IrishCMSRN

Hi, I just enrolled in the OU RN-BSN and start 4510 soon. I'm going to be working full-time during this program. Can anyone who has completed it offer suggestions or things you wish you had known about the course prior to starting? Study suggestions? Anything helpful? Are there a lot of deadline changes? I'm trying to be as prepared as possible, thanks in advance!

I’m in the Philly/PA area in the same situation. Finding it hard to get hired. It’s soul destroying but I’m still hopeful. Anyone know of PNAP friendly employers? I’d welcome a referral.

Hi, I’m in the same boat as the original poster. In the past few months I’ve sent out hundreds of applications and no one wants to touch me with a ten foot pole. I’ve tried dialysis, rehabs, LTC, all the big hospitals in my area with no luck. I got a job at the local supermarket to pay bills which is great but it’s not my calling. I’m still hopeful but it is disappointing.

Has anyone found any programs that will accept monitoring?

I too am searching for an RN-BSN online program. My license is Active but "on probation". Has anyone found current programs that will accept us? I've contacted Ohio University and Chamberlain and they now say no, along with many others. So depressing.

Hi, Just started applying for med/surg positions at Temple in Philly. Anyone work here? Recommend? Pros/Cons? Thanks!

ughhhhhh.....call an attorney who specializes in medical licensing. Once you get sucked into RAMP it will follow you and your license forever. I made the same mistake in PA. Trust me, talk to an attorney before going to any evaluation. The "board" is NOT your friend.

Just curious who the attorney is? The guy I was recommended to by PNAP took my 3k lied to me and really did nothing I couldn’t have done myself.

My update is that BON are the cruelest and most unfair bunch of old biddies. A fellow nurse in the program relapsed on stolen narcs and got ONE year suspension. I could no longer afford to pay to be in the program and dropped out. They gave me a THREE yr suspension! it doesn’t make sense. I think THEY are all on drugs! As for the legislature, no clue.

Knowing what I know now, I would skip the test. The board is not your friend. The minute you admit to use, you are starting over again at month zero. I’m not typically a dishonest person but have been screwed over royally by this program. Good luck!

Tommy, I have an entire “manifesto” of my awful Pnap experiences and I’m willing to share with u. Please email me. [email protected]. I’m beyond anonymity now. This program destroyed me and my career. I’m willing to fight the fight !!

I was 3 months shy of graduating from PNAP when I tested positive for ETOH. I was honest, admitted it and they extended my contract another 3 years. After a year or so I just couldn’t afford to pay for it anymore and quit. License is now suspended. I’m in the process of changing careers and enjoying my life for the first time in a Long time! Never going back. They lost a really good nurse who just happened to have a disease that didn’t even affect her work. I know other nurses in DMU who completely relapsed on illegal substances and have only had one or 2 yr suspensions. The whole system is unfair. I’m on an NPDB list for not being able to afford to continue, meanwhile other DMU suspended nurses are NOT and working in hospitals as aids etc. I had such a bad experience I never want to return to the field. It needs to end. Also! As I no longer had an attorney PNAP told me to reach out to my BON. Prosecutor with any legal questions. Which I did. The lady I contacted, let’s just call her “Peg” REAMED ME OUT globally for contacting her. I apologized and a few days later she sent me another scathing email asking why I was continuing to contact her. I hadn’t. She had read the original email again! Total incompetence!

Sorry to hear. I quit nursing for this very reason. Couldn’t afford to stay in the monitoring program. They lost a great nurse!

Persephone that made me laugh. Thanks!

Hi Chad, Thanks for the response. My suspension is for 3 years and I don't have any desire to go back to nursing. I was a really good nurse and I loved my job. I just got sucked into a dark cloud and addiction followed. I really don't have any resentment for other nurses getting second chances, I actually got 3 chances then just couldn't afford to stay in the program so I had to quit. I'm just wondering what impact this listing will have on my future endeavors. I've heard scary things like "you will never get hired again by any company that receives any kind of state or federal funding"? I'm like WOW!?

