Why is the general feel to this board that the Board of Nursing is 'out to get' us

Maybe I’m ignorant, but before I became a nurse, I was a FF/EMT, and I will tell you this....my Brothers are still my Brothers today, 25 years later....they had and have my back, always....and if one of our Brothers had an addiction issue, WE, collectively, as a FAMILY, got him/her whatever help was needed and never let them fall....I’m also a Biker....yes, with tattoos and crazy hair.....and Biker’s are FAMILY as well....no one gets left behind....maybe that’s what’s wrong with the nursing profession?? Maybe we need to start HELPING our “family” instead of running the bus over them??? Maybe we should stop being a community of “holier than thou” as****** and reach out a hand to our colleagues, not just when they are in trouble, but EVERY day....also to the young nurses who are joining our profession??? Maybe we need to be nicer to each other?? This isn’t about living like an issue of Better Homes and Gardens or one-upping our co-workers....we are ALL human beings....not one of us is perfect or anywhere near perfect, so a long hard look in the mirror before judging anyone would be a good place to start......I can tell you this....not ONE patient or family EVER complains about tattoos or crazy hair when you save someone’s life...maybe the BON should send out a survey about THAT??? ?

What I have learned in my time of dealing with this BON sanctioned hell .....

(side note that I am not laying blame for the system in its current form at the feet of the BON but only that that is where the power to change it lies and the longer each member sits there and does nothing to change it, the more complicit they are in the damage that is done.)

.....is that should I come across a fellow nurse who is dealing with addiction or mental health concerns, my strong suggestions are to leave nursing far, far behind for the moment, attend to their illness and return on their own terms. I cannot, in good conscience recommend these programs to anyone for any reason.

Where LC asks why there seems to be a difference between nurses and bikers or FF/EMTs...it even seems to be the same with physicians....yeah, there’s monitoring programs for docs with addictions (I don’t know if they do mental health issues) but as best I can tell the docs support each other better. Nurses? We almost get some perverse joy out of stomping on each other.

It’s like the programs are intentionally set up to make a person fail and to be a punishment. It doesn’t take very long for a person to realize that there’s nothing about recovery (addictions or otherwise) in any of them. If they’d just call a duck a duck, a punishment a punishment, I might be less disgusted. But then they’d have to tell us what we are being punished for. None of them could claim the ‘disease theory of addiction, etc.’ because then forcing 12 step down everyone’s throat would also not hold water. I’m thinking they all have a very fragile house of cards here, 1 card and the whole house comes down.....

...and I haven’t even approached it from the angle of the ? ? ?

My view, has and always will be.... #NOONEISDISPOSABLE

.... I’m not singing kumbya, but I think that at the end of the day, we are all human beings..... I understand the need to protect the public...I’ve worked with addicts, my 27 year old daughter is an addict....no one would ever “choose” that life....regardless of how many letters come after your name, everyone has something to offer this world.....it’s a sad situation when nurses, who are supposed to be the ultimate care givers, don’t even care for their own and actually get satisfaction from seeing other nurses fail....blows my mind....

56 minutes ago, LC0929 said:

My view, has and always will be.... #NOONEISDISPOSABLE

.... I’m not singing kumbya, but I think that at the end of the day, we are all human beings..... I understand the need to protect the public...I’ve worked with addicts, my 27 year old daughter is an addict....no one would ever “choose” that life....regardless of how many letters come after your name, everyone has something to offer this world.....it’s a sad situation when nurses, who are supposed to be the ultimate care givers, don’t even care for their own and actually get satisfaction from seeing other nurses fail....blows my mind....

^^this.

Also when what touts itself as the ultimate caregiving profession hangs its members out to dry in lieu of profit making. The truly sick individuals are the ones that have convinced themselves that this is okay. Sadly, some need very little convincing.

....THIS is how I practice nursing.....because THIS is what nursing is about....

While I don’t believe that the “boards” are out to get us; I do feel they overstep a lot. I’ve heard of occasions where they’ve contacted people’s sponsors and even there counselors. I go to my meetings and I go to my counselors to keep my sobriety intact, not just to appease the board. I was very bitter and anger when I got out on a contract because I felt at the time it wasn’t warranted because it came from past iasues(like 8 yrs past).....It took awhile to realize they were right. All I had done is changed from drugs to alcohol.......My life today is full and that is partly to do with the Board. I am thankful and grateful of what I have today.

Agreed!! And I’ll advocate all day long for ANYONE who chooses treatment vs active addiction!!! The issue is that NOT everyone is an addict and even in third world countries, you are innocent until proven guilty....the Board is NOT God....period....

There are instances where the Boards do overstep and do not do effective oversight of the monitoring bodies. While I do understand that the Board has one single mission, of protecting the public, failure to monitor the performance of contracting third parties is bad policy.

I would have more regard for the Boards if they chose to deal with nurses with consent orders and drug testing where required versus contracting with For Profit business entities that allegedly support the impaired professional. They are in business to make money. Period.

Many nurses residing in states where there are contracts and third parties have had terrible times because when these outside agencies overstep, the Boards do not pay attention.

So both Boards and third party contractors overstep themselves. They do this because they can. Until nurses stand up for themselves and each other, become politically active, and speak up this will continue.

Regarding the OP question of why nurses think Boards are out to get them, there are cases out there where it looks that way. Everyone's case is different. But Boards do have absolute power and will use it, at times appropriately and other times as a club to whack the nurse with.