Narcotic Restriction

[teresalee]

I'm there too. I have this restriction and consent agreement for 3 yrs. Anyone have any idea where to find a job. I live in such a small area and the few places I've inquired about can't use me because of this narcotic restriction. ie nursing home and dr.office. There are also previsions to the agreement that limits my practice, no HH, no nurse management. I've actually considered a change in profession,but I love my nursing and have recieved numerous awards and recognitions. My story is actually a doozy! Any ideas?

[PRESLA]

I know the feeling!!!Getting turned down c every job because of the damn restrictions. Ideas dialysis, call centers that have like poison control questions, industrial, health dept. This is my 2nd time around c restrictions and it gets harder because some places that have hired nurses c restrictions and they mess up and get terminated then the facility gets gun shy about hiring a restricted person again. Keep looking someone will offer something.

[CABAYRN]

Whenever I come across this question it makes me want to share my experience with this. I am in CA diversion program and for a year and a half my practice was restricted to non-patient care, no narcotics. I worked for the American Red Cross Blood banks. I absolutely loved it; they were very supportive of my recovery, familiar with diversion, etc. It was also one of the best groups of people I have ever worked with. The only reason why I left was because I did truly miss patient care and wanted to return to it. Also, the pay totally sucked and as the sole break winner I had to go back to hospital nursing to make more money. Give Blood bank nursing a consideration; the hours are great, no narcotics and it was very low stress.

[hppygr8ful]

My suggestion is that you check with nurses in your support group o see where they are working! They can usually clue you in to the Diversion/Probation friendly work places. I work at a facility where 25% of the nurse are in diversion/Probation the management there has adopted the attitude that everyone deserves a second chance. Leave it in God's hands and when the right situation happens you will start working again.

Peace and Namaste

Hppy


PS today is my sobriety birthday 3 years

[baileyboo923]

Originally Posted by teresalee

I'm there too. I have this restriction and consent agreement for 3 yrs. Anyone have any idea where to find a job. I live in such a small area and the few places I've inquired about can't use me because of this narcotic restriction. ie nursing home and dr.office. There are also previsions to the agreement that limits my practice, no HH, no nurse management. I've actually considered a change in profession,but I love my nursing and have recieved numerous awards and recognitions. My story is actually a doozy! Any ideas?

I am in the same situation!!! I can't find work either!!! I too have considered a change in profession but I love being a nurse!! Hang in there- that's all we can do !!

[baileyboo923]

Your situation sounds just like mine!! I live in WV and FINALLY got a meeting with the lawyer for the nursing board because the woman who helps with the discipline has treated me like I'm nothing. She has been mean!! She has this job holding my license over my head and she doesn't even have any kind of degree!!! She's just a state worker!!!!

[sohpie1]

I wrote the attached response after I got a job with the usual restrictions:narcs/no call/no supervisory position/no hospice/etc. I am so grateful to work as a nurse again.

