Relatively new nurse here in PA. Please save me the rhetoric if your only response is going to be condescending, chastising, or otherwise abrasive. I simply want some understanding of exactly what to expect and i realize that i put myself into this position.
I got a DUI of .12 very soon after getting my license. I have been employed at a hospital as an RN, as i was hired/background checks were all done right before this issue. After checking the policy manual i found there was no policy mandating me to report this to my employer, so they are still not aware, though i suspect the BON will change that soon enough... I hired a good attorney who has a lot of knowledge about protecting professional licenses and i got into the ARD program for the criminal side of things. I went for a board mandated alcohol/drug assessment for the "voluntary recovery program" after they found me through JNET and i was found to be ineligible for participation as no diagnosis of impairment could be made. As they looked deeper into my past, nearly 9 months after the DUI arrest, i had to complete an evaluation with a forensic psychiatrist for an arrest almost 6 years ago r/t possession of a small amount of marijuana and paraphernalia. This arrest was long before i ever even considered being a nurse and it is a part of my past, not something that i have done since.
This meeting with the psychiatrist was nearly 4 hours long including the drug test which I'm sure i passed for alcohol and all drugs. He asked me about everything from my childhood and the career choices of family members to my drinking habits. As i'm still on probation for the criminal aspect of my proceedings, i'm not supposed to be drinking whatsoever. However, my lawyer never showed up for my ARD hearing, so although i signed a document agreeing to these terms i was unaware of them at the time of this evaluation, and as such, i admitted to drinking very small amounts very few times during these past number of months of probation.
Can anyone offer any insight on what to expect my punishment to be? Since the psychiatrist showed me the paper i signed saying i can't drink on probation i have been entirely sober and i just want to keep my license... Preferably without having to do 3+ aa's a week and a nurses support group and frequent/expensive random drug testing for years to come, etc, etc, yadda, yada...
