HHS asked to open access to disciplined nurses database

Well, now let's flip the coin. God forbid, but what if one of us is the patient. What types of misconduct would cause you to say, "Hey, I don't want that nurse anywhere near me. Give me a different nurse to take care of me." What kind of misconduct are you willing to tolerate? Would you mind a nurse who was convicted of DWI (i am not saying that you shouldn't want that nurse)? Are you able to say, "I don't care if my nurse has been accused of diverting narcs" but wonder why you are in so much pain? How do we decide which is a "witch hunt"? What standards have to be in place for nurses to be protected from being the target of a witch hunt?

Quite frankly, I have not seen too many episodes of witchhunts in my years as a nurse. However, I have definitely, definitely, witnessed lots of episodes of "nurses eating their young" but nothing that was intended to take someone to the Board. And no, I am not management or administrative. Just a good ol' staff nurse, always have been, always will be.

I am sure that each of you knows at least one co-worker that you would really not want as your nurse if you were a pt. My most memorable story of misconduct? A co-worker of mine who really thought the MD's order of Maalox 30 cc IV x1 was what the doc wanted. Fortunately, another co-worker asked this nurse why she was drawing up Maalox in a 30cc syringe used for IV administration and not in the 60cc syringes used for NGT meds (the syringe could have been used for a Dobhoff, but still, I am glad that this nurse asked). The nurse drawing up the Maalox really did intend on giving it IV. How many John Q. Publics would have realized that the white substance he was about to receive was gonna kill him right there on the spot. Yeah, it will take care of your heartburn, alright. I also know someone who was diverting drugs. She was fired and she admitted to the misconduct.

So, it is a hard dilemma, an issue that is not cut and dried. Our patients have a right to have a competant nurse and I have a right to competant co-workers. Yet, I also don't want nurses to be unfairly reprimanded on "soft" accusations. Those like, "did not clearly document x,y,z". I suppose that could be a result of a witch hunt. I do find it interesting, however, the amount of nurses accused of "soft" misconduct on this website who readily admit to the accusation. And then there are can be inconsistencies. One nurse manager reprimanding a nurse within the hospital system and another nurse manager taking a nurse all the way up to the Board for the same exact issue.

So, yes, the system is not perfect. I am curious though, what if each of us were taken to the Board for something that was real and serious, like forging prescriptions, do you feel like a potential employer has a right to know? What if you had been convicted of DWI? Or assault? How about if you were diverting drugs? Endangering the welfare of a child? Not documenting properly? Administering Tylenol without an order?

Some of these I would say yes, some I would say no. How about you?

That's my

Jeanne

You can already get this information on nurses. The Texas BNE posts this information in their newsletter and the Washington state does also. You can get limited info on physicians if you know where to look.

If they are going to open the books on nurses they better start opening the books on doctors also. But I can tell you know, that nurses are better at reporting each other than physicians are. Doctors will cover for each other more than I have seen in any other profession.

To be reported to the board for a simple failure to remove a catheter is just ridiculous. It sounds like someone was on a witch hunt. In my years as a nursing director I had to report two nurses to the board. One for giving medication without a physician order (it was in the ED, it was not her patient, it caused harm to the patient and she made a statement to the nurse caring for the patient that this is a "nursing" dose), and one for breaking a patients arm (instead of properly restraining the patient, he essentially got into a fight with her and he broke her humerus). People have got to understand that reporting someone to the board of nursing is a serious matter. They do take these issues seriously.

The nurse that I reported for giving medication without an order went to her board hearing and reported ME for failure to report others for doing the same thing. Now the board is investigating me for failure to report. The hospital I worked for had to hire me an attorney and I had to go through the files of 300 employees and send the board copies of every disciplinary action that I or a nurse manager had taken for the preceding 12 months. I sent them a huge box of files. It turned out to be nothing and they took no action against my license but it was frightening to think that I could have lost my license. It is the only way that I have to make a living.