Re: Am I a backstabber or just a concerned co-worker?
Good question. Tough dilemma.
Is there anyone at your institution you can talk to discretely? ... someone outside the daily interactions of your peer group ... perhaps the nurse recruiter or someone else in HR ... perhaps an educator in a fairly high level position ... maybe the head of the intern program.
You might go to them in private and say that you heard someone (don't mention any names or details) say that they had lied on their application about something very signficant. Say that part of you believes you should report it ... but that you are afraid of retaliation or of being labeld a trouble-maker if you do. That person may have some good advice for you based on his/her knowledge of your particular employer.
That person should (no guarantee they will) help you take it further without exposing your identify to people likely to gossip about it. People in high-level positions don't gossip about that sort of thing to your co-workers as much as people closer to the actual people involved. I can imagine lots of ways the higher-ups can address this problem without involving you.
Unless you want nursing to be a profession in which people turn a blind eye to ethical misconduct that might endanger the patients, you have to report it. Sometimes we all have to do what's right, even though it might not be easy. Just exercise a little caution in how you do it.
Any "good guys" in the education department or management or HR will want to get rid of this person before she causes real harm. They will be angry at HER, not you. Just take a little caution to approach a "good guy" and not just anybody.
Nursing News