when and how do you know if your employer turned you into the BON?

Nurses General Nursing

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How and when i know if my employer has reported me.to the BON? I am currently terminated and the last time i spoke with my now former employer they said they still haven't decided. Im going crazy just thinking!

Specializes in Intermediate care.

i'm sorry, but the fact that you take codeine is the issue. I highly doubt you have a prescription for codeine for "sleeping."...i have a bottle sitting in my bathroom pantry that was prescribed to me for a cough. I do NOT take this drug around anytime i have to work. If i am going to be working within the next 24 hours, i do not work. and if my cough is that bad where i need to take codeine, i should probably not be working anyway.

It's just a personal choice, and to be on the side of caution. So you may not be stealing drugs, but you ARE taking them. you are just getting them from a different source.

I'm not sure the actual law regarding this, being on prescribed medications while working but i can tell you this much. i would NOT want my nurse under the influence of codeine while taking care of me, would you??

So i don't know...maybe i'm being a little harsh.

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Specializes in ER.
i'm sorry, but the fact that you take codeine is the issue. I highly doubt you have a prescription for codeine for "sleeping."...i have a bottle sitting in my bathroom pantry that was prescribed to me for a cough. I do NOT take this drug around anytime i have to work. If i am going to be working within the next 24 hours, i do not work. and if my cough is that bad where i need to take codeine, i should probably not be working anyway.

It's just a personal choice, and to be on the side of caution. So you may not be stealing drugs, but you ARE taking them. you are just getting them from a different source.

I'm not sure the actual law regarding this, being on prescribed medications while working but i can tell you this much. i would NOT want my nurse under the influence of codeine while taking care of me, would you??

So i don't know...maybe i'm being a little harsh.

Taking a prescribed medication as labeled is not an issue, regardless, codeine is still detectable in urine 1-2 days after last dose and also, OP said cough syrup taken at night not for sleep. Don't demonized someone for taking a medication they are prescribed. And if you do attempt to do so then make an effort to be a little more informed.

Your work history is confidential and they cannot release details of your termination, especially if it is a wrongful termination as this is. If info was leaked and it adversely affected your ability to work or function in your community then there's another reason to have a lawyer.

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Specializes in ER.

Bottom line though is talk this over with a lawyer, call around, may be able to find one that does not charge for initial consultation.

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i'm sorry, but the fact that you take codeine is the issue. I highly doubt you have a prescription for codeine for "sleeping."...i have a bottle sitting in my bathroom pantry that was prescribed to me for a cough. I do NOT take this drug around anytime i have to work. If i am going to be working within the next 24 hours, i do not work. and if my cough is that bad where i need to take codeine, i should probably not be working anyway.

It's just a personal choice, and to be on the side of caution. So you may not be stealing drugs, but you ARE taking them. you are just getting them from a different source.

I'm not sure the actual law regarding this, being on prescribed medications while working but i can tell you this much. i would NOT want my nurse under the influence of codeine while taking care of me, would you??

So i don't know...maybe i'm being a little harsh.

Well maybe I should have made myself clearer. I do not take it EVERY night and i do not take it for "sleep". But there are a quite a few nights that i do have to take it. I have never taken it before or while working. Never had any health problems until a year or so ago when i started.developing bronchitis back to back then pneumonia. Ever since i have had a lingering cough especially at night and asthma.

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Separately from your legal problems, I would recommend seeing a doctor about that bronchitis, pneumonia, and asthma. There has to be a better way to manage your lingering cough.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
Taking a prescribed medication as labeled is not an issue, regardless, codeine is still detectable in urine 1-2 days after last dose and also, OP said cough syrup taken at night not for sleep. Don't demonized someone for taking a medication they are prescribed. And if you do attempt to do so then make an effort to be a little more informed.

