Athenaray

You will get a job Easily after the narc restriction is lifted because... 1. You have no license flaws. 2. You voluntarily entered monitoring. That's considered incredibly awesome by many employers and some will be shocked to see a nurse who did so. That's looked at as great character and honesty. 3. Tell the truth to the employer In My Opinion. Tell them about the one time Ativan Diversion. They will actually be more impressed as you tell them how you are in monitoring and doing well. You will EASILY get a job. I would caution against bring untruthful for your own recovery. Don't go down that road. You have no licensing flaws. You are in monitoring and you will soon have no narc restrictions.

It's more than direct harm. The point you are missing is....addicts/alcoholics should never touch alcohol or drugs again...as in ever. The reason it's a disease is because they can't stop when they do. They ALWAYS hurt others in the long run. A meth addict simply can't "do a little meth" as long as she "doesn't do it around others or operate equipment while impaired." An alcoholic can't "drink just enough to cut back so that nobody else is hurt." Doesn't work that way. Relationships can be ended. The problem is, when the mom takes daddy out of the picture, mom may do fine, but she is scarred and so are the kids (for life.) You see, those kids are often in and out of therapy for decades because of daddy's drinking and their kids suffer and so on. It's more than simply..."don't drink and drive." I will repeat...if you are an addict or alcoholic (as most on this Board probably are, but not all) do NOT live your life "as you see fit," after monitoring. Live life as "others see fit," because your way obviously hasn't worked.

States are different and each case is different. Most states, not all, but most will require to work as a nurse for 3 years out of those 5 years and most don't require fulltime, but most require 24 hours weekly to count toward the 3 years of credit during the 5 years. There are some states that do not require working, but those are not as common. Additionally, the overwhelming majority of states require the nurse to work 3 out of the 5 years IF the nurse diverted at work. There are only a couple of left that don't require it. As for not working for 5 years and completing the program, understand you run into licensing issues when you return at the 5 year mark. Without 5 years of nursing, you will be required to do a re-entry/retraining/clinical type scenario before working to keep your RN license active and that is something that could be up to 12 weeks or 3 months depending on the state and they are expensive. Understand that for states that require working for 3 out of the 5 years (which is the majority of states) that requirement doesn't always come from the BON. It sometimes comes from the monitoring program itself. You will hear many nurses say, "my consent order doesn't say I have to work 3 out of 5 years." This is true, but if you look at the monitoring programs requirements, the monitoring program will require 3 out of the 5 years working in order to complete your monitoring agreement which goes along with drug testing, meetings, etc. As for finding a job, it is absolutely not "nearly impossible" to find a job while under consent order and stipulations. It is absolutely Hard, and one may argue very hard, but it's doable and nurses find them, otherwise there wouldn't be any nurses in the nursing field in practice today with a substance abuse history. When you apply, look first to Dialysis, local community health clinics as a check in nurse that cater to the poor and/or underserved, and mentsl health hospitals. You need to place 25 applications when you start looking for a job. Don't place 1 or 2 or 3 and waite for a response. Apply to 25 places. Saturate the market and 20 of those 25 places needs to be in an area you don't live in. For example, you stated you live in VA. If you for example live In the Richmond area. Apply for 5 or 10 in Richmond, then 3 or 4 in Hampton Roads, 3 or 4 in Northern VA, 3 or 4 out west in Appalachia where drug and substance use is a severe problem and because of that, employers are Far More understanding of nurses in recovery. Understand that many nurses who get that first job back in recovery to re enter nursing Often don't get that job in the town, city, or area they reside. Many have to move to another part of their state. Understand that after you have worked for 1 year, stipulations generally decrease from the BON, and equally important, more employers are more likely to hire you as you have proven one year of sobriety and worked a year with no issues, and it's easier to get back home.

