Reported or not?

It's UNLIKELY in MANY situations that the BON will not reach out to you within 2 months of the event. If your event happened 2 months ago, it's very very possible you were reported, but havent heard from the BON yet.

It depends on your state law and EXACTLY how your Nurse Practice Act is written. There are specifics to reporting. Some states have 30 days max. Some states have 1 week to report AFTER an internal investigation was done, some states only strongly encourage reporting. The overwhelming majority of states now have mandatory reporting for suspected impairment while at work, but again, there are often specifics such as....involved in direct patient care, and some states have laws written where the employer must report regardless of whether you were involved in patient care. Also, the words "reasonable suspicion" are often used for the threshold for reporting and employers have often used a very difficult or high threshold for reasonable suspicion such as....a positive test is a must or an admission is a must.

Diversion is a priority for boards and those cases come first.  If your event happened in November, the employer does an investigation that takes a week. By early December, they report. Most BONs are off for 2 weeks over the Holidays. It's very, very possible you were reported and the BON has not officially reached out. 

For the other poster who had not heard anything in 16 months, that is when I would feel more than confident that nothing will happen. But 2 months? You aren't even close to being out of the woodworks yet.

States have cracked down over the past 5 years for not reporting. Employers can face major fines towards upwards of 50,000 dollars in some circumstances and in some states for not reporting.

OK I see what u mean. What's strange is that the board hasn't even contacted the facility. I am friends with my former DON and she said that the BON hasn't contacted them.  Isn't that strange?  She doesn't know if corporate reported it 

mississippiRN71 said:

OK I see what u mean. What's strange is that the board hasn't even contacted the facility. I am friends with my former DON and she said that the BON hasn't contacted them.  Isn't that strange?  She doesn't know if corporate reported it 

Why or how would the BON contact the facility first? The question is......has the facility contacted the BON? If the facility has contacted the BON which means they reported you, it could take months before the BON opens an investigation and reaches out to the facility for details. If I were good friends with the DON, my question wouldn't be about whether the BON contacted your facility, but it would be about whether your facility contacted the BON and reported you. Odds are, it would not be the DON that reported. It would likely be someone higher up in management that reported to the BON, such as the risk manager in human resources. In this scenario, there's a reasonable chance the DON has no clue if you were reported AND.....there's a reasonable chance your DON has no clue as to whether the BON has contacted the facility back for details about you. My point is.....I wouldn't put much value in your DON regarding knowledge of what's going on. They don't have anywhere near the power as most nurses think. Who holds the power in these situations and who does the communication that often leaves the DONs in the dark is the Risk Management Department in Human Resources.

I think you should take a big step back and look at your whole situation. This is the second time in a very short time span. There should be no question in your mind to report yourself. If you want to take a gamble on your license, that is up to you, but you diverted, no safe to work around narcotics and need to take responsibility for your actions.