License reinstated, but trouble finding job

[peacefulfran]

My RN license was just reinstated to me, after 4 very long, incredibly stress-filled years. Now I am On Probation for 3 years, and my actual license says on it in big letters "On Probation." My background was 23 years critical care/emergency room/ IV Team-PICC line Nurse. Over the past 4 years, I held 12 office jobs and was fired from about half of them-I just did not have the updated computer skills that I should have had(I ended up going to night school for Computers). Anyway, I KNOW that I am so much better at being a nurse than I am at being an office person, so that it what I would like to do. I am told by the Pa DMU (DIsciplinary Monitoring Unit) that I may work in patient care again- as long as it is not ER, critical care, home care, an agency, doctor's office, or any position in which there is no direct supervision. I asked for suggestions, and was told that I could work in med-surg or telemetry in a hospital, or as a unit manager or staff nurse or RNAC in a nursing home. I have been out of work for 2 months now. I spend at least 8 hours/day job searching-either on-line or by calling nurse friends and asking for suggestions, then following up on those suggestions. At his point, I have filled out on-line applications for every hospital and nursing home within 40 miles of my home (12 miles south of Philadelphia, Pa). Two nurse managers called me and scheduled interviews. The first position was QA nurse at the hospital where I worked most of my career (20+ years-and where I turned myself in for stealing opiates from the ER where I was employed). The interview went very well, & I sent a beautiful thank you note to the person who interviewed me. I never heard anything from her again, and she would not return my calls. The second interview was scheduled at a nursing home, and the recruiter who called me to schedule it said that the Nurse Manager knew me from my old place of employment & was very excited that I was going to come in. I arrived the next day at the appointed time, and was told that the Nurse Manger was unable to interview me, but that another staff person would meet me and take me on a tour of the facility. I did go on a tour with a nurse (but she did not interview me). I waited a couple of days, then left a message on the voice mail of the Nurse Manger who was originally supposed to interview me, expressing my enthusiasm over the unit and my desire to work there. I never heard another thing from her. Other than these 2 interviews, I am not getting any responses.
Since I am baffled that no one seems to want me, I asked a nurse friend who works in management what she thinks (about the chances of me getting a job in Nursing with an On Probation license) Here is what she sai: "No HOSPITAL will hire you as long as you are On Probation. That is because hospitals have to comply with rules & regulations mandated by
JCAHO. When JCAHO inspects a hospital, one thing they do is look at all the nurses' licenses-if any license is On Probation, the hospital gets a HUGE fine. I asked if she thought I would ever be able to return to my hospital "home" (where I worked for 20+ years) and the answer is NO. She told me "that hospital-and ALL hospitals-have a secret 'Do Not Hire' list. Since you were FIRED from there in 2005, you will never work there again (I was fired because I violated the terms of my VRP agreement by supplementing my part-time IV team position with a second job. When my VRP case manager found out, she notified the hospital and informed them that I could not work as a nurse anymore, so the hospital did fire me.....AND my license was suspended)
I certainly do not want to make another mistake. I am a single mother of 3 with a mortgage, lots of bills, no child support or other help. I just want to do the right thing. But how can I do the right thing when my DMH case manager tells me I can work in a hospital or nursing home-but no one will hire me?...IS there any truth to what my "friend" tells me? WHERE can i get a job in nursing-or for that matter, anything that will make sense (that would be a job that pays me enough money so that I can just do normal things like support my own family/pay my own mortgage, etc. 4 years punishment was plenty!!! And yes, I attend NA/AA & professional support meetings, and I have been clean since December 2004. Thanks for any suggestions!

[fatlap]

Have you thought about starting at the beginging to earn trust. I am starting as a CNA to gain trust so I can become a LPN again.I have been a cashie for the last 2 years and it has been very humbling because nobody knows I am a nurse because I dont want them to know why i am not working as a nurse. Here I was incharge of 6 CNAs an I was incharge of upto 54 residents and now I am stcuk on a cashregistrer letting people whon don't know half as much as me be in control of me.I wish you the best of luck

[peacefulfran]