I disagree. I had a nephew who we buried, and had a big funeral 3 years ago because there was a Dumb A%% Alcoholic who had a history of 5 DUI's and a known alcoholic who even had served time for his DUIs and he drove drunk again and killed my nephew. NO, if you are an alcoholic or drug addict, you should actually STOP living your life "how you see fit," because the overwhelming majority of the time, alcoholics and addicts (such as Myself) who continue to drink and or use drugs after suffering consequences the first time end up hurting OTHER HUMANS. Most alcoholics and addicts don't go into Alaska or the Wilderness to drink and do drugs and NOT bother others. They end up BOTHERING others whether it's time missed from work where coworkers suffer, or failed relationships which hurts partners, spouses and children, or disability due to the effect of substances which hurts everyone who pays taxes, or GOD forbid, the drinking and driving that kills someone, or the drug addict who gets involved with crime to feed the addiction and hurts or kills someone. NO, do not live your life "how you see fit," IF.....IF.......again.....IF you are an addict or alcoholic because you have a condition (including myself) that doesn't set well with how You (and me) "sees things fit." It's probably time to stop listening to one's Self (which is the problem) and Listen to other normal humans who are not addicts or alcoholics and take their advice on what THEY see fit. If you are truly Not and Alcoholic or Addict, then I agree 100%. When your time is up in monitoring, then absolutely live your life how you see fit. But if you are an alcoholic/addict, for the love of God, do NOT live life how you see fit. That's part of why you are here in the first place, and it's how other humans (it's not all about you-again, part of the problem-narcissism) BUT other humans end up getting hurt directly or indirectly.

Believe it or not, monitoring case managers actually have connections and they can sometimes be helpful in helping you find a job. You might be surprised at the reach some of these people have. Again, NOT ALL of them will help. SOME will basically gives 0 cares about whether you find a job and they might even hint at something close to that verbally, BUT MANY of them often can and do help. The key is.....Communication 101. Speak to them. Tell them your concerns and list Exactly how many jobs you have applied for and the amount of hours (the exact hours spent) on applying for job. Put your EFFORT into Numbers, Not simply pure emotion. For example, "I've applied at a lot of jobs and can't find one." <--------see how vague and aloof that is and see how it can come off to the case manager as somewhat "lazy" or at least, it doesn't give the true picture of what you are going through. Notice this statement, "Sir, I have applied for 25 jobs and I have spent perhaps 60 hours of time placing applications, following up, making calls, and I'm devastated and worried because I simply can't get hired. It's literally keeping me up at night and my family is worried and so am I. Financially, we are hurting and I would take anything. I simply don't know where else to apply" <-----see the difference in this statement and what it can do to SOME case managers compared to statement one? Communicate this way. You might be surprised at how your case managers starts making some calls around the state.

If you license is Suspended, you actually ARE exempt from that states requirements regarding monitoring/consent agreement/etc. You can leave your license Suspended for the remained of your life and do nothing with the BON if you choose. If you choose to come back to nursing with a Suspended License, those monitoring requirements pick up right where they left off. If your license is Suspended With Stay, then you are on the hook to do monitoring, the meetings, monthly/quarterly reports, etc. This is a full blown active consent order. Suspended with Stay is basically saying....."Your license isn't really suspended, but one mishap and it is suspended." That's essentially what it means. There's a gigantic Difference in a License that is Suspended and one that is Suspended with Stay. Me personally, I would skip the attorney. They are going to cost you money in your case of which ..........no attorney in America will get you out of some kind of monitoring program for at least 3 years If.....IF.....you are choosing to stay in the healthcare field. Meaning, Dental Hygiene Programs and their licensing agency will easily see you had the substance abuse thing and want proof of your recovery in the form of MONITORING the very second you apply for a DH license. They will want a minimum of 3 years of some kind of monitoring program where you get randomly tested, so why not just do the HPRP program> That would count. No lawyer in America will get you out of some type of monitoring program If.......again, IF....you are choosing to do anything in the healthcare field. It's a given. You can pay 10 to 15 grand to a lawyer and they can "make you feel good," and tell you that "they will work with the D. Hygiene Board for you." All of that is great......at the end of the day, you WILL STILL end up in some form of monitoring program whether that's while you are in school to become a DH, or upon completion of DH school and you beginning to practice and that lawyer they made you feel good will have cost about 10 grand.

PM Dr gave me injections nerve blocks and neurontin and weeded me down over 5 months. BON let me be in program but wouldn't count my 5 years of official recovery until I had first clean drug test off opiates and gave me 6 months. I had surgery at about 8 months in program and that helped. I think they are more strict nowadays than in past

I'm coming up on 3 years in Texas. They made me stop narcotics and couldn't even do Tramadol. Had to do pain management injections and told me I can't stay in program if not off narcs after 6 months. I'm in for Diversion. It might depend on what you're in for or when you went through it.

