schizoaffective disqualification for licensure?

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Hello and good day.

I am interested in enrolling into an lpn program in Ohio but have questions about being diagnosed as schizoaffective. Will this disqualify me from Ohio licensure and finding a job? If so, where on the board's website says that and how could I overcome this hurdle?

Specializes in retired LTC.

OP - you're revealing a bit of info on this post. I usually recommend to new members that they use screen names, not their real ones. Too many folk read this site. Not all friendly.

Anonymity is a poster's friend on social media. You can ask the mods to hep you.

And welcome to AN.

I did not know I did that. I will try that. Thanks.

Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.

I don't live in Ohio so I don't know the specific regulations there. What I can tell you is that in many states the board requests for applicants for licensure to disclose any health conditions physical or mental that may impair your ability to practice as a nurse. Disclosing your illness can cause one of three things to happen 1. Nothing, 2. you would be placed in a monitoring program for 2-5 years, the program is designed for substance abuse but despite that they place folks with mental illness in this program and it typically requires weekly drug screens, restrictions on medications, required 12 step meetings and all costs are at the nurse's expense and are in the thousands, The monitoring program has a different name in every state but the terms are pretty much the same. 3. They don't let you take boards.

There are two schools of thought on this. That you should disclose because it is the honest and "ethical" thing to do and because if they were to ever find out that you did not disclose then you could face disciplinary action. The other school of thought is that as long as your keeping your mental health in check, keep it to yourself.

I won't tell you what to do or what the right thing to do is. I will tell you that there are a LOT of mentally ill nurses, doctors, paraprofessionals and they didn't all get mentally ill after they got licensed.

The most important thing about being a nurse with mental illness is knowing when you are stable and safe, and when you are not. If you have had trouble knowing when you needed help in the past, that could be a real issue because when you're at work it's all about your patient, not you. It is vital that you remain on top of your treatment, take your meds, keep your appointments, go to your therapy, eat well, sleep well, etc because working as a nurse and the likelihood of shift work/night shift when you graduate can be very very stressful and can absolutely effect you.

I have had severe mental illness ever since I was a teenager, and I won't lie to you it's not been easy being a nurse. My illness has gotten worse over the years, and for about 3-4 years was refractory to treatment, I don't blame nursing for this, but there were times I was not able to work due to my symptoms and the overwhelming stress I felt from work. When I was too ill to trust myself to be able to think clearly enough to keep my patient safe and well, I did not work, because I could have been considered "impaired". 

I'm not telling you all this to discourage you, because ultimately you know yourself and nursing can be a very rewarding career. But you have to keep things close to your chest and always be vigilant about your own wellbeing. 

Good luck!

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