peachfuzz

Clocking out!

Absolutely not! My board asks a similar question, but it specifies schizophrenia and similar diagnosis. Did you lose touch with reality or become a threat to anyone? If not, then it is none of their freaking business about your depression. EVERYONE has experienced depression to a degree. Imagine if we all blurted out our personal business to the board. Nurses would cease to exist. If you tell them your business, you will pay for it for years to come. Evaluations and reports that will cost you a fortune. It won't end. The board is not your friend. They are not here to help you with personal matters. Do NOT let them in! They are nurses who place other nurses under the highest degree of scrutiny to prove their importance. Of course, they do some good and weed out dangerous practitioners, but they also overstep their boundaries!

I have this fantasy of digging up the dirtiest of dirt of every member of the Texas Board of Nursing investigative and monitoring division and then plaster the results on the biggest freaking billboard next to their name and face after I do a mass mailing to every nurse in the US. That's just the beginning....

They aren't getting rid of me they are trying to transfer me to a clinic about an hour away where they have RN's with more experience. It doesn't take a RN with 2ys exp to recognize a impaired individual. I am grateful they are trying to help me keep my job. I am just so disappointed about the disruption to my clinic and the stress of changing people, places and things. Because of the staffing mess this has created and the inflexibility of the Board my boss isn't likely to hire another RN with restrictions and I feel responsible for that.

Yes there are managers in the clinic. We open at 5am but management does not get there until 8ish. That leaves 3hs that I work with a nurse with 18mos experience and a LVN. LVN's can't "monitor" me.

Similar thing happend to me while on TPAPN for narcotics. I am heavily into weight lifting. I started taking a supplement from GNC called DHEA. I tried the liquid form. Couple of drops under my tongue BID. Guess who got turned into the Tx nursing board and handed a 1yr suspension and a 3yr order. The supplement had alcohol in it. I had no idea. They would not even hear me out. Now I only eat what I cook. Use alcohol free hand sanitizer and do not take anything without pulling out the microscope. Once guilty always guilty with the Board!

I am 1yr into my 3yr sentence. My boss hired me knowing my restrictions. Everything has been cool since October. Some of the experienced nursing staff have been let go by my boss. Now I work along side nurses with less than 20 months experience. My board order states there must be a nurse with atleast 2ys experience in the building. My boss told me last week I can no longer work there because of this. That these restrictions were not clear to him. This does not sit well with me!!!

Cheers to you!!! Could not have said it better myself. I also notice that certain specialties of nursing have to qualify themselves. How many times have you heard " I have been a ICU or ER nurse for x amount of years." NOBODY cares but yourself!!! I have been a RN for 23ys and have done a bit of everything and not one specialty has made me more special than another. I have found that 5-10, yes 10 on nights, not so critical patients can be as taxing as 2 critical patients. Just different priorities.

Is it just Texas or do other states focus more on who has been disciplined for what in their quarterly mailings than they do on education, updates or employment? Seriously I don't care who has been a freaking nurse imposter or who has been disciplined. Such a waste of space and paper. Give me something meaningful!

Been there done that...yes you can still work after TPAPN closes your case and refers you to the board. Your contract is over with them. You will, at some point, receive a letter from the BON stating you are under investigation for violating your TPAPN agreement. It could take up to a year for all this to unfold. In the meantime continue you drug screens with Recovery Trek. You just need to call them and let them know you are doing this on your own. I did 2 a month. Continue your meetings too. When the BON eventually finds you guilty and they always do, you will have to sign a contract with them for another 3ys. Provide them with your negative drug screens and meetings. The BON's program is less stringent than TPAPN. They require 2 meetings a week and MUCH LESS paperwork. If you are a repeat offender with them they may suspend you for a year. Highly unlikely if this is your first time with them. Stay strong, clean and good luck!!!

An elderly patient asked me to adjust his member because it was facing the wrong way.

I suggest you try Davita, Renal Ventures, US Renal or a psychiatric hospital. Where are you located and do you have dialysis experience? If yes, then you know the challenges of dialysis. If no, then express your ability to work in a very fast paced, chaotic environment because that is how outpatient dialysis is but only if that is what you thrive on. You must possess quick thinking and the ability to intervene at a moments notice. It is a great place for nurses in recovery and nurses in general who don't like to sit! Most have done away with all mood altering substances which is a huge plus. Caduceus and nurse support groups are very helpful and also a good place to network. I drive an hour to my nurse support group weekly and there is no better place to receive support, advice, guidance and a place to VENT. With hard work and sincere motivation this too shall pass...

Try to relax. What's done is done. Focus on moving forward. I too am a addict and have been through this several times. The last time TPAPN fired me and my license was suspended for a year. I am now working again and have been clean for 2+ years. The best advice I ever got from an atty was to immediately start drug screens through Recovery Trek. They will assist you if you are doing this on your own. You must prove your sobriety. I promise it will help and you will get past this moment in your life. Best wishes...

I have been in recovery for many years and have made some observations. I attend a nurse recovery group and a group where I am the only nurse and the rest are physicians. There are many physician support groups in my area but only one nurse group and I am in a large metropolitan area with 14 hospitals within 15 miles of me. Physicians are much more tolerant and supportive of each other than the nurses. The doc's are very active in helping one another with employment, privileges and aren't so damn judgemental of one another. The nurses I have encountered are so ****** and enjoy seeing other nurses fail and then they can't wait to share your business with others. Why is this so?....I think alot of it has to do with most nurses being female and most docs being male. I despise the nurse who thinks she/he is superior and can't wait for you to turn your back to stick the knife in. I realize this is my perception and there are exceptions but it has been my reality. I do have some great, supportive nurse friends but they are a minority. They understand that I am a person who happens to be a nurse. They don't hold me to superior standards because I am a nurse. Get over yourselves and realize that the nurse tech and dietary worker are just as important as you!

In my experience I have always been upfront almost immediately upon meeting interviewer. Something like "I want/need to share something about myself with you. I have been in recovery since.....for substance abuse. This is what I have done... and continue to do to make sure it doesn't happen again". I also tell them they can drug test me anytime. I wouldn't go into details cuz the last thing they need to hear are excuses of any sort. Not that you would give excuses but they tend to come across in one way or another. Tell them you will be the best nurse they have and mean it.