Getting charged in multiple states?

[Nursebry91]

I know we can't give legal advice on this page but I am a travel nurse that got caught diverting in SC. I just had another state send me a letter in the mail saying that they are investigating me. Has anyone had experience with this and allow me to contact them privately?

[rn1965, ADN]

So even if I'm in a monitoring program in one state.... bc another state is involved and i can't do two monitoring programs at once.... I will still have a red mark on my license forever? So what's the point of me even going through this hell for 5 years? I love being a nurse but it's not worth five years of my life, just to still have marks on my license. I may never find a decent nursing job. I'm going to contact a nursing lawyer today but if that's the case I'm just gonna throw in the towel. Of course, I'll wait until after my criminal case (praying for pti) so I can get the felony charges dropped. And then try to get a job in medical sales or something where my nursing license won't be looked at.

It does seem daunting. I am in a similar boat. I was originally licensed in AZ only (1998) and failed their "confidential" monitoring program. It was my fault, I just was not ready. I now live in TX and decided to attempt to get my RN license back. I applied for re-issuance in AZ about 9 months ago. As it stands now, they tell me they are not even close to considering it yet, due to the lengthy time for investigations. UGH.

So, I am trying with TX instead. I do not want to live in AZ again, and I want to stay in TX, at least until I retire.

I know there will forever be a mark, because I have to go through public discipline, since I never completed the confidential one in AZ. I am willing to live with that and hope that I at least have the chance to be a nurse again.

At this point, it is just a waiting game and I am trying to be patient and wait my turn to join monitor land.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

So even if I'm in a monitoring program in one state.... bc another state is involved and i can't do two monitoring programs at once.... I will still have a red mark on my license forever? So what's the point of me even going through this hell for 5 years? I love being a nurse but it's not worth five years of my life, just to still have marks on my license. I may never find a decent nursing job. I'm going to contact a nursing lawyer today but if that's the case I'm just gonna throw in the towel. Of course, I'll wait until after my criminal case (praying for pti) so I can get the felony charges dropped. And then try to get a job in medical sales or something where my nursing license won't be looked at.

YEP

This is a very good analysis in my opinion. Every Nurse who is faced with this situation must make this decision. I say all the time that if I was 10 years younger I would have found another line of work or 10 years older would have simply retired. I have a government job and have the luxury of a strong collective bargaining agreement attached to it. If I didn't have that and almost 1000 hours of sick time built up I have no idea how I would have survived this program. I honestly feel for the nurses who cannot work for months at a time and only then are released with stipulations and a red flag. I like most nurses who stay have a lifetime of work invested in my career and simply didn't have a better alternative. It is doable though. If you jump through the hoops, do the asinine meetings and counseling, some how manage to survive financially without losing everything and just keep doing all the BS thrown at you this program will eventually end. Last month after a year and a half I was finally released to go back to the ER and my income basically doubled so I'm working on paying off the giant pile of credit card debt I amassed to stay afloat and I soon graduate from my NP studies. This program rarely does any good that I've seen for anybody ever but if your nursing career is worth it to you its doable. It's a very steep price and I will never have the respect I had for other nurses nor the rehab industry again but I'm paying it and making it. I'm nothing special you can too. This nonsense won't make you better in anyway. It's about simple punishment at the hands of those who love to punish and pure hatred of them helps me to carry on. I simply won't let the Nazis take any more from me than they already have.

[catsmeow1972, BSN, RN]

By the time I am through this nightmare it will be close to 6 years of my life (because y'know all that precious, useful (‘scuse me whilst I go puke) rehab) killed a good 10 months before the ******* contract even started. I am of the age where I am too old and in student loan debt (goofed around in my 20s too much) to go back to school and too young to retire and the idea of staying on disability and doing ??? does not appeal to me. I think the sitting around and not working or working a retail job that I hate would be worse than putting up with the program nazis. I am also too bloody stubborn to let these idiots win. Giving up now, would in my opinion be allowing that to happen.

I have known people that have taken a look at this nonsense and said "forget it" (perhaps in a more colorful manner) and moved on to something else. We've covered it in other threads. There is nothing about this garbage that is recovery or support. It is the dispensing of pure and simple punishment.

There is a small number of people that benefit from these things. It is a shame that in the name of making a metric ton of money, the web of finding those people who can benefit has been cast so far and wide that more are hurt than helped.

