catsmeow1972 BSN, RN

catsmeow1972 has 15 years experience as a BSN, RN and specializes in OR.

catsmeow1972's Latest Activity

1. 

   TPAPN and Peth test

   catsmeow1972 replied to TexasMel's topic in Recovery

   Or you could just not drink...... these jerks do enough to torture people without being given cause to. I get that we are human and people make mistakes, relapse etc. Those that have, for whatever reason, have enough to deal with. Those of us that fought our way through this gauntlet and those that are still in the clutches of what is frequently a massive scam operation that seems to exist for no other reason than to make money, do not need to be giving them any ‘anecdotal evidence’ to justify their pathetic excuses to make this any harder on thier victims than they already do. The majority of people just try to make it through the best they can, and adhere to the contract no matter how stupid Or inappropriate the stipulations may be. Not to sound cold but if you are scrambling for ways to intentionally do things that are verboten and you get caught (and you will) then you deserve what hell they rain down on you.
2. 

   Does an attorney help against PHMP/PNAP?

   catsmeow1972 replied to Jhope41831's topic in Recovery

   “yes I received a letter from the BON to see their approved Dr for an evaluation“ Sounds a lot like a friend of mine that is trapped in this unending circle of hell in regards to Florida’s program. She went to the board to object to the abuse inflicted upon her by IPN (BS reasons and them invoking nonexistent ‘policy’ got her kicked out of IPN), they told her to get another evaluation done by an ‘approved evaluator.’ The problem with that is that they gave no guidance as to how or who. The only ‘evaluators’ that will see her are the ones that are the tools of IPN. Of course they will recomandate (I love this word, LOL) another contract. In short, she’s on the shelf unless she agrees to another contract and given that she never should have been in their clutches to begin with and those same quacks/crooks that they call ‘evaluators’ are who screwed her up to start with. This, folks is why legal counsel BEFORE you submit to any evaluation or sign anything or frankly even speak to these BS artists is SO important. Counsel may not save you from the program (especially if there is legit reasons...real addiction issues, etc.) but can maybe save you from the more unsavory aspects. My situation was a fast ride into hell until I realized what they were really after (money$$$$) and that they had zero interest in my career or my well-being. That was when I got the lawyer. I had to deal with them for the length of the contract (whole thing was a load of BS but I did sign it and unlike those people, I keep my word) but the lawyer was able to protect me from some of the sleazier attempts that they tried to invent to screw with me. He was expensive and worth every penny.
3. 

   Trump Admin Will Protect Health Workers Who Refuse Services On Religious Grounds

   catsmeow1972 replied to herring_RN's topic in U.S. Politics's Topics

   WOW! I told you it was my opinion. I respect the office of the President. I cannot and will not respect the current occupant. IN MY OPINION...he has not earned my respect. The way I am seeing it, you seem to be all huffy (pardon if I am wrong) because someone has stated an opinion that is not in line with yours. Your response is to assume that there is something wrong with them. I disagree with your view but I respect your right to have those views. Suppressing or discounting views (wether I Agree with them or not) by disparaging the holder is childish and silly behavior and exactly what I see Trump doing.
4. 

   Trump Admin Will Protect Health Workers Who Refuse Services On Religious Grounds

   catsmeow1972 replied to herring_RN's topic in U.S. Politics's Topics

   My opinion coming up, you have been warned....Trump and his behavior has normalized the name calling and insulting. I don’t care who he is, where he went to school or how much money he has, he is a boorish rude individual that seems hell bent on destroying this country. It is childish and silly behavior and we need to rise above that.
5. 

   Vanity Plates?

   catsmeow1972 replied to mrcleanscrubs's topic in General Nursing

   Since I got out of nursing school, mine has been my (real) initials and RN. Even though some aspects of nursing have chewed me up and spit me out, I have picked myself up and moved on. Regardless of what other people feel about the nursing profession and the commercialization and/or business of healthcare in this country, I am proud of what I accomplished. Nursing has given me a sense of accomplishment as well as a fairly comfortable lifestyle. I busted my arse and made it through and I can sleep at night knowing I made someone else’s life a little better for a bit and I thought about someone besides myself. When I get down, that stupid little plate on my car is a reminder of the things I can do that at one time I never thought possible. ...and yes it’s helped me weasel out of a well deserved speeding ticket or two.😳😳.
6. 