Hi, I was in PNAP/VRP for almost 5 years and after relapsing, receiving extension to my contract etc. I just could no longer afford to stay in the program despite remaining clean and sober (to this day). I sat in my car one day when I had been picked to random test and I had $20 and no gas money. Do I get gas, or do I get a test that I can't get to? (Rural area, no buses) It was that day I knew I couldn't do it any more. So I voluntarily agreed to suspension, no fight, no contest, what could I do? The BON has no sympathy for financial hardship apparently. Anyway, I received a nice friendly letter from the NPDB, National Provider Database with a lovely report of how I violated terms and conditions and and that I am "not fit to practice nursing due to alcohol or other substance abuse". So my attorney told me that he could dispute it with the board and I never heard from him for months. I spoke to him the other day and he denies ever telling me such a thing and that he can't do anything further for me (besides spend my big fat retainer that he got and really did nothing for). In reviewing other suspended nurses orders on the BON website I don't see many other nurses that are reported to the NPDB, even though they have violated terms and been ultimately suspended. I personally know 2 nurses who while in the program relapsed, committed crimes and got suspended and they did not get reported to the NPDB...! I'm wondering what makes me so different? I was not in DMU and entered the program voluntarily. I quit due to financial hardship and I'm trying to change careers. However, people are telling me that this will show up on any background checks forever. Can anyone help a girl out here? Any explanation would be helpful.

Time to complain about how awful this program is and how it just doesn't work. I tested positive for alcohol 2 months shy of my completion date and was told I had to restart my 3 years all over again. I tried to fight, negotiate, and the all mighty BON will not relent. Despite my 4 yrs of opiate abstinence, I am now deemed a raging alcoholic because I decided to drink wine at dinner and barely produced a positive screen. So anyway, rant of the day.....I am now back in IOP (because of my positive drug screen) and hey guess what, tonight is IOP night and I was selected for random drug screen....mmmm now how to fit this into a full time job? I have the choice of 2 testing sites that are both a 40 min drive and have limited hours. So do I miss IOP and get my drug screen or do I miss my drug screen and make IOP? This is my predicament. My already flexible employer is allowing me to do one of these things.....PNAPs official response "make it work". Thanks PNAP case manager for as usual being totally useless.

...oh and the whole "lifesaver" attitude.....kills me. You hang IV bags all day and you think that is saving a life. Unless you are cracking ribs with a good outcome, you aint lifesaving! ...and the string of hate responses begins, now....

Yes, I now have an intense dislike for people with a string of initials after their name........

Talk to an attorney before you go any further. You may be able to avoid self reporting to BON and avoid Year's of misery and cost! Im not saying you should not get help from a recovery program but be very cautious signing up for any "voluntary" board programs. I'm now restarting my entire program from scratch because I drank a glass of wine. Never mind that I had been clean for 4 years of narcotics. These programs are designed to make you fail. The BON does not want impaired nurses in its ranks! If I could go back in time I would never have listened to my nurse manager and would have called an attorney first. I will never be free from this program because I'm moving to another state and will then have to do that states program... good luck in your recovery and be smarter than I was !!

And know that when you agree to these programs there is literally no escape. If you complete your 5 yrs and decide to move to another state, that state will make you do their program all over from scratch. I am quitting for this very reason, cant do anything I wanted to with my "voluntary" program, no travel nursing, no at home nursing, no private practice. Talk to a good attorney first before you sign anything from the Board.

Also had a patient who would poop and hide it in the drawers in his room....lol

I had a patient that felt it was necessary to masturbate while attached to a cardiac monitor. ....His HR alarms started alerting on the nurses station screen and several nurses ran in to find the sheets flapping away!!!

Im so sorry you are in this. I find it so unfair that they are making me repeat the entire program again so by the time I will complete it I will have been in the program for 6.5 years. I can't afford it now and just took a huge pay cut just to keep working as they told me to cease practice for 90 days. Many have told me the system is designed to make you fail. I can only offer my sympathy and tell you I know exactly how you feel. Keep in touch on this site, I think we all need to stick together and support each other. I intend to keep protesting my penalty and see how far it gets me. My PNAP case manager told me "dont rock the boat"...not sure what that means, almost sounded like a threat..lol?

Thanks for the reply! Yes it's pretty much an automatic restart. I have petitioned to have it reduced but my case manager tells me I'm wasting my time. I'm just sick of it. I can't afford to do another 3 yrs so I'm likely going to get my license suspended when I can no longer pay for the screens etc.. I'm so over nursing at this point!!!