to take some general ed pre-req classes like English, Pyschology, etc. There's usually long waiting lists and pre-reqs to get into nursing school, so by the time she starts she might have 2 or 3 years of clean time and be a totally completely different person.

Don't be too negative with her.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
I work for a vocational rehabilitation facility. We have a client right now that wants to go to nursing school. She was a IV drug user of heroin and crack. She is clean only 8 months. Do you all feel she should attend nursing school? Should an addict be around drugs like nurses are?

As part of my position, as a major case manager, I did vocational rehab. To be honest, if this individual has any arrest record, it is highly unlikely that a Board of Nursing would authorize her to take the NLEX, no matter how long she is drug free. Being a former drug addict falls under the moral aspect of the NPA. People that are all ready licensed as an RN or LPN, who become addicts, have to under go a period of detox and spend time in an impaired nurses program. And then work in a structured position before ever being allowed to handle narcotics again.

I haven't worked in 16 years but here in Florida, I am unaware of anyone being authorized to take the licensing exam, who has an arrest record. Florida requires your finger prints and a background check, in order to obtain their license. Sorry but I think you are encouraging her towards a goal she will likely be unable to meet, if she has an arrest record.

Woody

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It will be quite a long time befor she gives narcs to a pt. Once she starts she will be watched carefully by an instructor. It will have to be up to her. If she is spiritualy fit and is attending meeting, has a sponsor etc. ...she should do fine. If she is sure she is going into nursing because of the job and not because of easy availability to narcs then she should go for it. Only she knows what's in her heart. If she's going into it for the wrong reasons then there will be consequenses that she will have to deal with. If she wants narcs she doen't have to go into nursing to get them. I don' t feel that is a decision anyone but her can make. No one can keep her clean and sober except her higher power. There are health care profess. AA meeting out there. Perhaps she could find one and bring it up at a meeting. See what they have to say.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
It will be quite a long time befor she gives narcs to a pt. Once she starts she will be watched carefully by an instructor. It will have to be up to her. If she is spiritualy fit and is attending meeting, has a sponsor etc. ...she should do fine. If she is sure she is going into nursing because of the job and not because of easy availability to narcs then she should go for it. Only she knows what's in her heart. If she's going into it for the wrong reasons then there will be consequenses that she will have to deal with. If she wants narcs she doen't have to go into nursing to get them. I don' t feel that is a decision anyone but her can make. No one can keep her clean and sober except her higher power. There are health care profess. AA meeting out there. Perhaps she could find one and bring it up at a meeting. See what they have to say.

Don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that a former addict can graduate from a nursing program. What I am concerned about, is a Board of Nursing not allowing her to take the NCLEX. They have a tendency to look at former addicts, wanting to take boards, with a jundice eye. And a good number of them will not allow her to sit for boards. And she cannot get an answer out of them until after she completes the educational program and applies for boards. And I also know a number of nursing programs will not even accept a former addict, regardless of how long she has been clean. They are all to afraid of the former addict being tempted.

In the 80s, I attempted to get an impaired nurses program started here in Florida. DONs told me they had no impaired nurses and the BON just was not interested. While now there is such a program here, most programs and our BON, does not encourage applicants with a history of addiction. And our BON will not tell a person if they will allow them to sit for boards after they graduate. They tell them to apply and furnish a copy of their clean status. Very few are allowed to sit. I feel that this person may be wasting her time and money. And she should be aware of what she faces.

Woody:monkeydance:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Woody, that's a very good point. It would be a shame for this person to go through the motions of nursing school only to find out she doesn't qualify to take NCLEX.

Best to contact the schools and the BON first to see if they allow a former addict in.

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Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Woody, that's a very good point. It would be a shame for this person to go through the motions of nursing school only to find out she doesn't qualify to take NCLEX.

Best to contact the schools and the BON first to see if they allow a former addict in.

Tweety, a number of voc rehab's look only at if a person is able to complete the program. Very rarely do they look at the licensing. And this is a problem, not only in nursing, but any other field that requires a state exam and license. The one area I found, here in Florida, that actually encourages former addicts, is drug treatment programs.

Woody:balloons:

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