   Why are my resumes ignored? For 2 Years?

   catsmeow1972 replied to Nurse Beth's topic in Nurse Beth

   Given the robotic, computer driven application process that many larger facilities use these days, you know darn well that human eyes do not see every application that is filed. Even if your application lands on a recruiter’s desk and makes it through the HR gauntlet to a hiring manager, there are some things that you would not think would matter but do indeed throw up flags. My example...I thought I was a perfect candidate, in terms of background and qualifications for this position (and actually I was) but what ruined it for me was the questions on wether they could contact my previous employers. I had indicated no on more than one. Keeping in mind I’ve had a long career but still, that implies I left under bad terms. The ones I had answered no to, the terms I left under, good or bad, were for safety reasons or debatable. Nonetheless, it raises the concern that I may not be able to, shall we say ‘work and play well with others.’ To begin with, the likelihood of them calling any previous nurse manager for a reference (unless you listed them as a specific reference) is low. If a prospective employer is going to check with previous jobs, generally all they are asking and all most will disclose is ‘yes they worked here and verify dates.’ I have heard that many will not even admit to Re hire status anymore. Something to do with liability, I suppose. It comes back around to this being your 6 second commercial. I would not have thought that that simple question could sink an opportunity for me. I found out about this from calling the HR department and the recruiter point blank told me that was the nurse manager’s concern. Valid point. I guess. I did appreciate the honesty.
7. 

   it all just stinks

   catsmeow1972 replied to OhioRN1234's topic in Recovery

   For starters, stop beating up on yourself. It’s not your fault that these people are a bunch of tools that care about nothing except how much money they can squeeze out of a group of people that run the spectrum from making a mistake to having an illness to having been plain stupid or any mix Of the above. These programs (and I think the BONs that turf nurses with these issues to said programs are complicit) hold our licenses and livelihoods hostage for the crimes of being human. In no other profession (that I am aware of, anyway) are people punished like nurses are. I stayed in nursing because I like what I do and I decided there was no way in hell I was gonna let a bunch of crooks drive me away from that. I think I would have regretted that for the rest of my life. I spent a whole lot of time being angry. I had idiots associated with this mess give me platitudes like ‘being angry is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die” or something stupid like that. Probably the useless platitudes and slogans were just one of the things out of this crap that made me want to projectile vomit. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that your anger and sadness is perfectly justified and understandable. I’m done and have been for some time but I will never not be angry and sad over the time and opportunities that were stolen from me. I have had to learn to modulate that anger with the understanding that those fools do not represent all of nursing. Hard to see when in the midst of the cesspool of monitoring when one feels like they wear a scarlet letter, but they don’t. It gets better, I promise. Don’t let them win. You are better than that. It’s almost over.
8. 

   toxic culture, materialism, and unionism

   catsmeow1972 replied to servantleader2020's topic in General Nursing

   From your story, it sounds to me that the union had little to do with the issues here. The union likely was not specific to the OR. Rather this OR sounds toxic as hell. I’ve been in such situations (Some in ORs and in other settings) and it is truly a horrible thing. I’ve long said that there are some people who are so unconfident of their own skills, that the only way they know how to make themselves feel/look better Is to tear down others. I also don’t understand the point of torturing the new nurses/techs into leaving. They are the ones that will help keep me from having to work every friggin holiday for the next 10 years. As far as stuff like “prepping too wide from the incision site” Uhhh...that’s horse manure. IMO, you can’t prep too wide. Unless there’s issues like an ostomy, skin tears, lesions, etc. I prep table to table, of course being aware to not leave puddles of prep solution. This sounds like it was a horribly toxic place with horribly unhappy people. I doubt the union and your choice to not join had anything to do with it. You are much better off out of there. I would leave it behind and enjoy your current experience. Maybe Briefly feel a little sorry for those unhappy souls but know that you will not be party to continuing that horrible behavior and for that, you are already helping to break the cycle.
9. 

   • mur3e
   •   
   • catsmeow1972

   I just sent you an email titled "Fellow nurse IPN help"

   • May 15
10. 

    Postive THC random test

    catsmeow1972 replied to RN117's topic in Recovery

    While yes, what we do in our own home, in our off time is our business, until it can be proven that there is a definitive amount of time that can elapse between partaking of such a substance and being able to report to work and not be under the influence, it is best to steer completely clear. As the rehab industrial complex in conjunction with these Programs are such immense money generators that already ignore evidence based research in favor of shoving 12 step stuff down everyone like gospel truth (or water boarding, it’s debatable)...I don’t see acknowledgment of any notion of possibly ‘safe’ parameters of use of such things. So even if’s legal in a given state, it isn’t if you want to keep practicing as a nurse.
11. 

    How long does this take ?!?!? Please help!

    catsmeow1972 replied to Jim Rockford's topic in Recovery

    This ^^^^^^ x1000%%%
12. 

