Probation violation with PEth test

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Hi anyone had a probation violation...I am on probation for 3 years for a DUI before I even came a nurse . 6 years ago. Jus got my license and started probation 3 months in. I drank at a get together and got tested the next day for PETH..alcohol. My probation monitor got back to me with a letter intent to cease practice wanted me to write her a letter explaining. Which I did. But I heard from others there going to cease and send it to th AG. Anyone know what happens than... Do U think thy will cease practice and take me to trail...Or extend my probation...

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Probation with who? Your probation officer connected to the DUI will probably report this to the Court as a violation of the terms and conditions of your probation. I have no idea what the ramifications of that is. I'm a Nurse who got a DUI in Pennsylvania & I'm in PNAP. It is my understanding that if I fail a screening and it's verified that they will at the very least make me start the 3 year monitoring over again. I believe this means that I'd get a cease to work letter until I pass a number of clean screenings & that would mean I'd lose my livelihood. I am very sorry for the situation you are in (there but for the grace of God go I). In most rehabilitation situations a relapse is not good but it doesn't carry the punitive edge that these programs hold over us. I don't think this is right at all but I think that's the reality of what you may face. You are in my prayers and I wish you the very best of luck.

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Thank u for your kind words. I am on probation from the BRN. Board of nursing, in California. Yeah I sent my letter in explaining why it happened. Just waiting for there reply if my practice is ceased till the AG makes or a decision or I pray in any way that it is not ceased till thy make a decision. My DUI was from 6 years ago I wasnt even a RN than. Just became one this year. Def opened my eye how serious thy are about these probation rules. Never again. I have everything expunged but thy still put me on probation which makes me so mad but I guess its like a automatic thing?

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I guess I think its insane

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So if the positive test was anything other than a lab error, your practice will be ceased and it'll take anywhere from 4-8 months to hear any kind of resolution. And if you don't want to lose your license, you'll have to continue to do all the conditions of your probation while you wait. Also, expect to get PETH tested quarterly at least. I couldn't do it anymore so I quit but either way, stay strong and don't let them get you down

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The fact that you admit that you willingly broke your contract three months in, using your drug of choice, does not bode well. I would definitely brace for a cease practice and losing your job, along with a prolonged time required before returning to practice.

Drinking a mere three months in to your contract sends one of two messages to the Board:

1) Your drinking problem is much bigger than you let on to them when you received your discipline, considering you lasted only three months into a Board ordered sobriety contract, where your career and financial livelihood were at stake. If drinking responsibly wasn't an issue for you, you should have been at least able to make it longer than three months when the stakes are so very high...unless you do have an alcohol problem that you just aren't ready to admit to right now.

Or option 2) that you just don't take the Board or their contract seriously. Neither of these scenarios will work in your favor.

I'm afraid that you have some tough times ahead.

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I agree that this Nurse messed up. They agreed to the terms and conditions of a monitoring program then within a short time they violated that agreement. I'm sure the nice people who run his / her program will extract their bloody pound of flesh for those sins against nursing.

I think the larger question is "where does a BON get off punishing somebody for a DUI 6 years before they became a Nurse". Is there any evidence that this nurses "substance abuse problem" had any impact upon his ability to care for his patients? This is over-reaching non-sense run by that which is the worst in nursing. Over-controlling, mean, holier than thou Nurses who have strived a lifetime to be placed in a position of control on such a body as a BON. The "leadership" in this profession is putrid

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Lol I'm literally in the same boat as you. I'll try to keep it as short as possible.

I'm on probation for a DUI that I got prior to becoming a RN as well. Got my RN license in August 2016. Violated a month later, in September due to non-alcoholic beer.

Now onto the fun stuff. They hit me with a cease practice in October 2016 and I did not get my license back until August 1, 2017. So yes you are going to have to wait for a while to get your license back unfortunately. My punishment? They extended my probation for 2 additional years (so I'll be done in 2021), which is MIND BLOWING because every single person I hear that violated their probation only get 1 year added. HOWEVER, when I got the letter in the mail stating that my cease practice has been lifted, it states that "you have a new probation term of 3 years effective August 1, 2017" meaning I'm done in 2020 which means they only added a year. So either the BRN messed up or they felt some sympathy because people are committing the same violations but getting different punishments and that makes no sense and is obviously not fair.

All is not lost though, I was able to find a job almost right away. If you scroll a few topics down I stated that my job approval came in so I'll be a working RN soon. Wait time for the approval was about 4 weeks which is crazy long if you ask me.

Anyways in the mean time I'm going to stay clean and build a strong case for myself as I want to apply for a rule out clause next year when I ask for a modification of probation. This is such ******** how we are on probation for DUIs that occurred PRIOR to becoming nurses and other people that were nurses at the time of their crime still get the same punishment as us.

