Looked up old nursing schoolmate. Odd situation...

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in ER.

I decided to try to look up a gal with whom I carpooled for the two years of nursing school, 25 years ago. We and another woman drove an hour each way. She was a young single mother, younger than myself and the other woman.

I found her on Facebook,since she listed her maiden name. I sent her a message and a friend request. Then I decided I'd better make sure it was her, and used her current last name to look her up on the board of nursing for the state where I went to nursing school.

I found her on the board of nursing website, and it turns out that she lost her nursing license back in the early 2000's. She was arrested for meth use. In 2007 she tried to get her license back but it was denied. She had fled to another state to elude arrest and was deemed ineligible for the diversion program, etc. and so forth.

To my surprise she messaged me back today and we had a nice conversation on Facebook about old times in nursing school. Because I already knew about this situation I stayed off the topic of current employment. She's going to catch up with me soon she says. We are both grandmothers now, she is still living in the same place and I have moved far away.

It's unusual situation. I'm going to allow her to take the lead as far as what she wants to reveal.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Wow. Hope she has gotten her life back together.

One of my best nursing school friends never even ended up getting a

position as a nurse, then lost her license due to drugs. Sad.

Specializes in Oncology (OCN).

I recently discovered someone who I use to work with had their license revoked after being dismissed from a peer assistance program for continued problems with alcohol/multiple DUIs. They had originally voluntarily surrendered their license; had it reinstated with stipulations of a peer assistance program but eventually after multiple disciplinary actions it was revoked.

I was a brand new nurse when I started working with this person. This person was a seasoned nurse in a position of leadership (night house supervisor) and I really looked up to them. They were always available and willing to help us out if we needed anything. They interacted with patients so well and instantly comforted them and put them at ease. They handled difficult situations and diffused conflicts easily. They were very knowledgeable and readily shared it (but not in a way that made you feel inferior) but in a very positive, encouraging way. There are about 4-5 nurses who strongly influenced me and I modeled my career after them. This person was one of them. I was very sad to learn they are no longer in nursing. Even sadder to learn they are struggling personally.

I recently found out that one of the few nurses from a previous place of employment that I had a lot of respect for, had lost their license due to criminal behavior. It just did not make sense to me. She had impressed me as being level-headed.

Specializes in Pedi.

I discovered that my best friend's sister in law had her nursing license revoked years ago when no one in her family knew. I had to contact her about bridal shower stuff, etc when I was the maid of honor. Her email address had RN in it and she just didn't seem together enough to be an RN to me so out of curiosity, I looked up her license. Revoked. Narcotic diversion and failure to appear before the board. It was 6 years ago that I found this information out and my friend thinks her brother still doesn't know. I overheard this woman telling an Uncle that she got out of nursing because the schedule didn't work for her as a single mother at a party for my friend's kid last year and that "maybe she'd go back to it in the future." The disciplinary action is public record and states that her license was permanently revoked in 2009.

Specializes in Oncology.

Whoa, you're a grandma? I always pictured you as a young man.

Specializes in ER.
Whoa, you're a grandma? I always pictured you as a young man.

Very funny!

:roflmao:

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I've worked with a couple of nurses that later had their license revoked for diversion. Maybe I'm naive but I honestly never suspected either of them of diverting during the time they worked with me. Absolutely no sign of ever being under the influence at work, never acted suspiciously at all that I noticed. It's sad when you find out somebody you know had such a problem with drugs that they ended up losing their career over it.

I'm with you on letting you newly rediscovered friend from school divulge what she wants when or if she wants. Given your shared background it's not very likely that your nursing career won't naturally come into the conversation at some point. I'd leave it up to her to tell you what she's comfortable with. Don't be surprised though if she never gives you the whole story. It's easier to avoid uncomfortable conversations when they are not face to face, plus if you're only talking on Facebook I wouldn't blame her for not putting that out there for everybody to see.

She is YOUR nursing school buddy. Up to you to deal with her personal/ nursing history.

I'm getting picky in my old age. Don't want to hang with former meth users, or people who flee to another state to elude arrest.

Specializes in ORTHO, PCU, ED.
I'm getting picky in my old age. Don't want to hang with former meth users, or people who flee to another state to elude arrest.

Definitely.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
Whoa, you're a grandma? I always pictured you as a young man.

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Specializes in ER.
She is YOUR nursing school buddy. Up to you to deal with her personal/ nursing history.

I'm getting picky in my old age. Don't want to hang with former meth users, or people who flee to another state to elude arrest.

You are often a positive contributor to this site. However, this doesn't seem to be a good example of that.

You don't seem to understand the tone of my original post, for one thing. I was sharing an experience that I had in looking up an old classmate from nursing school. I find it interesting that other people had similar experiences regarding people that they worked with in the past.

I'm not sure why you are criticizing me for this. I don't think that people with a drug history are to be permanently shunned, not that I even knew she had a drug history when I tried to contact her.

We actually have a number of people on this site who have gone through struggles with substances. Your post is unbecoming of you.

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