IPN HISTORY 

The Intervention Project for Nurses (IPN) was established in 1983 through legislative action to ensure public health and safety through a program that provides close monitoring of nurses who are unsafe to practice due to impairment as a result of misuse or abuse of alcohol or drugs, or both, or due to a mental or physical condition which could affect the licensee's ability to practice with skill and safety.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES 

• To ensure public health and safety through a program that provides close monitoring of nurses who are unsafe to practice, due to the use of drugs including alcohol and/or psychiatric, psychological or a physical condition (chapter 455.261).
• To provide a program for affected nurses to be rehabilitated in a therapeutic, non-punitive, and confidential process.
• To provide an opportunity for retention of nurses within the nursing profession
• To facilitate early intervention, thereby decreasing the time between the nurse's acknowledgment of the problem and his/her entry into a recovery program.
• To require the nurse to withdraw from practice immediately, and until such time that the IPN is assured that he/she is able to safely return to the practice of nursing.
• To provide a cost effective alternative to the traditional disciplinary process.
• To develop a statewide resource network for referring nurses to appropriate services.
• To provide confidential consultations for Nurse Managers.