Any Suggestions??

[Nurse601]

Maybe someone has a suggestion. I am a med-surg nurse in Florida. Abot 2 weeks ago a med came up missing in the accudose and all that entered the accudose that night was required to take a drug screen in which we all came up negative. Unfortunately during the internal investigation I was found to have several instances where I did not waste narcotics or failed to document appropriately. I was called to HR by my director and told I was being referred to the IPN and had 24 hours to contact them or they would report me straight to the BON. In tried ton explain that I did not take the missing med, nor was I an addicted to drugs. I work on a very busy floor and many times we would pull medications to give and hold off wasting until we were able to get another nurse to witness. I tried to explain this, but I didnt matter. I did contact the IPN to protect my license, and received the paperwork yesterday. What hurts me is I am about to go through a program for impaired nurses when I am not even impaired!! I just did a stupid thing by not wasting with a witness. I have never done drugs or have a family history of drug abuse. Can anyone give me some advice on how to handle this? Will the evaluator be able to understand this when he talks to me? I know that mishandling narcotics is wrong, but diverting is a different thing. If I had a problem this would probably be a good thing, but I dont and should not have to go through this kind of treatment. Anyone have any suggestions??

[AmandaWIRN]

I would contact an attorney right away. Hopefully your clean drug screen will speak for itself, but you need someone fighting on your side in this- your employer and the board of nursing are not on your side in this situation, so you need an attorney who is. If you have malpractice insurance, you might have a benefit that will pay for legal help.