Call my office before contacting IPN.
Before you contact IPN: Contact me to discuss the process and answer your questions. While IPN is suitable for some nurses in certain situations, there are times when an employer tells a nurse to contact IPN when it may not be required or in the nurse’s best interest. Several nurses have had employers tell them to contact IPN after being arrested for a first time DUI. The details of the DUI need to be discussed, but in most cases, IPN intervention is not necessary for a first time DUI.
Self-reporting to IPN:If you contact IPN, usually the first thing you will be told is that you need to refrain from practice (stop working immediately) and that you need to submit to an evaluation by an IPN approved evaluator at your expense ($850-$2,500). Not surprisingly, the IPN approved evaluator often concludes that the nurse needs IPN monitoring. These monitoring contracts are usually 5 years in duration, requiring continuous call-ins for random drug screening, treatment at costly facilities, and re-evaluations as requested by IPN.
Signing a Monitoring Agreement with IPN: Once you sign an agreement for monitoring with IPN, any failure to comply with any requirements from IPN (re-evaluations, in-patient treatment, refraining from practice) results in closure of your IPN case and submission of a complaint to the Department of Health for failing to comply with IPN. If you sign a monitoring agreement with IPN be prepared to spend many thousands of dollars complying with IPN monitoring requirements.
Know the process and your options before contacting IPN.
Call me 24/7 for a free telephone consultationand candid discussion about IPN and protecting your nursing license. I represent nurses throughout all of Florida. As a former prosecutor for the Florida Department of Health, I have extensive training, knowledge and experience in this area of practice.
(850) 307-5665 or (800) 659-7547.
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