Taking ADHD meds

Nurses Disabilities

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Specializes in Intensive Care Unit.

I feel inclined to notify my hospital that I take and am prescribed Adderall. I have given vyvanse on the floor before (granted it was med surg) but I don’t want there to be any question about me taking my medication or where it came from. 
example: another staff nurse sees me taking a pill and reports it

in nursing school I did make them aware so I wouldn’t have any issues. Just seeking opinions

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Specializes in Research Nurse Coordinator.

My opinion is it’s none of there business. We have reached a time in nursing where management and administration have and will use anything available against you if needed. Your medication is prescribed to you. It is legal. And simply none of there business. But at the end of the day… do what is right to you and what makes you comfortable. ?

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Specializes in L&D, Trauma, Ortho, Med/Surg.

I don't understand this. You will give all sorts of controlled medications throughout your career. I've never thought that since I take Tylenol or Flexeril at home I need to disclose that to my place of work. Just because someone has a prescription for a medication, how does that make them more likely to take a medication from pyxis? Seems opposite to me. There should be no questions about where your home medication came from anyway. Do you think you're going to drop and lose a adhd pill and someone is going to suddenly accuse you of diversion?

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

Its not my employer's business what meds I take.  I don't take meds in front of people but if I did, I wouldn't ever expect someone to suspect me of diverting.  You're way overthinking it.  

 

Even if you had to be drug tested for some reason, a valid script is reported as negative. It's not any of their business. 

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I would only disclose this if I absolutely had to.  For example, my ADHD medication showed up on a urine screen once when I started a new job.  The person who ran the test (not associated with the organization) called me and asked me to email them a picture of my prescription bottle, which I did, and that was it. There was no reason to let anyone else know. 

Also, it's not just the fact that you take that medication, it's the diagnosis associated with it. You never know how people will react, especially if you have not been employed there long.  Based on my own experience, I will never again disclose the fact that I have ADHD to anyone in the workplace unless it's someone I trust 100% completely.  During orientation at my very first nursing job, I randomly told the nurse educator that I had ADHD while we were discussing what I can work on so that I could get out on time (I tended to stay late charting, but again, I was a new grad).  She seemed very understanding; however, I got a call from the director the very next day and long story short, I ended up being fired. No, I did not make any medication errors or do anything unsafe or inappropriate on the job or call out/come in late, etc... It was literally JUST the ADHD disclosure.  This was almost 10 years ago, but it still affects and haunts me to this day. That was my "dream" job, and I had worked SOO hard and was SOO lucky to have landed it as a new grad. I STILL wonder what could have been if I had just kept my mouth shut. 

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I hear you ^^. Pretty much the same thing happened to me. My employer waited until I was back from three weeks of medical leave, and sacked me two days later. The explanation was I was unable to perform my duties as a DNS as evidence of my chemical imbalance, which is known as bipolar disorder, type I, as well as general anxiety disorder.

Now, I realize I should have fought my dismissal with the EEOC, it was such an obvious disregard for the ADA; but I didn’t fight it because I was already beaten so far down I didn’t have the mental capacity to fight. I did find a new/old job after a couple of months on unemployment, and I went back to work as if I’d never left. They knew me, knew about my illness, and they honestly didn’t care about it—they welcomed me back and treated me with the utmost respect. A win/win situation all around!

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I'm glad there was a happy ending for you!

At the time, for whatever reason, I thought going through the EEOC was going to be a lost cause so I hired a lawyer. That lawyer ended up screwing me over with a communication error (told employer I would accept a job as a tech, which I did NOT agree to). So I dumped the lawyer and decided to go the EEOC route. However, due to that miscommunication/"inconvenience," I ended up receiving a much lower settlement than I was originally entitled to.  So lesson learned. Anyways, I am just NOW about to finally start working in a hospital again after being seriously traumatized over this ordeal (definitely not the same hospital).  Honestly, I'm pretty nervous, but at least I won't make that same mistake again!

