Evaluation

Hi there.  I am in Florida and completed this type of evaluation a while back.  It cost $2800, which included staying at a nearby hotel.  I commuted to the treatment center each day for the evaluation.  It took 2 weeks to get the report.  I would be happy to answer any questions.

Day 1 - toxicology (hair, blood, and urine), history, consents, neuropsychological testing 

Day 2 - Neuropsychologist interview, addictionologist interview

Day 3 - Psychiatrist consult 

Oh wow! This is extremely helpful. Thank you! 

My cost is $2,800 as well, I am staying at the facility and it’s 4 days of testing. 
 

Can you recall if the hair follicle test checked for alcohol? Or was was that done on the blood test or urine? I won’t have any drugs show up in hair for the 6 months, but I may have alcohol use that I don’t want to disclose. It has been a while so it won’t show up in blood, but curious about the hair. 

Do you have any tips to share about the experience? I’m hoping to get the least amount of time in monitoring as possible. It’s so costly.

Thank you so much! 

First off, this is a hard process but I can tell you are a strong person by virtue of going through it and not running away.  You will get through this and you will be okay, no matter what.

I believe the blood test is what checks for alcohol use.  My experience was pretty reasonable.  I had a lot of fears going into the evaluation based on what I read online.  I felt the evaluators treated me with respect and gave fair recommendations.  They didn’t try to railroad me into treatment or anything scary like that.  
 

My recommendations:

Keep the purpose of the evaluation at the front of your mind.  They are trying to assess if you can “practice nursing with reasonable skill and safety.”

Be professional, polite (even if you feel annoyed), and on time.  Dress like you are going to a job interview.  Don’t change your story, just stick to the facts.  They will ask you a lot of invasive personal questions, going back to childhood traumas etc.  It is up to you how much you share, just be prepared.  They might question things you say or act like they don’t believe you.  Stick to your guns and don’t admit to things you didn’t do because you think it’s what someone wants to hear.  My 2 cents, answer truthfully but do not feel like you have to elaborate or tell stories that will retraumatize you.  Having a traumatic history will not get you “less time.”  

They will ask for “collaterals,” which is a weird way of saying they want permission to speak with a few people in your life, such as work supervisor, partner, family members, friends, etc. to see what they have to say about your mental health, substance use history, work performance, etc.  Be thinking about 3 or so people you could have them contact. 

These evaluators rely heavily on toxicology, so having positive tests at the time of your evaluation could make them give a more involved treatment recommendation.  

Don’t be afraid to ask the evaluators questions.  You can straight up ask them if they feel like they have enough information to make a recommendation about your ability to practice nursing with reasonable skill and safety.  Ask what questions or concerns they have.  Ask what recommendations they are considering.  You are entitled to a copy of your evaluation report once IPN gets it, so make sure you request a copy and review it for accuracy.

Most of all, hold your head up and remember who you are.  Your mistakes don’t define you, and your value as a human isn’t tied to any of this.  Sending love and light.

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to write all of this out for me. I really appreciate it. 

At this point I’m not even sure that I want to be a nurse anymore, I haven’t worked as an RN in 2 years (we have a family business), I’m still trying to figure out if want to keep my options open for a future in nursing, obviously leaning towards yes. 
 

I don’t have an issue with being clean and sober, as it is MY choice and I will continue on MY sobriety journey with or without a monitoring program hanging over my head. My issue is with the costs and stresses and worries that are associated with being in a program that I feel has already set me up to fail. I have yet to feel the HPMP wants me to succeed. These feelings have been completely validated after reading some of the horror stores on these threads. Did you feel this way as well? 
 

I have decided to move forward with the evaluation and monitoring, give it 100%, and hope that is enough. It has been quite some time since my “incident”, so I have been able to process a lot of the wrong choices I made and have been able to give myself grace, while also taking the steps to better myself. Thank you for for reminding me that my mistakes don’t define me, I definitely could have saved a lot of tough treatment on myself if I had spoken with people like you that have gone through similar things sooner. Hopefully someone else is able to read this and it will help them as well. 
 

Again, thank you, thank you. A lot of nerves have been settled. I am sending love and light right back to ya! 

I still don’t feel that IPN “wants” me to succeed.  Their role is more to protect public safety, so they monitor me because I broke the rules by having THC in my system on a random test.  It is like dealing with a probation officer, not a therapist, if that makes sense.

It can be frustrating and even demoralizing to deal with these types of programs.  Keep in mind that people posting their experiences online are usually doing so because they have STRONG feelings.  People are also in all different phases of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance with their individual situations.  Don’t internalize anyone else’s experience, just keep checking in with yourself and those you trust to make sure you are on the right path for you.