Colleen, a co-worker of mine, and I decided we wanted to sit in on a hearing at the Virginia Board of Nursing as both of us are in HPMP. I was completely nervous about possibly one day having to go before the Board and wanted to in a round about way face that fear. I contacted the Virginia Board of Nursing and set up a date to go observe a hearing.
We ended up sitting in on a narcotic diversion case. Occasionally, Colleen and I would whisper to each other about what we thought would be the outcome of the case. Initially, we thought this was going to be a cut and dry case and the woman was going to lose her license. Plus, it did not help that the woman showed up to the hearing in blue jeans and sneakers. As the case progressed, I changed my mind. The case against this woman was weak. She specifically got accused of being the one diverting due to her hand writing, her poor documentation, and the fact that she had a past with a different Board of Nursing. I am not saying she didn't divert; however, the evidence against her was weak. This woman also was shot in the leg about 5-6 years ago and is on opiates for pain relief. It was mentioned that her pre employment drug screen was clean and the drug screen performed after the diversion accusation was positive for opiates. She explained that she stopped taking her pain medication days before to prevent a positive for opiates so she would get hired. To me, that is definitely a possibility as if you need a job bad enough you would probably do anything. The poor documentation part I completely understand as nurses get busy-including myself- and may not always document as they should. Anyone who has not worked the floor probably would not understand.
Anyway, the outcome of the case is Reprimand and Indefinite Suspension of her nursing license Stayed with Entrance into HPMP. This poor woman has no idea what she is about to get herself into.
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