[Balder_LPN]

I was exploring the WA State DOH website and was reading the notifications of license suspensions and found a nurse who has been suspended in WA, AZ, and TN in one year!

From the TN incident:

Violation: Unfit or incompetent by reason of negligence, habits or other cause; addicted to alcohol or drugs to the degree of interfering with nursing duties; unprofessional conduct; has violated or attempted to violate, directly, or indirectly, or assisted in or abetted the violation of, or conspired to violate, any provision of the chapter or any lawful order of the Board; out of state action

Action: License Suspended, until she has an evaluation with the Tennessee Professional Assistance Program (TNPAP); thereafter to be followed by Probation to run concurrent with her TNPAP contract; assessed $ 1,000 in civil penalties and case costs.

Utterly amazing to me, and the punishment does not seem very severe either.

[CHATSDALE]

severity of punishment can be determined in several ways per board

self reporting
if negligence didn't result in harm to a patient
if nurse is in rehab seeking help with addiction
unprofessional conduct??this can cover a lot of things from conduct no becoming a nurse to a felony

if nurse was multilicense than a probation in one state would prohibit work in any other state in which license was held

lot of varibles here

[Lacie]

If action is taken in one state then it follows to any other state that person is licensed in. You may think it's not enough but remember the mark is on that person's licensure for the rest of thier career. Unlike the criminal justice system where persons can have past convictions expunged, it's not that way in the system regarding Nursing licensure. That person will have to divulge the info in every state he/she applies to work and to every employer they apply to work at. Also it may affect them in areas that are paid by medicaid/medicare if they are blacklisted. Just because what appears on the site doesnt mean they arent be punished and you would be surprised just how severe and costly it can be as it usually runs 3-5 years just in the monitoring stage much less the rest of thier career caring the humilitation for mistakes made. Just astounds me how judgemental some can be until it happens to them dont ever say it wont. Be very surprised of what you can lose your license over if someone decides to make any kind of allegation to the BON's. You are not innocent until proven guilty, it your responsiblity to prove you are innocent beyond a reasonable doubt not the other way around.

[Cattitude]

Lacie's right on point with the info given. What's on the internet is not the whole story at all. The BON disciplianry process is usually very harsh and lengthy. I have seen and heard of very few slap on the wrist type of punishments.. Nurses have to work very hard and spend a lot of money and time to get/keep their licenses'.

Besides substance abuse, there are a lot of other issues nurses can be charged with. I knew a nurse that got in trouble for "throwing an ice pack at a pt" She actually placed it on his bed as he didn't want to wake up yet. He was crabby and didn't like anybody. It was completely blown out of proportion and she wound up in front of the BON. Luckily she got off with a small fine. But still, how many times have pt's complained? Any one of these could potentially end up at the BON at a disciplinary hearing. It's scary...

[kukukajoo]

It almost sounds like it was stemming from another state and maybe they fined her on top of that for not reporting? I donno

[PANurseRN1]

Originally Posted by Balder

I was exploring the WA State DOH website and was reading the notifications of license suspensions and found a nurse who has been suspended in WA, AZ, and TN in one year!

From the TN incident:

Violation: Unfit or incompetent by reason of negligence, habits or other cause; addicted to alcohol or drugs to the degree of interfering with nursing duties; unprofessional conduct; has violated or attempted to violate, directly, or indirectly, or assisted in or abetted the violation of, or conspired to violate, any provision of the chapter or any lawful order of the Board; out of state action

Action: License Suspended, until she has an evaluation with the Tennessee Professional Assistance Program (TNPAP); thereafter to be followed by Probation to run concurrent with her TNPAP contract; assessed $ 1,000 in civil penalties and case costs.

Utterly amazing to me, and the punishment does not seem very severe either.

This is a cruel post. Obviously, the nurse involved has some serious problems. They have been dealt with. End of story.

This is another example of how students bash nurses. The OP is not yet a licensed nurse.

Lacie: Funny, I read your post and my first thought was "This sounds like someone who's been a nurse for a while." Then I looked at your name and saw you've been a nurse for 24y. : )