If The Cali Board Of Nursing Accuses You Give Up Your License

Why are you drinking and driving? How about taking responsibility for your poor choices and bad behavior?

Nurses in California make excellent money and are fortunate to have unions and safe staffing laws. I'm sorry if you don't get paid much, but that is not the norm, even in Central California.

There are RNs at Kaiser making $200K a year in Sacramento. A friend just sent me a listing of RN jobs with Santa Clara County, paying from $150K to $190K per year.

Personally- I was thrilled to sign the monitoring contract with my state nursing board. I had used incredibly stupid judgment & had thought my career was over. I knew there would be consequences. When they offered a compliance/ monitoring program without a permanent mark on my license, I was sincerely grateful. I have no resentment towards the BON. Only appreciation.

I’ve ensured that I met EVERY stipulation required- CD evaluation, IOP, AA meetings, monthly self-assessments, daily check-ins, and every bit of the work-related requirements. I’ve done this for 5 continuous years. Next week, I’ll be finished. Has it been difficult? Yes. Annoying? Yes. Frustrating? Absolutely. Have I regretted the KARE program? NEVER!

I truly ENJOY nursing. I’ve been in the field for > 25 years. Maybe you’re feeling some burnout & need a change. When I caught myself feeling they way a few times, I switched to a different area of nursing. I’ve gone from ED, ICU, back to ED, & now in Case Management.

I guess I’m just saying that in my case, I felt so passionately about nursing, I was willing to fight to get back to it. And knowing that I had potentially screwed up my career myself (my stupid decisions), it just made the hard work to get it back- with a clean license- much more bearable!

In regards to salary- I think nursing salaries are competitive & reasonable. Anyway, I’m in my forties... and did NOT want to go back to school for a new degree, in order to get a job with pay equivalent to an RN w/27 years nursing experience (or 22yrs when I signed the contract)— when I could be done with monitoring in 5 years, while working, as a nurse, the entire time.

We each have our own reasons & stories to what brought us to the attention of the BON and in deciding whether or not to complete a monitoring program. Personally, I wanted to continue in Nursing & complying with my state’s monitoring program allowed me to do this. What’s right for one may not be for the other. Some see this as an opportunity to forge a new career path- go back to school for a different degree or utilize other skill sets/job experience that they have. I wish you the best of luck with your decision & your future- in whatever profession that may be!

On 10/15/2019 at 10:43 AM, dmstanl1 said:

Nursing is a primarily female based enterprise that "eats their young". ALL NURSES know that a DUI is death. Why? Because females subscribe to a group-thinking mentality (NURSES WHO DRIVE DRUNK DO NOT KNOW THE SECRET HANDSHAKE ANYMORE).

On 10/15/2019 at 4:39 PM, dmstanl1 said:

while I loath the “pretty girls” with a clean background check around me talking about their drunken boyfriends...I WILL NOT do probation.

On 10/15/2019 at 9:13 PM, dmstanl1 said:

Nurses on this thread need to talk about LEAVING nursing instead of ***ing about the 22 year old pretty girls who RUN ALL OF NURSING.

So many of your assertions here are incredibly offensive and misogynistic. As others have said, it appears that you're very frustrated (perhaps rightfully so, perhaps not), but it seems inappropriate to take it out on the entire nursing profession because the majority is female.

The job of the BON is to protect the public. They aren't ganging up on you because you because they're "22-year old pretty girls" who "subscribe to group-think" and therefore can't think for themselves. It's because you broke the law in a way that endangers the public and demonstrates a lapse in judgment. That's on you. You may "loathe" the "pretty girls" that you work with, but they aren't in any way responsible for your current predicament.

You are an adult. Perhaps instead of blaming the women you work with (and the women of the workforce as a whole), you should own your mistakes and take responsibility for your actions.

On 10/15/2019 at 10:43 AM, dmstanl1 said:

I believe that nurses who are outcasted are really just the next Tarantino or Jobs.

Seriously??? You're saying that having disciplinary action taken against you for a DUI makes you a misunderstood genius? Perhaps that's just a coping mechanism, but it sounds an awful lot like a delusion of grandeur.

I get that the probation system sucks. From the AN forums, it sounds like the system can be predatory, degrading, and unfair. I have a great deal of respect for the AN posters who realize how much it sucks but go through with it anyway (including SpankedinPittsburgh). We're all capable of screwing up, even nurses who seem straight-laced, and people who find themselves in front of the board for whatever reason can still be great nurses. I think that everybody deserves a chance to make things right, and I'm sorry if the people around you have made you feel as though you're unworthy of being a nurse.

However, if you have so little respect for the profession and 90% of the people in it, then it's probably better that you move along.

To quote @Nurse.Kelsey

On 10/15/2019 at 11:25 AM, Nurse.Kelsey said:

You are very upset right now, projecting the feelings you have about yourself.

Take your own advice: Grow up and move on.

“Females”?! Goodness that’s phrasing with a lot of sexism behind it.

You should definitely demand to investigate the color of the fringe on the flag in the courtroom when you have to go in to deal with your DUI charges.