Evaluation scaries

Nurses Recovery

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Hey everyone!

I am new to the site and I am in need of some help/advice. Last month I was accused of diverting drugs from a hospital in SC while on a travel assignment. I am guilty. I feel horrible for what I have done. I took some narcotics a few times and took them with a friend. I was never physically dependent. I am being charged criminally by the hospital, but have not yet received my charges. I was told to contact the RPP program in SC and report to the sc BON. I have done both and signed my contract last week and they referred me to an evaluator to "receive a diagnosis or not." From what I have read.. it is in my best interest NOT to see an evaluator that they recommend. Do I have a choice? Does anyone know of a fair evaluator in SC? What can I expect at this evaluation? Can I expect a hair/drug test? I am so scared and overwhelmed. Any advice or recommendations would be SO SO GREATLY appreciated!

I wasn't scheduled to work for almost a week. No difference. Wide net

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RecoveringRN- thank you so much for those words of advice. I appreciate it more than you know. I will take your advice and start the program so I at least have that door open.

Good! I hope you get everything sorted. In regard to your original post about what to expect in the evaluation, I think they are all different but mine did not include a drug test. I wouldn't be surprised though if some do. Mine was a series of 3-5 questionnaires that asked personality type questions, about likes, dislikes, what annoys me, what I'm good at, how I perceive myself etc. Those types of questionnaires that asks the same general question in about 7 different ways! To try to get to the root of you and your personality. The questionnaires were anywhere from 50 to 300 questions. They were graded by a machine, so results were received immediately after I turned each one in, then after I'd done them all the psychologist (addictionologist) talked to me for about 1/2 an hour, asking about how I'd ended up there, also my relationships growing up with my parents and siblings, then my husband, coworkers etc. It all took about 3-4 hours.

Afterward he wrote a report and sent it to my TPAPN case manager, recommending IOP. He recommended a particular IOP program, but it would've been an hour drive from my house, in the evenings, so I found another one closer and my case manager approved the other one.

My report was sent to me as well. He did NOT like the "cavalier attitude" I had, apparently he wanted me to cry and grovel. I said I'd done stupid things, irresponsible and immature and dishonest things, I honestly didn't understand what prompted me to do them, I regretted my actions etc. But I didn't cry. Therefore he felt I was "cavalier". Whatever. I went to an 8 week IOP, (3 days a week for 4 hours a day) after which the IOP program tried to get me to continue with "after care" for once a week, for 16 more weeks! Since TPAPN did not require that, I gracefully declined that offer. I then went out and got a job. That's a painful story for another day.

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RecoveringRN- I appreciate all of your help. It means the absolute world to me. I would love to keep in touch with you and everyone else throughout the process. It makes me not feels so alone

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I have been a nurse for nearly 30 years, and had zero idea of what can happen.

That being said, I have known a couple of people who were actually helped by the program. They had a real problem.

The casual dabbler who gets caught, or gets a DUI after 3 drinks, I truly feel sorry for.

But the system has no way to differentiate. Apparently.

But wouldn't that be the whole point of an "evaluation"? So people aren't railroaded into a one-size-fits-nobody? I, too, had no idea the whole thing was such a racket till I started reading about it on this site.

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But wouldn't that be the whole point of an "evaluation"? So people aren't railroaded into a one-size-fits-nobody? I, too, had no idea the whole thing was such a racket till I started reading about it on this site.

I agree, I too thought it was meant to help rather than be a money-maker for the BON and their apparent cronies. What an eye-opener this site has been (and it makes me even more disappointed than I was before with the BON.)

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So I wonder how they determine a diagnosis. A diagnosis for having a alcohol/drug problem or not? There has to be some sort of way to give a clear diagnosis of chemical dependency. Seems like they are just throwing EVERYONE into the addiction category

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Specializes in OR.
You could perhaps try medical billing an coding, or transcription, or something like that. Good luck!

I went down the road of the medical billing and coding. Even still carry the credential. Problem is that with a nursing background (what are you going to put on you resume that you've done for the last X number of years) no one would want you for a strict coding job. I suppose if you could keep it zipped about ever having been in nursing at all you might make a go of it.

However, because you have access to patient information, you still face a background check and the outcome of the criminal charges may make that difficult.

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Specializes in OR.
So I wonder how they determine a diagnosis. A diagnosis for having a alcohol/drug problem or not? There has to be some sort of way to give a clear diagnosis of chemical dependency. Seems like they are just throwing EVERYONE into the addiction category

Yeah, that's about right. Treat them all the same, give them all identical contracts regardless of what brought them there. Makes it easier. Don't have to actually be concerned about what might be helpful for the nurse. They only have to be concerned with how much money can be wrung out of them.

It will never be proven that there are kickbacks between evaluator owned treatment facilities and these programs but I would not be surprised to find out that there is something sleazy going on.

In the real world, the way these things are run would shoot past unethical into illegal.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

What a nightmare situation to be in. Is there any way you could petition to serve your time [so to speak] in your home state? I would say I can't believe the BON would essentially force you to move to SC to comply with a monitoring program, except after reading some of the horror stories about the punitive money grubbing nature of monitoring land I wouldn't be at all surprised if that is exactly what they do expect.

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What a nightmare situation to be in. Is there any way you could petition to serve your time [so to speak] in your home state? I would say I can't believe the BON would essentially force you to move to SC to comply with a monitoring program,

I was thinking about the OP's having to move, and I think probably that wouldn't be necessary. If you're on vacation and get selected to test, you just go to a Quest lab, right? I know TPAPN will give me a list of labs I can use while out of town. I bet there is a lab in the OP's home state that the SC BON will allow him to use. And why would they care where the AA/NA groups are? All the rest, forms submitted, paperwork, can be done anywhere. We check in online. If we can continue to participate in our program while traveling on vacation, which we do, why couldn't the OP participate in the SC monitoring program from anywhere? Admittedly, they have given a preferred evaluator and that evaluator will recommend treatment, both presumably in SC, but after that, I think the program could be done from another state.

I haven't thought through all the myriad details that might complicate this issue, but at least it's worth considering, before moving to SC!

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It astounds me that people are being diagnosed with substance use disorder on the basis of a personality test.

That drivel has long been discredited.

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Specializes in OR.
It astounds me that people are being diagnosed with substance use disorder on the basis of a personality test.

That drivel has long been discredited.

Their being diagnosed with a substance use disorder based on what the evaluator says. Never mind the results of any test. I got (supposedly) full copies of both the evaluations I've had to have (the second one was a bunch of BS, not going there) and nothing had the results of any personality testing. All they had were the P, hair, etc tests and the opinion written by the evaluator. There is nothing included that supports that opinion. Shoot, in mine there's a bunch of stuff that I supposedly said that I did that I most certainly did not (smoked marijuana in high school and drove drunk in college????) That was fun given that I attended a tiny private school, never smoked and don't know how and can count on one hand the times I've even had a drink, nevermind gotten drunk.

This folks, is how these "approved evaluators" diagnose substance abuse disorders.

Oh and one of my goals after treatment? Reunite with my husband.

I've never been married.....

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