What to expect before application with criminal hx

Persephone Paige, ADN · Mar 31, 2019

Was your school a 'for profit,' private nursing school? The first thing that usually makes me happy is when I hear someone has made it through nursing school with a criminal history. Because that means they were admitted to clinical somewhere. The reason I ask if it was a private, for profit college is because those colleges can pull strings to get you into clinical, where a state college wouldn't typically get involved in that. If you couldn't get clinical acceptance on your own merit, or background you were barred from clinical. The state colleges and the hospitals they conduct their clinical at are not affiliated.

If you went to a state college and were admitted to clinical, that's a good sign. If your arrest was for marijuana, that seems to have a better outcome for the nurses I've known. When you start getting into 'hard drugs' or drugs where the effects can be duplicated by what's available in the Pixis/Omni-cell, they've had a harder time.

I've seen nurses with possession of marijuana charges have NO problem. I've seen nurses with an over 10 years old arrest, no conviction, completion of drug court, nolo prosequi and subsequent expungement, have very limited prospects. What seems to help in those situations are connections within the profession; someone willing to take a risk on them. That would be my own personal experience.

The drug program you attended is a form of drug treatment. I am only familiar with Florida, but in our state, if you admit to having received treatment within a 5 year period leading up to your application, you are referred to a monitoring program. The monitoring program refers to an evaluation. The evaluator asks what you've been doing to maintain your sobriety? Your encounter with law enforcement may well have been a 'one off,' but they aren't usually inclined to see it that way. If this unfolds the way I think it might, my best advice is to seek an attorney, beforehand.

This is all based on what I've seen and experienced. The only reliable advice you will get will be from an expert on the laws.

I think you had asked what to expect, if it goes the same way everywhere as it does here, in Florida, this may help you.

Best of luck and I hope you will come back and share the outcome of your experience. Many nurses are afraid to post their questions and they search the archives, your experience could help another.

Retrorn19 · Apr 21, 2019

Just wanted to chime in here and say good luck! I'm also graduating in May in Alabama. I am going through the same thing and I really hope everything goes smoothly after graduation. I have two DUI under 21 charges and a DUI charge that were dismissed after probation (all between 13-14 years old). But I also have a possession of marijuana and a DUI on my record. The possession being 12 years old and the DUI being 6 years old. I am already working in a hospital setting, never had clinical issues, and honestly my instructors don't think I'll have a problem getting my license.

From what I understand, you need court certified copies of all the charges and their outcomes, recommendation letters from employers, clinical instructors, etc, and you need to write a letter of explanation just stating what happened and how you've changed since then. Good luck, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you too!

RNinprocess · Jul 17, 2019

can anyone share their outcomes?

Mental Nurse · Jul 19, 2019

This is my story