Texas BON Steps

TIMFY · Jan 21

The waiting is the worst part! I think it was about 6 months from the time I was reported to the time the BON reached out. I self enrolled in TPAPN (or was voluntold by my lawyer 😝) so I had already been in TPAPN for a few months when the BON contacted me. They basically just said I had to do TPAPN so I was glad I started before they contacted me! Since it is your first offense, you should be able to have it be confidential (ie off your license once you successfully complete it). Hang in there!

NurseJackie69 · Jan 21

RN_0211, Get into the Texas monitoring program now. It's very important and here is why.....it could take the BON 6 months to get back to you through their BON investigators, then another 6 months to write up your consent order. That's up to 1 year. What will happen to you?

You will be required to do monitoring and that is now automatic. They will send you for an SUD eval to dot their I' and cross their T's, but the end result will be the same, you WILL end up in monitoring for a minimum of 3 and likely 5 years. It's critically important to get the clock started now. It starts when you enter monitoring and if it takes a year from now to get your official consent order from the Texas BON thst mandates 3, 4, or 5 years, you get credited for the time you Started Monitoring which means this whole thing ENDs sooner for you.

If you Wait and do not start monitoring for 9 months or a year or whenever the Texas BON puts it on paper, your time doesn't start until the date you enter monitoring and the process is drawn out longer.

For example, here is the control you do have. If you start monitoring Feb 1, 2025, your time ends Feb 1, 2030 (assuming you get 5 years). If you Wait until the BON finishes the investigation and gets you the consent order and you sign it and start monitoring for example on Dec 1 2025, your time doesn't end until Dec 1 2030. Get on the clock now in order for this to be over with earlier

NurseJackie69 · Jan 21

I do not know if you are still working. If you are....Good! If you are not, get a job now because you are not yet Officially under investigation by the BON yet, so you can apply for jobs and answer the job application question as to "whether or not you are being investigated" As NO, because technically you aren't officially under investigation Yet.

You will keep your license because you self reported and you already self reported so an attorney can not help you in this situation and is a waste of money for Your Situation because you will keep your license anyway based on self reporting and not being impaired at work and you WILL 100 percent for sure get monitoring because you have self reported and admitted it (which is a good thing) so a lawyer IN your situation is a waste of time and money.

Lastly, drop the shame now. That's dangerous for recovery. Feeling guilt is fine. Guilt is how we grow and helps our conscience and we feel bad for the ACT, the Behavior, the CHOICE we made, but SHAME is a different beast. Shame is where we feel bad about our entire self, our entire inner core and it's deadly. Let the shame go. You are Far More than someone who diverted. You are a great nurse. You have helped thousands of patients. You have been kind to people. Your inner core is good and you made a bad decision and a bad choice and guilt is fine for that, but your bad decision does not completely make up the entire you, so drop the shame. Forgive yourself. Know you are now on the right path and the guilt will slowly subside. Do NOT let the shame grow. Get rid of that *** and don't use the word again. Get into monitoring ASAP which gets you on the clock. It gives you some control. It gives you an endpoint, a goal, a set time that you lock down to know when this is over. Give recovery great attention. It's work at first, but slowly becomes actually fun. Give it a chance. Enroll in the Texas Monitoring Program.

Big Blondie, ASN, BSN, MSN, APRN · Jan 24

It took the Texas Board 18 months to contact me. I enrolled in TPAPN, self reported the day after being confronted by my employer. The Board ordered me to TPAPN. Do not waste time. Self-report so you have proven clean time prior to Board intervention. I am a two time graduate of TPAPN. Both times I self reported. Let me tell you, TPAPN saved my career and my life. 12 years clean now. You got this!

NurseJackie69 · Jan 24

Perfect Example of Why Getting Into TPAPN/Monitoring Helps in 2 Huge Ways.

1. As stated above, it can take 1 year, sometimes 18 months, before the Texas Board finalizes your consent order or what is basically, "your sentence," (how long you will be in monitoring). If you have been in TPAPN long before the BON makes a decision on what to do with you, any disciplinary action such as reprimand, public or private, etc., all of those decisions by the BON is heavily influenced in Your Favor because you will have been in TPAPN/Monitoring for months ahead of time. That's a big deal compared to the Nurse that waits, argues, denies, schemes, etc. The BON is more inclined in that situation to throw the book at the nurse.

2. As you can see from the above-previous post, the Nurse "Big Blondie" just saved herself 1.5 years, or basically cut her entire fiasco with the BON short by 1.5 years. I don't know how much time Big Blondie got in monitoring, but lets say for example, it was 5 years. By the time the BON got back to her and started rapping things up, she was 1.5 years already in monitoring and only had 3.5 years to go. Lets say Big Blondie waited the full 18 months until the BON got back to her and mandated the 5 years of monitoring. Big Blondie's time or total time waiting, dealing the BON, stressing out becomes a total of 6.5 years, because those 5 years don't start until the day you enter monitoring/TPAPN.

In conclusion, it's a Gigantic Advantage in your case, your situation to get the clock started. Lets say the BON takes 1 years or heck, even 2 years to get back to you. It doesn't matter. You are already in monitoring and eating away that time and it COUNTS. Lets say the Texas BON gave you 5 years of monitoring and it takes them 2 years go get back to you. If you enter monitoring now, by the time they get back to you, you only have 36 months left and the process is over. Get into Monitoring Stat. Get the clock started to the process ENDS earlier.