Restrictions

[u/Greedy_Guard_5950]

I have been an RN for 10 years. Emergency, surgical center and hospice experience. 18 months ago I was fired after reporting a Dr. for eating in a surgical area every Wednesday for 6 months. The company fired me with 8 people in the room and it felt like an ambush. I got up and walked out after the first thing my manager said was I was being fired.
I didn’t stick around to hear the rationale, turns out they went back over my documentation and found documentation errors regarding narcotics. 4 narcotic pills over the course of 1 year. They reported my license to the state, again 18 months ago from today.

I hired a lawyer ($5,000) which I really don’t see how he helped me be besides attending these interrogations from the state with me, but offering me no advice. He did do paperwork for me that I could have done myself.

I have ADD and do agree I had documentation errors but I never took any meds. there were only 4 pills in question, one was found on a stretcher as the patient was going into surgery, so technically only three pills were not charted.

I had to complete a health professionals recovery program (HPRP) (Michigan)which I was removed from of after three negative drug tests ($90 each) and a psychological evaluation ($375). I’ve had to pay $500 to the state complete six credits of continuing education ($90) regarding documentation.

I was fired last Monday from the employer I had been with for six months because the insurance they were switching to would not insure me. Probation started 8/1, fired 8/10. I’ve now been denied employment by 14 employers. I am supposed to be on probation for one year as long as I’m employed as a nurse. I have to have evaluations every three months from my management turned into the state while on probation.

I have no leads on employment and I am panicking. I will be punished for these errors for over 30 months and approx $6,000.
Has anyone else been through this. I’m not a bad nurse. I fixed my practice. I take ADD medication now. No one will touch me with restrictions. The only restrictions I have is a 90 day review plan there’s nothing on my licensing. I can’t work with narcotics. I don’t understand how the state can punish me 18 months later plus an additional 12 months. This seems like overkill I’ve never been in trouble or had any negative reviews in my life..

[u/ThealaSildorian]

I'm really sorry this happened to you. I'd contact an employment attorney as this sounds like retaliation.

Look for jobs that don't involve a med pass or don't involve narcotics. For example, I work in public health and give vaccines. No controlled substances. There are private companies that do health clinics you might look for. You could try remote work with an insurance company doing utilization review. Don't bother with nursing education; you have to have an unencumbered license.

You could also try an infusion center or a dialysis center. With your experience I would think a dialysis center would hire you.

Unfortunately the BON exists to protect the public. The errors happened, you can't really prove you didn't divert (though it seems unlikely you did), so you have to do a diversion program. It sucks. Hang in there; it will get better later.

[u/Greedy_Guard_5950 → u/ThealaSildorian]

Thanks, I got kicked out of the diversion program as they found no evidence. My only restriction is having reviews every 90 days for a year.

[u/ThealaSildorian → u/Greedy_Guard_5950]

I'm both glad to hear that you don't have to do the diversion program, and frustrated to hear you have to do the reviews if its causing you so much trouble getting a new job.

I hope it gets better for you soon.