Nursing student- there is hope

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So I recently graduated from nursing school. About 6 months before graduation I was arrested for a DUI. Moreover, in 2016 I had multiple arrests for disorderly conduct and possession of marijuana. After my most recent arrest I figured I was screwed. I desperately sought out answers on whether I would be able to test and if so what would happen to me. 

I hired a nursing license attorney right after my arrest because I knew I would have to submit a positive response to the board when applying to take my NCLEX. He had me do certain things ucb as get references, get a hair screen, get letters from my counselor and get a substance abuse evaluation. I did all of these things. 

Fast forward, I recently just got finished with my board appearance to answer my positive responses. I was given approval with NO probation and NO referral to my states drug and alcohol program. 

 

I am writing this to comfort fellow nursing students who may be worried about being able to test after having a criminal background. Yes, you will be able to test. I had four arrests (most drug or alcohol related) and I was able to test free and clear. My advice is to hire an attorney. It was the best decision I made. If you have to take out a loan. Do it! You need an attorney. There was a person that had an appearance right before me who had a DUI. This was her only charge. She did not have a lawyer and was given probation and a referral to the monitoring program. I am willing to answer anyone's questions. 

If you are a student who has gotten in trouble, know that you will be OK and you will be able to test. 

19 hours ago, Betterdaystocome said:

@Little.Pretty.Nurse my suggestion is to start working as a PCA or whatever they call it at your local hospital. Work hard and show the manager your skill and desire to work hard. Once you've been there for a month or two let her (or him) know your situation. 

I was fully expecting to at least get probation. I had been working as a PCA and told my manager my situation. She was more than willing to work with me regardless of the outcome. Anyone trying to get into a position after punishment should do this. You do not need a license to work as a PCA. You have the ability to get close with the nurses so they can give a recommendation. Once your established let the manager know what's going on. The most they can do is say no. If they say no, you start applying for other positions while you still have your PCA job. 

I currently work for one of the big hospitals in my area and have been working for this hospital even prior to nursing school. I work in our Lab department and I make good money $17+/ hour. I can not afford to take the pay cut to go back to CNA/PCA wages. I do thankfully have a good network of people I have met during my employment at this facility, so I am hopeful that I can get hired within, once I am reinstated. My biggest frustration right now is going back to school. I started my nursing journey with full intentions on getting my MSN in Nursing Education. I emailed a few of the Dean's for the Nursing Departments at the community colleges in my area, one of them responded and told me that since I will have to go through the PEER program when my license gets reinstated  (stipulation in order to keep it) that will disqualify me indefinitely from their program. This is an LPN-RN program. That sounds illegal and discriminatory but I don't know how true that is. I'm not going to let any of this stop me though. I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself. I'm tired of giving up on myself. Last year when my license got revoked due to my refusal to join PEER I had just given up. I felt defeated I felt beaten. I refuse to let them have that power over me. I worked hard for my license. I was an exceptional CNA and I know I am going to be an exceptional LPN and eventually an exceptional RN. I just can't accept being stagnant, I know I will be for a while but I know I'm making strides to reach my goals.

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
On 10/1/2020 at 10:11 AM, Little.Pretty.Nurse said:

...... At that time I was angry, stubborn, bitter, and upset because I felt that I shouldn't have been dealt the cards I was dealt.....

I'm not much of a 12-stepper these days but one I learned there I found to be absolutely true that  anger and resentment are the fuel that keeps us sick. Even with close to 20 years of sobriety I am never closer to picking up that bottle than when I am angry (even riotiously so). I can still quote Bill Wilson at times and a favoroite is "When you give yourself over to anger and resentment you shut yourself off from the sunlight of the soul." 

Things can change for you but you mat have to go through sveral BON hoops including in-patient rehab to get that license. 

 

Peace and Namaste

Hppy

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Hi Betterdaystocome!

First, congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment!

I’m currently a student, and I wanted to ask if you could share what state you’re in?

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Hello! I am in a similar situation and I was wondering if you ever disclosed your dui to your school since it happened during school?

Thanks 

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@almostnurse20 no I didn't tell them

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@Betterdaystocome   okay thanks for letting me know! I am in the same boat. I got my dui in August and I graduate next week. I have a nursing attorney who is making me do everything you mentioned. I was just now worried because I never told my school ( I didn't know if I needed to or not) but hopefully that won't impact anything! 

