checker1981

So your line is that you won't take street drugs, that's great! Other people would take street drugs, they would not understand your philosophy, much like you don't understand my position not to take other people's prescriptions. I don't know why that is so difficult to get across. I realize that people may be posting from other countries (Canada, UK etc) on this thread and this may be a cultural thing and I don't know where any of you live, but I live in the US. I have never lived more than a few minutes in an ambulance away from an emergency room. If I were in so much pain (true 10 excruciating pain) that I needed narcotics I would go to the emergency room instead of asking my mother for percocet (which would take 30 minutes to kick in anyway) and the ED will give me pain meds, then send me home with my own prescription if so needed. Pain meds are easy to get in the US if you so desire and pain is not a bad thing either in my opinion. Pain does get you to a doctor to figure out what is going on, rather then just cover it up with percocets. Also, what would happen to you if you were randomly drug tested and you did not have a prescription? I have known people to be fired for testing positive for narcotics without a valid rx. At my prior job they tested 5-10 of the 180 employees randomly monthly. Why put yourself in that situation? I don't know any of you and I don't care what you do. I don't understand why it so important that everyone does the same things as you, like taking drugs without a prescription. It is so ridiculous that people keep saying, "are you for real?". Read through the last few pages and it seems like a lot of people have my same opinion and a lot of people are opposites. Diversity is a great thing and I don't think we should all unify around taking other people's prescription drugs illegally as nurses. I have feel like this is the Bizarro world following this thread.

If you were in pain would you shoot up with some heroin? A heroin addict would look at you and say I would be a little concerned if you DIDN'T use this heroin for your excruciating pain. Where do you draw the line? My line is drawn at not taking some other person prescription drugs.

I have an associates degree and graduated in May 2011, of the 9 nurses in my orientation 6 were new grads, all ADN RN's, 2 guys out of the 9. I am the only guy on my unit and shift. All of the guys in my graduating class have jobs to my understanding.

Just remember it takes all kinds to make a world. I am sure you will bring something great to nursing if your heart is in it for the right reasons.

People can get up to a 90 day supply at a time depending on what state they live in for schedule 2 drugs. A few select states don't allow 90 day supplies. It is a federal law that does not allow the C2 drugs to be phoned/faxed in and no refills but the doctor's staff can certainly mail an rx to the pharmacy, which many do. Many physicians/APRNs give the prescriptions post dated to the patient so they do not have to go back if they are a chronic user. New York is one of your more strict states not allowing any controls to be phoned or faxed into the pharmacy with exception of Lyrica, and not allowing refills on certain drugs other then C2. I would be all for loosening up on C2 drugs if it were not for the rampant drug trafficking of these drugs that can be sold for $1=1mg, a 90 day supply of oxycontin 80mg can get the patient several thousand dollars if they decide to sell. OP took darvocet rather than lortab. Lortab is hydrocodone/APAP and I know many patients that benefit from Lortab. Don't know many people that would benefit from darvocet though.

Not sure how my ethics and following guidelines puts me on a "high horse". I would not treat my family because I would lose my professional objectiveness, despite my knowledge and skills. If my family member or I were in distress I would obviously tender first aid, but I would make sure a professional at the emergency room were taking over care ASAP if need be. Treating a family member like a patient takes away their autonomy as a patient. These are my personal and professional opinions and if someone opens themselves up to ask for my opinion on a public message board I will freely give my opinions. I am not trying to be contemptuous towards any of you, but as I responded with my opinions. It is unfortunate that the OP lost a job over this and I hope you find a job quickly.

I agree with you kids!

I am for real!! If someone handed me a pain pill and said take this, I wouldn't take it, especially if I didn't know what the pill was. I cannot believe how people are posting that they think it is ok to share prescription drugs. I guess this is the drug culture that we live in where people think it is OK to take other people's NARCOTICS. I don't know what medication your son has, but some of those migraine drugs can mess up your heart and alter the vessels in your brain, how is that OK? There is a huge moral issue with taking narcotics from someone else, even in a pinch, would you take a percocet from your patient if you were in pain, even in a pinch? If you read the ANA morals and ethics you will see where this falls into several categories. "but i see absolutely nothing (morally) wrong with taking a couple of pills from someone else, in a pinch." The OP could have taught her family member at the time the medication was offered that taking someone elses medication is morally wrong and risky. What is your child learning about medications if s(he) sees the parent taking their medication? So many morally wrong issues in this thread and to say, are you people for real? Yes, I am 100% for real and cannot believe anyone thinks it is morally ok to share narcotics.

