Eirene

JMO- Thank you for your reply and encouragement! I actually have 29 days clean, oops! Everyday counts. I appreciate you telling me to focus on my recovery right now; that's what I've been doing and looked at it as a character flaw because I've actually put my license on the back-burner. I thought, 'maybe I should care more about my license.' It helped me when you said that. I think the drug testing is a great method. It helps keep me accountable. And the NA meetings are so helpful, I don't mind attending them at all. Again, thank you for your reply.

Hello everyone, I have a long story but I am going to shorten it up. I am a heroin addict. I self-reported my addiction and checked into inpatient rehab the same day, August 31st. I now have 28 days clean under my belt and I am darn proud of that 28 days. I guess I could have not reported myself but I felt I needed to. I didn't want the OBN finding out on their own and being honest has helped me throughout the "steps" of the narcotics anonymous program. I never used on the job or diverted. I was just a dirty nurse with a deadly addiction. First and formost, I am so grateful that I am clean and sober today. I am happy to be alive. I am slowly building up trust from my family and friends. I have a home, food to eat, and a car to drive. I have people to love and for that, I am grateful. I would like to go back into nursing eventually after my treatment program ends and I have some clean time under my belt. Right now I think it is best that I'm not around narcotics of any type. I put my license in 'inactive' status and have sent the OBN a release of medical records of my treatment program. I have been going to NA (Narcotics anonymous) every single night and have decided to get signatures of my attendance in case the OBN needs proof that I am attending meetings. What should I expect in this journey of getting my license back? I'm sure drug testing will be involved and some type of narcotic restriction even though I did not divert. Thank you for any information you can offer.

I still receive notifications about new posts within this thread 3 years later. I love it! I wanted to share some information with all of you. Daytonite personally helped me with many of these careplans. https://danibanani.wordpress.com/nursing-careplans/

Thanks a million for your responses. I called today and told one of the owners I declined the position and didn't feel comfortable working with them (even though I've been working but not getting paid!). The other owner has been burning up my phone- I think 12 calls today? I wasn't able to answer because I was visiting a family member in the ICU- but it's still creepy. Calling over and over and over again- not even a minute to go by between calls. I got several texts, too. One stated, "I have no problem u not wanting to work with us. But plz tell me what made you uncomfortable to come back- so that I might can fix it." I hope they just leave me alone. I hate this!

Hi, everyone! Before I begin my questions, I need to state that I am a brand new HH nurse; although I do have nursing experience. This is a brand new HHC- in business for approximately 3 months. I'm just curious if this is the norm, or if I am too paranoid/hesitant. 1. UNpaid training. I've trained approximately 16 hours with NO PAY. I was understanding because they are a new company- but now I feel that I am being taken advantage of. Is this the norm? They called it "shadowing". 2. UNpaid mandatory weekly staff meetings. Only an hour- but golly, I sure have to have at least gas money to get to the office! 3. We were told today at the UNpaid staff meeting that they were hosting a *Meet and Greet* with the area physicians to help drill up some referrals. No big deal, right? But again, UNpaid, and I have to pretend I'm a cocktail waitress and serve wine and Hors d'œuvre! I didn't become an RN to play waitress on a Friday night that I could be spending with my family! 4. 8 hours this week of work. That's it. But again, they're a new company and have 4 nurses. 5. We were told today that we need to go in to prospective clients homes to arrange their medications WITHOUT PAY-- but they're waiting on the caresource approval and the rationale provided was, "They'll be clients that generate 40 grand a year once the approval hits." I spoke up and said, "Isn't this a HUGE liability issue?" Their remark back was, "we're not going to force you to do anything if you feel your license is in jeapordy- but it looks bad for business." Is this stuff fishy to you? Am I being too dramatic? I don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face because this is a JOB and things might look up. I just need some opinions!

Is a nursing license still at risk if a nurse has a personal relationship with a patient after their professional relationship has been terminated?

Our name badge have the initial of our first name with the full last name. E. Coli, for example. All of them call me Nurse Eirene, though. They are pretty coy. Our salaries are even published yearly.