Your work history is confidential and they cannot release details of your termination, especially if it is a wrongful termination as this is. If info was leaked and it adversely affected your ability to work or function in your community then there's another reason to have a lawyer.

well jeez, someone ate a lemon for breakfast. i'm not an idiot, and i know the only cough syrup that would show up + on a drug test is cough syrup with codeine in it. So maybe YOU should be informed before you respond :)

thank you.

and all i did was state that you cannot work under the influence of other drugs. I don't know the actual laws about it, as i'm sure its different from state to state but in a general sense it really is not good. I wouldn't want my nurse under the influence of drugs while providing care to me or anyone in my family.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
Well maybe I should have made myself clearer. I do not take it EVERY night and i do not take it for "sleep". But there are a quite a few nights that i do have to take it. I have never taken it before or while working. Never had any health problems until a year or so ago when i started.developing bronchitis back to back then pneumonia. Ever since i have had a lingering cough especially at night and asthma.

well you apparently took it short enough time to have it in your urine. Codeine won't cure a cough, only mask the underlying issue. It's a great medication when your sick with a virus. It's great at suppressing a cough so you can sleep. But if you have bronchitis, that is a totally different reason why you are coughing and need different medications. A simple inhaler could make you stop coughing.

your an RN, so you know this. I'd be surprised if you made it through nursing school and didn't know all this. I'm just stating there are easier ways to manage the cough without the use of codeine.

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Yeah i already checked the TX BON and there isn't anything there. I guess ill have to stop playin the waiting game and make some calls.

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Ok. Well i'm sorry. I dnt see nothing wrong with taking the PRN cough med. I do take inhalers everyday and one PRN as well. And as of taking it short enough to be in my urine...just because your urine tests positive for it doesn't mean that the person is under the influence at that time. But luckily all of this is on file when I was hired. Asthma is one of the health problems it lists and I provided them a list of all the medications i have.

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I am just amazed that you had a whole week to sit on what may have caused you a suspension on a unit that regularly doles out pain medication and you show up for a drug test without your prescribed bottle of cough syrup :eek:. Heck, most of us would be shaking over eating a poppyseed bagel before a drug test and you actually were taking codeine and thought nothing of it showing up :uhoh3:.

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele, Neuro, IMU.

After reading all of the posts, I am still coming back to the issue that you are taking out so many narcotics that it flagged you in the system. Who worked in your position before you? Did they have the same number of patients with the same narcotic needs? The hospital has a responsibility to report because what if you really were diverting/using? The truth is, your problem doesn't sound like it's gonna go away.

If I were you, I would be expecting the registered letter in the mail from TPAPN. In order for the hospital to turn you in, they have to have proof. The proof is the report that the Accudose or Pyxis prints out. All overrides will be listed too. You could hire an attorney to fight the issue but because you are positive for opiates and you withdrew what I am guessing are high numbers of narcotics, you will go broke in defending yourself and the outcome will be the same; you will have to complete the TPAPN program in order to save your license.

TPAPN is a 2 year program that only 1/3 of those enrolled complete. It is an expensive, arduous program but if you have a problem, this is the best answer to keeping your license. I am estimating that within 2-3 weeks of your termination, you will get the TPAPN letter. The best advice I can give is to sign up and go for it. You can go find another job but the consult to TPAPN will follow you until you complete it. If you sign up to do the program, they will never put any "formal charges" on the website. If you opt to fight or ignore the TPAPN letter, before long when you sign on to the website, formal charges will appear and getting into TPAPN at that time will only happen because you have sat in front of the board and tried to defend yourself. When potential employers log on to confirm your license, they will see the pending charges and you won't get hired.

If you would like to talk privately, send me an e-mail: [email protected]. I am a manager at a facility that is TPAPN friendly so I know a TON about the program. Usually nurses who enter the program find it next to impossible to find a job. We have had 3 successful TPAPN completions in the last 2 years.

I hope this all works out for you and your former employer accepts your explanation but my gut is telling me that they won't. Brace yourself. It is a difficult position to be in but it is possible to get through.

I will be thinking about you!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Yeah, me, too; they suspected me of diverting a medication of one patient to another patient............yet they never tested that other patient ( and they never tested me either) They also said I 'too often' medicated the patients, saying it 'looked like' I was 'just doing it to keep them quiet'.Well, if you've got dementia patients with the 'screaming-meemies' and they've got a med ordered for that, why not give it to them? Just be very careful and very specific in your charting; be very descriptive of their actions before and after the med was given. I didn't quite cover my a$$ , meaning my charting, done in a hurry, didn't paint the full picture.

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