There are options. Spanked is right. It does end, eventually. But if you feel that jumping through the hoops of this garbage for 5 years is not worth it, the biggest loss will be to nursing for having driven away yet another nurse that made the mistake of being human and that could have been an asset but instead the profession chose to punish instead of support.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Amen Cats

[Eris Discordia BSN, RN]

So even if I'm in a monitoring program in one state.... bc another state is involved and i can't do two monitoring programs at once.... I will still have a red mark on my license forever? So what's the point of me even going through this hell for 5 years? I love being a nurse but it's not worth five years of my life, just to still have marks on my license. I may never find a decent nursing job. I'm going to contact a nursing lawyer today but if that's the case I'm just gonna throw in the towel. Of course, I'll wait until after my criminal case (praying for pti) so I can get the felony charges dropped. And then try to get a job in medical sales or something where my nursing license won't be looked at.

You *may* be able to do two at once...I've heard of it happening before. That's part if why a lawyer will be key for you. And you can get jobs with marks on your license while your in monitoring. In my Cadeuseus group, there are some nurses who are doing it. I am in monitoring and found a job easily...But I don't have a mark or a criminal record. But these two nurses did and got jobs.

Some more food for thought is...if you think you may ever want to go to school and get licensed for a a certificate in something that is a covered profession by the state Department of Health Professions, you will need to finish monitoring to be eligible for a clean license for that. Things like dental hygienists or counselors, etc.

When all this rained down on me, I was going to switch careers and say "screw it" to monitoring, particularly if my discipline was public. I tried for 6 months to get my foot in the door of another profession that wouldn't use my RN, but perhaps could use my BSN. I failed miserably. Maybe it was my area job market. But I couldn't even get in to fast food or retail, because I had no prior experience with that. Medical sales weren't an option in my market.

They all just kept saying I was overqualified and couldn't understand why I would take the pay cut. I tried to spin it all sorts of ways...nothing worked. I didn't want to disclose my addiction. I did get a job as a pre-k teacher, but I couldnt pay very basic bills.

So I decided to try for nursing jobs and see how that went. I landed a RN job quickly, although not in my preferred specialty, even in monitoring. But it was work and I took it...and I now dare say that I even like it.

Please wait until you meet with a quality lawyer to help you flesh out all the tangled mess. Only then will you have enough accurate information regarding your personal situation and be able to make a quality decision based on your specific circumstances.

I do identify as a true addict...yes, monitoring is expensive, time consuming, embarrassing, and it feels like punishment. But at least my program comes out and straight up says that they are NOT a treatment program. Because they aren't. At my orientation, they said if I wanted my license, these are the hoops I have to do. They monitor compliance only.

Now, it's blurry, because they are MANDATING treatment, but purporting that they are not administering treatment, just monitoring compliance and sobriety. Regardless of the semantics, they have the control and that is frustrating to deal with. But it is doable. I have under 4 years left.

If it were me, I would do the monitoring and bide my time until all the cards fall into place and you can actually see the hand you are dealt. It's easier to do monitoring then drop out if it's all to much, than to quit now, change your mind, and attempt to get back on board.

And as Spanked mentioned, age does play a factor. The younger you are, the easier it is to start over in something else. The easier it is to explain leaving a career. I am old enough that while I could have started over, I couldn't live on the income I was earning as a pre-k teacher to survive until I graduated. I have no parents to go home to. And I had a family to support. So I really needed to make nursing work.

Try not to project too far into the future (easier said than done). Get clean, deal with the things that need to be dealt with now; food and housing for today. Again, let the cards fall in to play, then it will be time to make decisions. Take care of yourself. Know that an answer will eventually come, but just not today.

Vent here, ask questions. Best wishes.

[Mavrick, BSN, RN]

So even if I'm in a monitoring program in one state.... bc another state is involved and i can't do two monitoring programs at once.... I will still have a red mark on my license forever? So what's the point of me even going through this hell for 5 years? I love being a nurse but it's not worth five years of my life, just to still have marks on my license. I may never find a decent nursing job. I'm going to contact a nursing lawyer today but if that's the case I'm just gonna throw in the towel. Of course, I'll wait until after my criminal case (praying for pti) so I can get the felony charges dropped. And then try to get a job in medical sales or something where my nursing license won't be looked at.

I can't speak to monitoring specifically but if the board has placed any kind of disciplinary action (probation, suspension, etc.) on your license, it will be flagged with a real red flag that is forever available to the public to look up on Nursys.com if they have your name or license number for that state.

Even if you deactivate your license for that state, the flag will remain, so keep any and all paperwork (Stipulations, resolutions, final dispositions etc) available to make copies for any future employer that will hire you.