Deat Fatlap,
Thanks so much for your suggestion. I need to find a job that pays enough money to allow my family and I to live in our small house, & to pay the bills. Even if I sold this little house, a 2 bedroom apartment (i have 3 children) in this area of the country would be almost as much as my current mortgage payment. I do not have a husband or partner to help with the bills, and I have been trying alternate "careers" for the past 4 years while I waited out the license suspension.
By the way, the very first job I took once my license was suspended was "Greeter" at a local emergency room...what a miserable experience that was! Despite my best efforts at being humble and quiet, a few members of the nursing staff recognized me from the days when I used to work for a staffing agency, and the gossip positively FLEW! I got this job by calling the DON of the hospital directly, telling her my "story," and begging for a job-yes, starting at the bottom. The pay was $15/hour (my last nursing positions were ER Clinical Coordinator and IV Team/PICC line staff nurse, at $42/hour base pay). I tried to remain calm and not let the talking and stares bother me. Remarkably, the few male nurses and the ER doctors were OK and in fact, offered encouragement and did not attempt to humiliate me. However, some of the nursing staff resented me being there, and so made my life miserable even though I just stuck to my job and avoided conflict. I ended up getting fired because "someone saw me in the break room with a Gap bag, and assumed that I had left the hospital premises in order to go shopping at the mall across the street." (the Gap bag actually contained my dinner, which was in a plastic container). Also, as I was standing at my "station" one day, an extremely SOB, cyanotic elderly man was brought into the ER by a family member=I IMMEDIATELY assisted him onto a stretcher, placed O2 on him, and notified a nurse." The man was gasping for breath & I decided not to ask him a million questions and instead help him asap. That was the end of that "humbling" experience!
Next, I called a nursing home and spoke with another DON, told her my "story," and asked if I could work as a nurse's aide. Her response was "you need to be a CERTIFIED nurses' aide, so you would need to attend Nurses AIde school and take a Nurses Aide certification test first! If I had the money, I would have done it-but I could not take 3 months out of my life and attend school fulltime and still not be working! ANd again, what about my children-how would I have managed working fulltime and school full-time? I also looked into becoming an EMT, but they would not accept a nurse with a suspended license as an EMT student....
Anyway, maybe things will get better soon. The holidays are over and I know that job hunting is absolutely awful between Thanksgiving and New Years. (why? Apparently, people who work in HR are not interviewing/hiring during this time of year).

[fatlap]

In NY we have a program called the professional assistance program (PAP) they helped me get my license back with stipulations and close monitoring including urine screenings. You may have something like this in state. if you have trouble call the PAP in NY and maybe they can help you. Good luck.Boy Do I know humble it really hurt me when 4 of the cashiers I know started school for LPN. none have any common sence and one already dropped out. It just hurts me to see them getting so excited about this and I can not even say anything because I do not want the company to know why I stopped working as a nurse. I applied for a cna job and if I get that I hope I can gain their trust and eventually start to work as a nurse again

[blessedby2]

my situation is slightly different,but i think i may be able to help. if you dont have a restriction on your license for passing meds you can call the state that you live in health and senior services and ask if you can challenge the med tech test. you will have to provide your transcripts from nursing school via fax or mail to prove your pharm courses. then you will need a letter of reccomendation from ANY past employer. they will then set up with a date to take the test. i know it wont be close to what you wrre making but its better than being completely out of health care. then you can still try to seek out nursing jobs. im from missouri and from what ive seen a lot of psych facilities tend to be more forgiving with probation and/or past suspensions.

[lisafelicity]

I saw your post. How are you doing. I lost my license in 2003, was reinstated in 2006. Things do get better but it's been quite a journey. I'm in Ohio. Been clean and sober six and a half years now. It's very much worth it!

[hppygr8ful]

I have found that Psych facilities are more forgiving and willing to give you a chance when you are on probation. The work is hard, very stressful and sometimes dangerous - but it's a job - I did it for 4 years while I was in the California diversion program. I now work as a psychiatric mentel health nurse with developmentally disabled adults who live and work in the community. But it took several years to get here.

I too applied for many jobs prior to the Psych hospital - with no results. The DON at the psych hospital commented on how wonderful it was I had found recovery and hired me on the spot.

It's worth a try


Peace and Namaste

Hppy

[lisafelicity]

Happy Grateful:

Does that DON who hired you have a twin sister DON in Ohio? I'm currently looking. The BON wants to lift my temp. narcotics restriction next month but I have to be working. I was just terminated for a bogus no-call, no-show due to nurses who didn't want to continue to pass my narcs. HELP!!

[fatlap]

I am very happy to say that after almost 3 years I finaly got hired from one of the companys that had fired me when this journey of mne originaly started.They hired me as a nurse assistant but could not at the time hire me as a nurse because I still had restrictionsfor not having narcotic keys and they do not hire treatment nurses .I worked for about nine months as a cna proving myself . I did not miss a single day and whenever they needed me I was there. I had a few problems because some of the nurses I worked for did not like their jobs and would not do half of what they were supposed to do. They would push my buttons when they could but I just took the high road and did the best job I could as a cna. well now the good part. three of the lazy nurses were terminated for not doing their jobs, not giving certain meds, tx's and calling in to much. I called my recovery specialist at the proffesional assisatnce program and he lifeted my restriction for narcotics. Now I am working for this company as a full fledged Licensed practical nurse. And I am one of the few employees who go to work every day with a smile on my face. I was fortunate that since my license was not suspended i only had to send 50 dollars to prometric and another 35 dollars to take an infection control test (which I passsed) and they sent me my nurse aid certificate. I must say it was a humbaling experience but it was also a learning experience . I am still in recovery and have not relapsed in almost 4 years.I stillhave to have urine screens but ist is worth the trouble. I hope others have the success I am having.

[lisafelicity]

What a journey you're on. God is so good and it gets better every day. I still have my temp. narcotics restriction. It may be lifted next month. It's all in Gods time, not mine. I like living knowing my heavenly father wants whats best for me. Kind of like I want whats best for my daughter. God bless you! Are you in Ohio?