1. Take a hair and nail test NOW. Do NOT let time go by. Go online, Google 'order my own hair and fingernail test" and have the results of those tests sent directly to your lawyer. It's great that you had a future negative urine test, but that doesn't matter very much. What does matter? A hair and nail test that looks back for months and leaves no doubt. Also a Peth Blood draw for alcohol. 2. It's 50/50 on whether they report you. For a failed pre employment drug test, IF.......IF you are reported and the BON investigates, there is zero chance your license is suspended. ZERO, but getting into trouble? Oh yea, very possible. 3. How long until you find out if you have been reported and are under investigation by the BON before you receive a letter? Anywhere from one month to 1 year. Yep, roughly that long, and more likely closer to 3 months or more. 4. Peace of mind for you and how to achieve it in case you are reported and you don't want the worry for up to 1 year wondering what if? Step 1. Get Attorney. Step 2. Get hair and nail drug test and Peth Alcohol blood test (give results to lawyer.) Step 3. Get you own SUD eval now. Have results sent directly to lawyer and have him hold them tight. Get you SUD eval at any facility that does SUD evals and do NOT worry about whether it's "Board Approved." That means NOTHING at this point. What matters is....you get an SUD eval that shows no SUD disorder and tthose results are in the hands of your attorney. Case closed if you do the 3 steps above. Do the 3 steps above and you will not end up on consent order or in monitoring and likely be given a verbal warning or written warning that is no big deal and not made public. You can rest with peace of mind knowing that over the next months or year, you are good to go even if reported. Your attorney has too much evidence in hand with the SUD eval showing no issue, negative PETH test and negative hair and nail tests and the BON does NOT have enough evidence against you. They can't play the "at work Pixis or charting error game" because you didn't work there yet. The BON will back down IF.....IF....you take the 3 steps above without any shortcuts. There are dumb humans in the world and dumb humans are notorious for not being able to make decisions. They love "to wait" and dumb humans love to share their thoughts with phrases such as, "I would wait until.......". Trust me on this no matter what you hear from another nurse or if you run into a dumb human. Do NOT wait. Period. What you will likely here from the dumb dumb out there is......"You can get the drug tests but I would WAIT to do the SUD eval until I find out that I was reported." I'm warning you, if you do that, welcome to a consent order and monitoring because if you "Wait" on the SUD eval, for example, 4 months goes by and then you do it, that means little because the BON can say, "4 months went by and you stopped doing drugs because you knew you would have an eval." It's CRITICAL to get the SUD eval ASAP. 1. Lawyer, 2. Peth Test, Hair, Nail Test. 3. SUD eval. Do those 3 in the next month and you just won your case or in one sense, there will be no case. Deviate or "wait" and you will become a regular member of this forum over the next 3 years and maybe up to 5. For the nurses that beat the BON and don't go under consent order are always the same story on here for over a decade. They get their own drug tests and hair is one of them, lawyer up early, and get an SUD eval and the results go to their lawyer. The lawyer is now armed and the BON knows it, and they back down in these situations. Skip the SUD eval, even if you have an attorney and negative drug tests, but if you skip the SUD eval and you WAIT until 4 or 5 or 6 months goes by and you let the BON pick where you get that eval, as the eval place is in the pockets of the BON, then welcome to a consent order and monitoring for anywhere from 3 and up to 5 years. Hope this helps. Now, all of the above answers for you were given under the assumption that you don't do drugs and that your Peth, Hair,Nail, and SUD evals all come back negative. Is all of the above expensive? Yep. What if you aren't reported? So, it was expensive and I didn't even get reported. Yep, great. Having the peace of mind knowing you are fine over the next year is worth that expense and if you didn't do the above stuff and get reported and have to go under consent order and monitoring for possibly up to 5 years, that is FAR more expensive than what you will have paid for the peace of mind. Of you are investigated/reported, the BON will eventually have you likely do their very own Board Approved SUD at one of their locations. Even that is doubtful because of how armed your lawyer is with a bunch of proof, bit no big deal if you have to get a BON approved SUD eval IF they report you. The crooked evaluators can't be as crooked in this situation because when you go into see them, you hand them your attorneys info, your negative drug tests and your negative SUD eval that you got months earlier and when this happens, it's ALARMING how the Board Approved SUD evaluators aren't so corrupt anymore and they aren't so quick to find you as having an SUD because they know they are under the microscope legally at that point. But, if you walk into a Board Approved SUD eval place and you don't have a lawyer or any hair/nail tests close to the event proving innocence and no previous SUD eval from anywhere, They Got You, period. They will overwhelmingly likely find something or "make up" something. I think you get the picture by now of how important it is to get your own SUD eval, hair test, nail test, Peth Test ASAP and give yo your lawyer. It kiterally.....literally is the difference maker in whether you end up on consent order/probation/Monitoring versus walking away with a written or verbal warning.

