Honesty with Recruiter

Luckyyou, BSN, RN · Jul 24, 2018

You need a BON experienced lawyer yesterday.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Jul 24, 2018

I would suck up the travel expenses, and go home with my tail between my legs. Nobody knows if you will actually be reported to the BON. Time to lawyer up.

NEVER report yourself.

I enjoy the occasional doobie, but I time it well.

Good luck with this mess.

allnurses Guide · Jul 25, 2018

Hi guys, pls I have been beating myself up and continue to do so. I do not need judgmental condescending people to add to my stress level right now. Only sound advice please. And I want to say thank you In advance to those welcomed comments. Thank you.

I am going to try to be helpful but I do have to give you an obligatory , "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

1) How important is it for me to be open and honest with this next recruiter in another agency? Should I let him know about the positive test? How will telling him or not telling him affect me?

While in most cases honesty is the best policy if you don't need the reference from the company that fired you I would not volunteer this info unless you are specifically asked or if criminal charges are involved that might show up on a background check. If you don't tell and he finds out you will likely be fired again or not offered a contract.

2) the agency that dropped me, has me out here stranded and broke. They told me they won't reimburse my travel expenses. And I'm locked down in housing as I have already paid for the month. Is there anything I can do about getting my travel reimbursement back?

I don't see any reasonable way you can ask for your travel reimbursement!. By testing positive you likely violated your contract which made the contract null and void.

3) I know Texas is very strict on a lot of things, so how strict will the BON be in my case. No prior tint on my license.

Texas and most other states take Marijuana and all other drug use very seriously. You will almost certainly have your license suspended or placed on probation. You may be offered a chance at an alternative to discipline program. It will not matter if this is your first offense. Take a jog over to the nurses in recovery forum and see what we nurses in recovery have had to go through or are currently going through.

4) should I be proactive and contact IPN myself?

There are pro's and con's to self reporting. If you just don't want to wait for the BON to catch up with you self report. If you are offered alternative to discipline be prepared - you will likely be suspended from practice for 6 months to a year while you attend mandated in-patient drug treatment. This will be followed by as many as 7 AA/NA meetings a week, 4 to 8 random drug screens a month, mandatory therapy and psychiatry visits and a huge loss of income. Not trying to be a Debbie downer here but it is what it is! Back when I did alternative to discipline from 2002 to 2007 the whole thing ended up costing about $50,000.00 over 5 years.

If you chose not to self report say nothing to anyone about this get any job you can and work as much as you can saving every penny you ca. Your going to need that money! The reason for this is can take 18 months to two years for the BON to catch up to you.

It goes without saying that you need to stop smoking marijuana. also stop drinking if you do or using any substance not prescribed for you. You need to be absolutely clean so if you get popped for another test you will not be positive.

Anything information you could throw my way will help a lot. Please and thank you.

Once started you can expect to be in a program for 3 to 5 years so you'll need to buckle your seatbelt dig in and get it done.

Not alot of positive things said I know - but when I went through it it ultimately made me a better nurse, mother, wife, sibling and daughter than I was before it all happened. I got through it and so will you. Come on over to nurse in recovery and sit a spell.

Peace and namaste

Hppy

City-Girl · Jul 25, 2018

It's legal in a few states. Not sure how it works with your license, maybe you could see about getting licensed in one of those states since it's not considered criminal.

Triddin · Jul 25, 2018

Come to Canada. Weed will federally be legalized by October and I don't know anyone who has ever been drug tested

beekee · Jul 25, 2018

Your days of travel nursing are likely over, at least for the next 3-5 years. If you inform the agency, you won't be hired. If you omit it, you will be fired as soon as they find out. You need to hunker down, get a job that's monitoring friendly (dialysis, mental health, LTC, etc) and ride this out.

And, by the way, just because a state has made it legal, marijuana use is still a federal offense. And I don't know of any BON or employer of nurses that doesn't prohibit its use.

Recovering_RN · Jul 25, 2018

I think the agency is required to report you to the BON. I really thought that my hospital would be too concerned about their reputation to report me, I thought they'd just fire me. I was wrong about that. Texas's alternative to discipline is TPAPN. You can self refer to TPAPN now and get the ball rolling, or you can sit back and wait, as other posts have suggested, and try to save up as much money as you can now, because you'll need it. I would not mention this to any future employers, you won't get hired. The best you can hope for is to get a new job that might be willing to keep you on as you go through the required treatment and are willing to put up with the restrictions that you'll have, like no administering, witnessing or counting controlled substances, no travel, no float, no nights, random drug screens, quarterly reports to submit (for the employer, you will have to submit monthly reports). You won't be able to keep a travel job while in TPAPN. You'll have to find a full time job at some type of facility. I did home health, TPAPN allows that. Now I'm at a free standing ER.

In the very very very unlikely chance that the agency doesn't report you, it would really SUCK if you reported yourself! So I'd try to find out if they did report you. Is there someone you can call there? It can't be an unusual occurrence, I bet they have policies about what they when this happens.

There's a Recovery board here at AllNurses that you can go to, to get the low down on all the TPAPN requirements and where to look for a job while in TPAPN.

Good luck!

Xpectsuccess · Jul 25, 2018

Thanks

Xpectsuccess · Jul 25, 2018

Thank you so much for the info Hyyp. Preciate it.

Xpectsuccess · Jul 25, 2018

I appreciate the info and sharing your experience. Thank you.

Trauma Columnist · Jul 25, 2018

Moved to Recovery Forum