Here's my original response: For anyone who is discouraged as I was about trying to find a job, stay positive to the best of your ability, do the foot work, research every job possible (go to the website: careerbuilder.com to find jobs in your area not listed in newspapers), pray, brush up on interviewing skills, etc. That's what worked for me. My experience was in the ICU's for many years. I do not have any additional degrees other than nursing. (an A.A.S.--not BNS) When I started researching for jobs, I ruled out the obvious ones that that my "contract" wouldn't allow me to do. I looked at the website twice a day and creatively reformated my cover letter to show how my experience would allow me to qualify for the job. (I would be happy to share a resume that could be tweeked (sp) individually--I'll check back here) I followed up (when possible) when I faxed my resume, to verify it was received. Before I went for interviews, I bought a book on frequently asked questions. Most of them were behavioral questions such as "tell me about a time when you were involved in a conflict, how it was handled and what was the outcome." I also checked out an audio tape on interview tips (at the library). I listened to it all the way to the interview and it took my mind off the "committee in my head that would tell me I wasn't going to get the job anyway." I practiced how I was going to inform the supervisor about my contract with the nursing board. When I went in for an interview I remembered my sponsor telling me this: God will go into that interview with you and if you're having a hard time anticipating the interview, ask and he will go BEFORE you. It calmed me quite a bit. In general, I didn't inform the supervisor I had a contract until I knew I would qualify for the job. If I was informed there was "call" involved, I didn't tell them. I concluded the interview and went on my way. If I qualified for the job (after being informed more about the job) then this is kind of how I presented the situation: I need to tell you I am a participant of TNPAP. If they didn't know what it was (and most of the time they didn't) explained I had a difficult time in my life and made an inappropriate decision to handle it poorly. I am a recoverying addict and participate in a 12 step program. In situations like this in the state of ______, nurses are required to participate in a program of supevision. These are my restrictions: a temporary narcotic restriction for _______, no on-call, can not work more than 80 hours in a two week period, can not work for a temp. agency, etc...
I tell them I have random drug screens and will for 3 years. I also tell them they can call my case manager to verify I have been entirely compliant with my contract. After that I usually get some silence followed by "I appreciate you informing me about your situation. I admire you. Often I was told that it takes real courage to own up to the situation. At the conclusion of the interview, sometimes I asked if being a participant of TNPAP would excluded me from the job. Sometimes they said no, sometimes they said they would need to check with the HR director or the DON. These are the types of jobs I applied for: threadmill nurse position, office nurse positions, utilization review, research nurse positions, ECF positions, blood bank positions, many many state positions (desk jobs), pre-admissions to OR position, education positions, dialysis positions and I'm sure there are more but I can't remember them all. I bet I applied for about 35 jobs. I got about 10 interviews. The position I got was for pre-admission. I do not have access to narcs, I have no call, etc. I was VERY discouraged many times about finding a job. I felt great financial pressure. But, I didn't give up. I was 100% vigilant and it paid off. It took nearly 3 months. I was willing to clean houses until I got a job. One other thing that kept me going was coming to this website. I kept reading the threads and saw that nurses did get jobs. I was discouraged because where I live it is well known that the hospitals do not hire restricted nurses to do floor nursing (who need to give controlled substances) and have a "buddy" system. It simply does not happen here. With all that said, DONT give up. There were times I thought about leaving nursing but I am so thankful I didn't. God is grooming a job for all of us....it might not be where we want or when we want it, but it's possible

[CABAYRN]

I think the above thread was beautifully written. That should be required reading for every diversion participant! I have to say, I too, had a similar experience. I have had three job interviews while in diversion, I used a similar line; just coming clean and telling them about Diversion, my practice restrictions, etc. Every job interview resulted in a offer and everytime my response was greeted with professional courtesy and expressed admiration. I have truly been humbled by how my story was received in job interviews. Remember, everyone has made mistakes in life, even that interviewer! Most people are willing to consider a second chance!

[JACRN1]

My license was suspended 9/05/07. I have had my evaluation for TNPAP but have not heard anything from them yet. I have been searching hard for a job outside of nursing for several weeks w/o success. I have a A.A.S in nursing and 1 additional year of college. I have been a nurse for 14 years. I have been turned down at several retail jobs due to lack of experience. I was hired at a grociery store making only 7.10 an hour. I started out at 12/hr as an LPN in 1993.
However, I started looking for non-nursing jobs in the medical field. TNPAP told me that the BON frowned upon nurses in our situation working as techs/aids so I avoided those positions. I was hired today at a company as a holter/event monitoring/ekg tech. I had several years experience as an ICU nurse, therefore I passsed their test w/o any problems. The pay is significantly better @ 15/hr.........its a start, until my license is re-instated.
Also, my new employer knows about my situation and says that I can move up when my license is active again.
For anyone going through the same situation I just wanted to tell them not to get discouraged and give up.

[PRESLA]

JACRN1 You are so so blessed that someone gave you a job and is willing to hire you when you get you license back. I looked for several months c only one interview @ Sears and didn't hear back from them at all then I got my restricted license and have been looking for a RNC job since 9/18 have an interview tomorrow. McDonalds didn't even call me now that is sad. If it was not for my spouse then I would have been homeless. Good luck What does TNPAP stand for and why has it taken so long to here from them it heard my punishment in 3 weeks p my eval.