In MOST states, NOT ALL, but in MOST states, you CAN Take the NCLEX. You have not been convicted of ANY crime or DUI. You have been arrested/charged only. There's a difference. Be very careful in how you READ your state's NCLEX registration/application. Some states ask if you have ever been CONVICTED and theu stop there. Sme ask if you have been arrested and/or charged. You have not been Convicted yet. Additionally, MOST states will still allow you to take the exam Even/IF they ask about your arrest background. Some states will ask about arrests and or charges and some will make you get an SUD eval Before taking the exam. Very, very few, if any, will say you can't take the exam until your criminal DUI case is resolved in court. So 3 camps here.... 1. You can take the exam as the application will only ask about criminal Convictions and this is about 50 percent of states. 2. The application asks about convictions AND in addition, they ALSO ask about charges/arrests of which you Have been arrested and in this case, it goes 2 ways. Some will say you can Still take the exam and some will say, you have to get an SUD eval first, and after the SUD eval, you can tske the exam. 3. Final very rare camp. You can't take the exam until your DUI case is resolved in the courts and I don't know of any states that are like this. Important, thr BON will find out as you have to disclose it, but if your states application/registrstion onky asks about CONVICTIONS, then you dontnhave to disclose your DUI until yoi get a passing result on your exam and officially become an RN. it's overwhelmingly likely you WILL end up in nurse monitoring for some amount of time. Get a lawyer. Your lawyer has pull here because you got the DUI Before you were an RN, and yes, the BON can still legally make you do monitoring for something that happened Before you were officially a nurse, BUT....lawyers in this case can get your monitoring time shortened because......to your advantage, it happened before you were a nurse. Finally, understand that someone is looking out for you. You are excited, on top of the world, about to graduate and things are good, and then you get the DUI. Don't look at this as bad luck. Look at this as a gift. Someone is trying to steer you in the right direction and you just had a valuable life lesson that you can grow from and become stronger, or it can tear you apart. I would choose the part about growth and learning from what happened and consider it a gift.

It's definitely a scam. Time and time again I see people on consent orders and in monitoring that don't have SUDs. BONs are corrupt. Not everyone on the BONs are corrupt. Most are good people, but there are a few bad apples and that's all it takes to corrupt the entire BON. It's sad how much unchecked power these people have.

Best approach to recovwry/SUD/alcoholism is Multi pronged consisting of PHP and or IOP and Aftercare which makes up what is called "rehab." Additionally, therapy and additionally self help meetings. All of the above are proven to help and just doing 1 of the above is better than nothing, but here is the catch most don't know about.... If you could only do 1 of the above and couldn't do any of the others, it's meetings (AA, NA, CR) are likely More Important than therapy itself. Relapse rates are directly correlated with meeting attendance and more correlated with meeting attendance than they are therapy.

Why haven't you heard back? Because BONs can take on average, 3 months. Depending on the state, your request goes to a subcommittee at the BON and that committee approves it for the 1st step to get it on the agenda at the next BON meeting of which there is an open slot for it on the agenda. The approval at the official BON meeting is the final step. This is why is can take between 1 week and 1 year, but 3 months is average. Depends on how backed up the BON/open slots on the agenda. As you can imagine and I hate to be political here, when you live in a far left state, well.....these people run things and yes, these states usually take longer because organization, planning, and working hard usually doesn't go well with these folks. I will leave it that. Hint....Montana and South Dakota and Idaho in general (not always) move faster than California, NJ, and NY. How do you possibly speed that process up? CALL THEM. Every BON has a compliance department or someone that works compliance. You can't "get into trouble" by simply calling the BON and asking about where they are in the process. There is no harm there. Calling and talking can also help prevent the old famous BON trick of "not receiving your paperwork," or..."we never received it" which the BON loves to do in order to mess with people and delay the process. That technique is old school and mostly 1990s style, but you still get one every now and then that tries to double down on stupid, so calling them helps in this regard also.

Be quite. Never said I was a lawyer. Never said physician either and not acting like one. It appears that way to you because you are dumber than a rock. You should watch yourself dumb dumb because telling addicts they don't need rehab is.....dumb and dumb dumba do dumb things

Swe what dumb dumb wrote? Dumb dumb wrote that you basically don't need rehab. That's essentially what dumb dumb is saying because dumb dumb thinks nobody needs rehab even in the face of diversion and criminal charges. See the level of dumb? Pure and plain. Dumb dumb but in reality, it's narcissism. Narci's love to comment on things they have no clue about because they can't help themselves which is why Narci is currently being monitored in a program. That's the core problem of how she ended up here.