I have a minor misdemeanor for drug abuse for marijuana about 5 years ago, another misdemeanor for petty theft 4 years ago and a misdemeanor for drunk and disorderly last year and I'm trying to become a nurse or a Echo technician.. something in the health care field but I don't know if I can with misdemeanors on my record! Does anyone know!?

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Originally Posted by Missyp01

I have a minor misdemeanor for drug abuse for marijuana about 5 years ago, another misdemeanor for petty theft 4 years ago and a misdemeanor for drunk and disorderly last year and im trying to become a nurse or a Echo technician..something in the health care field but I dunno if I can with misdemeanors on my record! Does anyone know!?!

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Sorry, you will not be able to work in the medical field. Why? Nurses, etc work with medicine, you have a drug conviction so you are a liability. You have a theft conviction so you are a liability, you had a drunk and disorderly LAST YEAR, so you may come to work drunk and harm patients.

Time to look for another line of work.

So, in essence, you will not get a job, and probably not accepted to nursing school because:

a) You abused drugs and nurses have to deal with drugs constantly;
b) You were a thief, so you cannot be trusted NOT to steal the drugs; and
c) You were drunk and disorderly, so you cannot be trusted to come to work sober, stay away from the drugs, and might possibly abuse patients in one way or another.

I know you may be trying to turn your life around, but this is how the medical field looks at convictions such as this.

The nursing program in our area is highly competitive and with all of that competition it is very difficult to make it into a program.

My mother was an Registered Nurse and the field is very stressful and you have ready access to controlled narcotics, with a history that you are describing you are a huge liability, even if you have turned your life around.

In Illinois, you can not even get a certification as a nursing assistant if you have any criminal or misdemeanors in your past.

J_9 is absolutely correct that you need to choose a different career path.

Missy - J9 knows what she is speaking about. If you feel that you can qualify as a health care employee, by all means waste your time and try and become one. You will be spinning your wheels even trying to become a janitor in a hospital.

Try a totally different career where trust is not a huge issue like health care is.

Missy I am not sure where you are located but I know in Canada you would not be able to get a nurses license, because of a prior drug offense/conviction. There's already enough nurses suffering from substance abuse problems, because of work or personal life related stress but that's an entirely different post. Good luck with whatever you do in the future.