I like to think of a sallyport as a front porch. You can only open one door at a time. They are big, heavy, locked doors. In my DOC, the little port in the actual door is called a cuffport. Hope this helps.

Yes... it's that bad. We have a system with a sallyport. There are two windows. We literally pass meds to hundreds of inmates a night. If you have a good team- we can kick 'em out in 1.5 hours. It was really intimidating at first, but I've grown acustomed to it. It's actually kind-of fun when you have another fun nurse and officer working with you.

There are some great replies here. I'm with the majority- I really like corrections. I know it sounds silly, but I feel like I make a difference on most days... even if they are criminals. Sometimes we are the only advocates in the world these men have. Everyone has a right to healthcare, period. They seem much more appreciative of healthcare than the general public when I worked critical care.

From what I'm told Wellbutrin acts as a stimulant when crushed. Crazy! The inmates say the rush is a lot like cocaine but is considerably shorter lasting.

Don't be afraid to say "no". Tell them to pull up their pants if you can see their boxers. Tell them to get their hands out of their pants. Be prepared to explain to them about their meds. Sometimes they'll refuse them. Explain to them that the drugs are important. A lot of times you can get them to take them if you just take a minute to explain how important they are. There is nothing wrong in telling them that you care about their mental health (after you've been there for a while). Don't take their sexual harrassment or staredowns. The power of the pen is an amazing thing in prison. They hate tickets.

Pandora- Thank you so much for your response. I absolutely love psych nurses- I always said I couldn't do your job- but it looks like I'm doing it. I've thought about my corrections career as a whole for the past few days. The pro's and con's, the good and bad. I have to admit that the pro's and the good's definitely outweigh the bad. 90% of the time I go home and know that I made a difference; even if the difference was made in a criminals life. I'm going to give it a good year and re-evaluate it then. I feel so inept when it comes to the psych portion. I've never been professionally trained. The most experience I have is when we would get the occasional drug overdose at the hospital. I think I'm going to look at different classes offered at the college that specifically relates to psychiatric nursing so I can understand it a bit more. It can't hurt. Anyway- thank you for your response. It really helped.

Can anyone offer any insight/thoughts on this post? I really need support. https://allnurses.com/correctional-nursing/leaving-work-work-438097.html

One of the reasons why I decided to go into correctional nursing was so I could leave work at work and I would not care so much for my patients. But, these patients are so mentally ill. I can't fix the problem. I can't give them that magic pill or hold their hand or make it better. I can't tell them that this world is a better place because they are alive. I can't stop them from cutting themselves. I can't stop the suicide attempts. I can't stop their nightmares or sit with them when they are new to the facility and are scared. I can't stop the rape, the brutal fights, the broken jaws. I can't, I can't, I can't. I read this section of allnurses failthfully. Nobody talks about how darn difficult and heartbreaking this line of work is. Am I the only one? Am I the only one who comes home from work and can't sleep because I can't stop thinking about the brutality that these men go through everyday? The violent rape that left a man with a prolapsed rectum? The man who bangs his head against the blocked wall because he has been in isolation for so long? The man who cut his arms so badly that his arms looked like ground beef? I've tried to talk to my nursing friends about this. 99% of them think that they deserve this. After all, they are criminals. A danger to society. They deserve this torture because they took something/someone away. They've raped, killed, stolen. They are in a max security prison for a reason. They are dangerous. They would kill again in a heartbeat given the right circumstance. They manipulate, take advantage, and steal. You can't talk about this with your co-workers because you'll be labeled as "hug a thugger." You put on your poker face and go through the motions. You can't care. But, I do care. They are bad, bad men. But, they are humans whose mothers beat them and who were neglected and who are so broken that we can't fix them. They are people. They are people who made very bad choices. The mental health portion of my job is wearing me down. I love the STEMI's. the emergencies, the education. I love treating their colds, bandaging their wounds, making their physical pain better. I like seeing the old men who are in the diabetic line smile their toothless smile. I like going home feeling I made a difference that day, even if the difference was made to a criminal who is just doing their time. The psych portion is getting to me. I feel incompetent. I love my job. I can't imagine doing anything else. Am I the only one?