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I agree that this Nurse messed up. They agreed to the terms and conditions of a monitoring program then within a short time they violated that agreement. I'm sure the nice people who run his / her program will extract their bloody pound of flesh for those sins against nursing.

I think the larger question is "where does a BON get off punishing somebody for a DUI 6 years before they became a Nurse". Is there any evidence that this nurses "substance abuse problem" had any impact upon his ability to care for his patients? This is over-reaching non-sense run by that which is the worst in nursing. Over-controlling, mean, holier than thou Nurses who have strived a lifetime to be placed in a position of control on such a body as a BON. The "leadership" in this profession is putrid

Regarding the BON, I completely agree with you, actually. Yet, this is the boat that we are all sinking in and while change most definitely needs to happen, I think it's safe to say that it's not going to happen in time to help any of us under their thumb at the moment. I personally would like to see a substance abuse practitioner on the Board to give the other members some perspective on what is and isn't a present problem.

My deep concern is that my program in VA only has a paltry 34% success rate of graduating nurses/health care providers after the mandatory 5 years. That statistic is both tragic and disheartening to say the least. No one in the BON or the program should take pride in that statistic. It should embarrass them. I'm sure it doesn't.

That is where I was coming from in my post; not my personal perspective of the OP, but a simple statement of what the BON would probably be thinking. I reiterate, not what I personally think of the OP.

In my opinion, the Board and VA HPMP gives zero f***s about the success of their program. If they cared in the slightest, their numbers would be hella closer to the national averages which tend to be in the 60-70%.

When I started, I howled and kicked and screamed eventually ran out of steam because...well, no one but me cared. It was actually hurting their view of me, the more I fought. Literally, no one gave a flying flip and I quickly realized that we are all completely lumped into this giant pot, and if we want our licenses, we play or we are played. It's quite simple.

The point is that regardless of how I got here, or the OP, or anybody else...craptastic...we are all here. And the stakes are extremely high.

Now I have to think LIKE the monitoring program and the BON when I make decisions if I want to make it out. In VA, a whopping 66% FAIL. That's abysmal. That took most of my hope.

And they told us newbies that stat with a straight face walking in the door of my program as my peers and I sat around a conference room table staring, jaws hanging in defeat. They directly told me that I am statistically destined to fail. Nurses literally began to weep. They are the coldest of the cold in our profession.

I guess ultimately, no... I can't exactly relate to the OP personally, because regardless of how pissed I was or how unfair I thought it was from day one, I knew that I had to play the game. I was VERY well warned. And while I don't hold myself in the high regards that I used to, the folks down at the BON put the fear of god and hell in me...enough so that I chose to follow the rules, even when I thought at the time that they shouldn't apply to me.

And directly to the OP, I was only trying to paint a picture of what might happen and how the Board might see it. I make no judgements on your alcohol use because I don't know you.

The BON has its agenda and it's not to hold our hands in a supportive gesture during this process. I tried to paint a picture of how the Board might see it, and it came out uncaring. I'm so sorry. I really am.

And to the OP, as an olive branch to you...everybody screws up...some get caught, some don't. Some are very small and ridiculous to even be thought of as screw ups”. Some are bigger and can devastate a contract. And finally, some people with bonafide problems truly relapse. The Board tends to react to them all similarly, which is of course a fault.

We do nurture each other here, but sometimes we do dig to try to find out what the person was thinking when they chose to break a contract...not because we don't care, but because the stakes are ever so very high. Sometimes we are cold in the delivery of what we estimate the consequences may be. I'm a bit jaded and my post reflects that. OP, I am sorry.

I don't want to be in the 66% of VA nurses who fail. And I don't want you to be either. But neither do I want to be that jaded nurse who can't muster any empathy for someone in the same boat. I'm sorry that my post sounded cold...because it did sound cold.

The BON is very cold and robotic. I don't need to be and I I didn't need to add to that. OP, you have my apologies.

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Omg that long?!?! In California also? When thy hit u w the letter of cease, did it mention that they were sending it to the AG office or do thy do that automatically? I got the cease letter yesterday .

And ya I had send them my letter of employment prior (waiting around 6plus weeks) never heard from them. Than had a celebration and ended up drinking. I hope thy dont do anything to my LVN license since I am working as a LVN right now.any other insight would help... thank u

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I received a DUI in 2012. I had been practicing as an LVN for 5 years. It took the board 3 years to implement probation. So in 2015, after being sober for 3 years, I got 3 years probation. My probation is over in Feb. My question is... can I transfer my license to another state while still on probation.

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I think u have to pause your probation where your at now. Than the other state thy have there own probation conditions that u would have to abide by

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