It depends which blood pressure pill you are giving (ARB, beta blocker, ACE inhibitor, calcium channel blocker, immediate release, extended release) and what the blood pressure/heart rate was when you gave the med in the evening and what the blood pressure /heart rate was in the morning when you gave the second dose.

I learned in school that the ventrogluteal site is preferred site in children of all ages. A child for med administration is no longer a child when they approach adult sizes (i.e. puberty). The ventrogluteal is pretty much free of major nerves and blood vessels and is less painful than the vastus lateralis. The dorsogluteal muscle is insufficiently developed to be a safe site for infants and small children. I am not a peds nurse though.

Seriously? A mistake anyone could make? I don't take narcotics that are not prescribed to me and I am willing to bet that most people do not take other people's medication, and that would never happen to me. And the OP had a prescription for a better drug then darvocet that any pharmacy could fill in 15 minutes.

If you tested positive for opiates they would have said you tested positive for opiates. The fact that they said you tested positive for darvocet makes me think that they isolated the chemical and know you took darvocet, and it would be impossible to get a prescription for that drug. I doubt you will get the job if you are taking controlled drugs not prescribed to you. This is the whole purpose of pre-employment drug screening, to find people who use narcotics illegally, which is what you did from the post. Taking other peoples prescription is against the law. Not sure if they can report you to the board of nursing.

As a former high school chemistry teacher I am hoping that your curriculum will help you in nursing school. Although I went into nursing school with a chemistry background many of the concepts I taught to high school students would be useful. In my study group, people found the explanations of why things happen useful. In nursing school you will be learning about blood gases, metabolic versus respiratory acidosis/alkalosis, buffer systems (henderson-hasselback equation). Some of the concepts in chemistry are going to help you tremendously. When you are giving IV fluids to a patient you want to understand osmolarity, make sure you understand molarity/molality, hypertonic, isotonic, hypotonic solutions. If you have a patient in renal failure it would be important to understand the inverse relationship of electrolytes, i.e. phosphates and calciums, you will be giving drugs like Kayexelate and that is one big chemistry experiment of swapping one ion with another ion in the intestines. A patient on high flow oxygen can actually go into atelectasis, understanding electronegativity would be usefull for that concept. Retinopathy for pre-mature infants can be caused by too much oxygen, understanding what kind of molecule oxygen is will help you a lot. Understanding fluid and electrolytes will be very helpful in nursing school. You will learn about ion gaps in nursing, chemistry will help you a lot. Metric conversions are covered in high school chemistry. If you decide to become a dialysis nurse, understanding osmosis is helpful. Radioactivity could be useful if you become an oncology nurse. Sugars, proteins, and fats are important parts of nursing and understanding nutrition. Some patient's get a mixture of helium/oxygen, understanding the concepts of the noble gases is useful. Gas laws are useful, if you are working with ventilators or other settings. I use my chemistry background every time I go to pass medication to a patient, I am changing the metabolic pathways in their body and it is my responsibility to understand what I am doing and why I am doing it. Plus it all depends on what kind of nursing you decide to go into. If you are a med surg nurse chances are you will not need as much knowledge in somethings as an ICU nurse or an oncology nurse. Good luck.

I went for my nursing license in 2 states. I don't remember seeing any questions about my health. I did have to get a physical and cleared by a physician prior to starting on my unit/hospital. They asked me what meds I take and what illnesses I had. Maybe you could find someone who works in occupational health and ask them if they see a lot of nurses with mental health illness. I cannot imagine that bi-polar disorder would exclude you exclusively from nursing. When I did my various clinical experiences I saw bi-polar disorder with varying levels on the health continuum.

Why did you fail med-surg twice and pass the third time? (you don't have to answer here, but that is the answer I would give to the person interviewing you). I would be candid about your experiences. If the job is med-surg and they have a candidate that did better in med-surg, they may go with that candidate. That is probably one of the reasons they want to see your transcripts. Lots of people failed med-surge when I was in school. Most of my class is still unemployed though.