    Contact after completion of monitoring program?

    catsmeow1972 replied to RK08's topic in Recovery

    On the stupid ‘evaluation’ of thier program that I had to fill out and return, as in they supposedly wanted my opinion (really?, right, I’m sure they did, cough, cough, snort!) ironically BEFORE they would close the door on this poop show...(hmmm...tell them what they want to hear, oh it was wonderful, helped me so much, blah blah, 😒 so I can get this travesty over with or tell them what garbage crooks I really think they all are and risk them inventing junk to force me to stay....I had to think hard on that one)......anyway, one of the questions had to do with did I want to be on their mailing list (hell no...I don’t ever want to hear from you clowns again, please go drop yourselves off a steep cliff somewhere.) Sure enough, I got the email followed a few days later by a snail mail copy of a vanilla blah form letter saying some crap about ‘congratulations on your completion and good luck in your continuing recovery” or some such dreck. I’ve heard nothing from them since and that is just fine. It took a few weeks to stop waking up at 4 am automatically and a while longer to be able to get through a day without the thought of IPN popping to the surface. Of course I still come here to chit chat and I have a friend or two that I met through the last, least miserable nurse support group that I occasionally talk to, but beyond that I’ve moved on with my life and it’s so much better with that nightmare being over. With the end, I was also able to drop some of the depression meds I was on and drastically lower the doses of some others. I think that proves that that program merely exacerbated my problems, likely like a lot of other people that don’t fit the only profile they have, that of the traditional substance user/alcoholic.
13. 

    Florida IPN

    catsmeow1972 replied to wvnurse2020's topic in Recovery

    The thread is Florida IPN....that’s should be a dead giveaway on the state...just sayin’. LabCorp is one of the big pee testing companies. Y’know ‘outpatient lab on every corner’. Kinda like Quest affairs. Prominent down here in the sunny Florida-duh. The monitoring is out sourced to a 3rd party company that is registered as a for-profit entity in the state. They have some kind of contract with LabCorp in that you supposedly don’t have to make appointments and are not charged additional collection fees over and above the usual $55 that a pee test costs. I think they charge for blood though. You have to keep money on an account with Affinity. That’s kind of like Recovery Trek, which I think is used in other states. In my time, I simply deposited money at the time I was snagged for a test. I certainly was not going to let them keep money or my credit card info on file. I didn’t trust anyone connected with any of this garbage any further than I could kick them. Hope that all answers your questions without too much snark. I just can’t help having an attitude about this, y’know.
14. 

    Managing chronic insomnia with RX meds while on TPAPN?

    catsmeow1972 replied to AesthesiaSeeker's topic in Recovery

    These programs (despite the claim that "they don't tell your doctor's what they can and can't prescribe") don't care one whit why you are in their clutches. They don't care what worked for you before or what you may need to function. They have exactly one profile. That of a person with the disease of addiction who could relapse any second. Individualized contracts, yeah no. Not, even.
15. 

    Florida IPN

    catsmeow1972 replied to wvnurse2020's topic in Recovery

    That I am not sure. I suppose it depends on how fast they are moving. I think wherever you go for the treatment has to submit their ‘recommendations’ (like don’t expect it to be for anything other than a contract, I mean really?) I found they are much quicker at dropping the hammer on someone when a perceived wrong is done and they get to threaten/yell/otherwise be nasty then when you need an answer to a question or something reasonable done. Whenever you get into this, everything will need to be done through a website called Affinity, from checking in to corresponding with them to submitting reports. I would suggest keeping a copy of EVERY bit of correspondence, screen shot every pee test result, go to LabCorp for testing (you’ll also avoid additional ‘collection fees’ too), follow up every phone call to your case manager with an email reviewing what you discussed. Know every word of your contract and that participant manual and do not be afraid to cite it if necessary. They tend to play fast and loose with their end while you are expected to toe the line precisely. Advocate for yourself, because they will not.
16. 

    Florida IPN

    catsmeow1972 replied to wvnurse2020's topic in Recovery

    Ah yes, the ‘individualized contract’ whereupon the stipulations are essentially the same for everyone. Unless things have changed recently, standard stips in a 5 year sentence are no overtime, no floating, no secondary job (I interpret that to mean a second healthcare job, no matter what they claim, they cannot control what I do to make money outside of healthcare. If I want to wait tables or swing on a pole to pay for this nonsense, that’s my business). Forced attendance at 12 step meetings is usually required if there is even a remote note of substance use, though now I reckon, with all the Covid stuff they are allowing online attendance with documentation. Also have to work in nursing for a 12 month period. Can’t get a job in nursing due to their BS? Too bad, the contract will simply be extended until you do. I knew one gal that was going on 7 years, extended solely because she could not get a job. And yes, the weekly nurse support group. Due to moving, ( I went where I could get a job. I had the luxury of being able to pick up and move easily) I was in several in my time. They ranged from dreadful whiny crap that I found beyond useless (I still can’t believe I was paying to be yelled at for not being more ‘grateful’ for being there....) to almost tolerable (a mental health focused group). Fees ranged from $50 to $80 per month and were paid directly to the moderator who was usually a monitoring program graduate or had some connection to some treatment program...not surprising. Again in my time...Such stipulations in said 5 year contract were in place for 3 years after which if you were a good little whatever and toed the line to thier satisfaction, you get to be in transitional monitoring where those restrictions are lifted (except for the pee testing ones. They ain’t gonna let up on the ones they make bank off of, are you kidding?) Since you get nickel and dimed to death between $ for drug tests and $ for groups and this and that.....yet they make it difficult to gain employment...how is one expected to pay for all of this???? Yes, I know, stating an obvious question.