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On 4/21/2022 at 5:59 PM, CloverPark said:

I'm glad there was a happy ending for you!

At the time, for whatever reason, I thought going through the EEOC was going to be a lost cause so I hired a lawyer. That lawyer ended up screwing me over with a communication error (told employer I would accept a job as a tech, which I did NOT agree to). So I dumped the lawyer and decided to go the EEOC route. However, due to that miscommunication/"inconvenience," I ended up receiving a much lower settlement than I was originally entitled to.  So lesson learned. Anyways, I am just NOW about to finally start working in a hospital again after being seriously traumatized over this ordeal (definitely not the same hospital).  Honestly, I'm pretty nervous, but at least I won't make that same mistake again!

Do you mind me asking what range of settlement you received vs. what you should have? I am potentially in this process and am not sure what is "normal."

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Specializes in Justice ⚖️ Nursing.
ICUBSNRN7 said:

I feel inclined to notify my hospital that I take and am prescribed Adderall. I have given vyvanse on the floor before (granted it was med surg) but I don't want there to be any question about me taking my medication or where it came from. 
example: another staff nurse sees me taking a pill and reports it

in nursing school I did make them aware so I wouldn't have any issues. Just seeking opinions

Big Ole NO. You don't have to tell them and you should not. If you were taking it out of the machine there would be discrepancies, and or documentation errors....of which would be on your fingertip. Don't take your meds in front of your co workers....period. people are nosy. 

If you are prescribed a medication for a disability you are covered under the ADA, legally.

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Specializes in Psychiatry and Acute Care.

"I feel inclined to notify my hospital that I take and am prescribed Adderall. I have given vyvanse on the floor before (granted it was med surg) but I don't want there to be any question about me taking my medication or where it came from.  example: another staff nurse sees me taking a pill and reports it"

At my last hospital position I took my meds right there at my computer, while I ate dinner and charted. I did not care who saw me, as I take numerous supplements/medications due to not being able to take statins for hyperlipidemia. Long story short, some of us would discuss our ADD/ADHD diagnosis, and what we took for it. I will never, EVER do anything like that again. One such person was the House Manager, another RN, who at the time appeared congenial, joining in on eht conversation. But she later used that information against me. Weeks later on a really bad night (in which I had not been able to eat or drink and was clearly dehydrated) I was sent for a drug test, as she assumed on her own that I was not taking my prescription correctly.  My own Manager said, "how is it any of her business?" I even proved to them that I was taking it according to my Doctor's orders. I'm usually an open book - NO MORE. We do NOT owe our employer anything except safe/efficient patient care and our highest integrity. We do not hand over ammunition to use against you later, for whatever reason that can be imagined. And I will never take my meds in front of other people again, I assure you.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

It's none of your employer's business. 

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Specializes in Intensive Care Unit.

Almost 2 years later, I will say that I deeply regret sharing that info with my nurse manager and residency educator. 
my residency educator held my ADHD over my head on numerous occasions. She would constantly use it against me and use it as her reason I was unfit to be an ICU nurse. 
she yelled at me in front of patients, in a patients room for not knowing how to do something, while the patient was comatose... but that did not make it right. I left that hospital after 6 months of being there. I left every day crying because my residency educator legit had it out for me. She didn't acknowledge or recognize any of my progress, I felt so defeated. 
I got a job in a different ICU in my area. A much larger ICU and a better hospital. I've been here for a full year now and I'm so happy that I left my first employer. I disclosed in my interview what had been going on at the first hospital I worked at and they were absolutely shocked. They apologized to me and explained that no matter the circumstance, being treated like that wasn't okay. 
I will say I have become a better nurse because of it. There's always more room for employment. But ultimately, I'm glad that my first employer didn't run nursing for me. I could have easily fell victim to her bullying, and decided I didn't want to be a nurse. But I didn't. And I'm so glad I didn't. 
my current employer does know I have adhd and never once have they mentioned it without me mentioning it first. 

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