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@almostnurse20 I think I've read on here that someone was asked if they told the school but they never asked me. They asked me what my BAC was which was quite high .241. They asked what I was doing to make sure this doesn't happen again I told them I was seeing a therapist. They asked me if I had drank anything since then, I said no. They then asked if I was still on probation through the county and I wasn't. They suggested that AA may be beneficial to meet but that they did not see a need to monitor me and issued it free and clear. My lawyer answered some questions and I answered others. It all depends on who you go in front of. My state has one day where it is just one member acting as an ALJ and then the other day is a full board (three ALJs). I lucked out that I just went in front of the one person. Your lawyer should be able to give you this info so that you can prepare yourself. Also there was like 200 people on this zoom call. You just wait for your name and they ask you questions. Tool about 15 mins altogether. I was like 33 in line so it took like 2 hrs just to get to me. Do you will be able to hear the questions they ask other people. Pay attention to the ones with DUIs and you can gauge what type of questions they will ask.

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Awesome thanks for the advice. My BAC was .06, but who knows what will happen because it is on a case by case basis. Hopefully I can luck out like you did. Was your case closed and done with before you went before the board? 

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@almostnurse20 yes I had completed all court requirements and was not on probation. If you are on probation, it is almost guaranteed that you will be place on a monitoring agreement. Good luck and keep us posted. 

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Okay Betterdaystocome, so I understand you don’t want to reply to me and share what state you’re in because you think I’m the FBI or something. No I’m not. I’m a student in Ohio just looking for some hope regarding future matters. Yes I’ve been following the recovery board here for 1-2 years reading stories and advice from everyone, yes I finally created an account to ask you that, and no I don’t have my life story listed in my experience. 
 

You ignored my question and continued to reply to others after me, that’s fine. What’s interesting to me is that a week before you posted this discussion, you had posted another  discussion about shaving off all your body hair and cutting down all your nails to bare minimum. Seems suspicious!

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@Squirrelcatcat841 hey thank you for your positive words. All I will say is that I am not in Ohio. It doesn't matter which state I am as even if you were in the same state as me your results would vary. I mentioned that people who attended the board with me had different (more harsh) requirements than me. The point of the post was not to be specific to my state or I would have posted my state. The point of my post was to provide some form of reassurance to someone who was like me. Fresh off a DUI arrest on top previous charges, panicking wondering if there was any hope of making it through the process unscathed or even what the process was like. I remember reading these boards and all I read was that I would guarantee be issued a monitoring agreement. That I would be subjected to a precarious three-five year probation. I was more than willing to accept this to become a nurse but wondered if there was anyone who had made it through without getting subjected to this monitoring. Well, that's where my post was hopefully going to add to the ether of experiences listed throughout years of postings. The main message I wanted to provide was to HIRE AN ATTORNEY and DON'T BE ON CRIMINAL PROBATION when attending the board. I can appreciate your anxiety because you may want information specific to your state. I was there, I get it. However, to call me suspicious is not well founded and a bit offensive. If it's suspicious to provide information to help those in a similar situation then I suppose I'm guilty of whatever you are implying. I asked about shaving my body hair because I would have not passed a hair follicle test. I am a bald (male pattern) male so I already keep my head shaved. I know plenty of people who shave body hair, I don't think this would necessarily come off as suspicious. My question was if this were the case what would their recourse be? For instance, would they just wait until my hair had grown back enough? Would they have performed a different test such as nail? Would I be automatically considered a failure due to inability to provide a sample? You see, I was still in the nervous as heck phase, where I had a million questions with little answers. Lastly, I will provide you a bit information. I am in a compact state, Ohio would not fall under this! I wish you the best and maybe when you have made it through the process you can add your own information to the ether of allnurses. Good Luck on nursing school, your NCLEX, and your journey through the BON review. 

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Thank you, Betterdaystocome, that was a very nice, thorough response. I’m not being sarcastic, I really appreciate your response. 
 

I guess really the only reason I asked about Ohio is because, from what I’ve read here, Ohio is very unforgiving and slaps everyone with at least a 5 year contract, give or take depending on circumstances possibly. 

I know every BON case is different depending on the individual, their past or current life choices, and the state. So, now in retrospect, it really didn’t make sense to interject myself here. 
 

Did you know about this website and visit here before you applied for your boards?

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