Good news though: It isn't the end of your career as an RN. You just have a little more 'splaining to do.

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

Excellent points Eris!!!

[Persephone Paige, ADN]

I gave up nursing purely for personal reasons and found I missed it. I had cancer, too. So, that factored in. I was also addicted, but I was so bored staying home that when they allowed me to get my license back with an IPN contract, I was grateful. Still have not gotten a job yet, as I was out for 12 years total. I've seen nurses leave and then come back, I think it just gets in your blood. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I took the RN refresher course. I hope you'll stay.

[StillRN]

Everyone I know in monitoring hell wants out of nursing! But we are basically stuck! We, unknowingly, chose a profession that would end up controlling and even destroying our lives!!

I'm not even just talking about those of us being condemned for our mortal sins.. I'm talking about all of us!

For those who love it.. truly good for you!! But for sooooo many of us it has beaten us down, broken us apart, killed our spirit, our bodies, our happiness..etc. I have 5 Nurses in my family from all over the states.. every one of us agrees that they have been used and abused (literally), their bodies are wearing down (example my horrific shoulder surgery I just went thru plus year of PT for an injury on the job with improper safety equipment) our health has declined, my anxiety is so bad I have to stop twice on the way to work to use the bathroom, we are all so stressed out between crappy management, crappy Co-workers, crappy work environment, crappy abusive behavior from patients and families. The list goes on and on!!! They always want more from us.. they want our souls!

Then throw in monitoring and now we are the trash of the trash we already deal with!

But we are stuck. We make too much money to start over in anything else. My friend just got suspended and applied EVERYWHERE... even with managerial experience.. all she could get was a cashier at a grocery store.. her one and only offer!! She makes 1/3 of her original salary. Unless your spouse is well off and money isn't an issue.. we are stuck (in nursing/monitoring h*ll)!!

Btw.. I hVe a coworker who got her narc key back this week.. first time in 12 years!! She is done finally in November. She had to start as a housekeeper and work her way up to a staff nurse (she has an MSN and was a college instructor and worked for corporate at one time) she's got 12 years in.

My other Friend had 5 in.. and now has to start her 5 years over again. She swore she was done .. but she has no choice.. she's stuck!

I so wish I had chosen another profession! It eats at me daily!! Literally!

[Eris Discordia BSN, RN]

Everyone I know in monitoring hell wants out of nursing! But we are basically stuck! We, unknowingly, chose a profession that would end up controlling and even destroying our lives!!

I'm not even just talking about those of us being condemned for our mortal sins.. I'm talking about all of us!

For those who love it.. truly good for you!! But for sooooo many of us it has beaten us down, broken us apart, killed our spirit, our bodies, our happiness..etc. I have 5 Nurses in my family from all over the states.. every one of us agrees that they have been used and abused (literally), their bodies are wearing down (example my horrific shoulder surgery I just went thru plus year of PT for an injury on the job with improper safety equipment) our health has declined, my anxiety is so bad I have to stop twice on the way to work to use the bathroom, we are all so stressed out between crappy management, crappy Co-workers, crappy work environment, crappy abusive behavior from patients and families. The list goes on and on!!! They always want more from us.. they want our souls!

Then throw in monitoring and now we are the trash of the trash we already deal with!

But we are stuck. We make too much money to start over in anything else. My friend just got suspended and applied EVERYWHERE... even with managerial experience.. all she could get was a cashier at a grocery store.. her one and only offer!! She makes 1/3 of her original salary. Unless your spouse is well off and money isn't an issue.. we are stuck (in nursing/monitoring h*ll)!!

Btw.. I hVe a coworker who got her narc key back this week.. first time in 12 years!! She is done finally in November. She had to start as a housekeeper and work her way up to a staff nurse (she has an MSN and was a college instructor and worked for corporate at one time) she's got 12 years in.

My other Friend had 5 in.. and now has to start her 5 years over again. She swore she was done .. but she has no choice.. she's stuck!

I so wish I had chosen another profession! It eats at me daily!! Literally!

Your post struck such a cord in me. Took the breath out of my chest, it resonated so deeply. Thank you for putting into words what I have not been able to.

Thank you,

Eris

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

YEP!!!

Before all this whirlwind of poop I strongly identified myself as a nurse. It wasn't just what I did it was part of who I was. No more and never again. Its a paycheck every two weeks now. If I could get a better deal I'd take it but I can't. I wonder how many more zombie-nurses these helpful programs have given birth to?

[Randomnurse3]

Have either of you Googled this?

Doesn't seem private if you are required to give your real name...