Can a nurse be Disciplined in every state

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

People with violent criminal offenses aren't punished for the same thing for the rest of their lives.

A nursing school classmate of mine was convicted of domestic violence 10-15 years before we went to school (I heard the whole story because his case was heard the day that my class attended a BON meeting). Although they allowed him to take the board exam, they gave him a restricted license - professional death to a new graduate seeking a first job. A bordering state was willing to give him a clean license through reciprocity, so that is what he did.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

Very educating thread for me.

I must admit, in my walk of life and in my social circles, we're a bit ignorant (meaning, we don't know better) of all this. The talk is that the BON in most states are not doing enough about people who lose their license in state A then run to state B and repeat all the offenses over again until they're caught...........then move onto state C...........so on........so forth.

We are operating under the belief that things like this are overlooked more often than not. I guess this is not entirely true. Very odd too because when I got my BSN, the fact that most BON don't manage to track this well was a specific topic we talked about. People even presented research on how CA was just not monitoring things at all.

Yeah, my sources of information on the subject are limited.

So, I'm learning that not only do they monitor for this but, could be overdoing it now. It's been a long time since I earned my BSN so, maybe things have changed.

Very interesting subject to say the least. I wonder how many out there are like me and have been given the impression that it's the other way around and not monitored enough? And I wonder where that false assumption comes from?

I can't actually say if things changed as I was so poorly informed about the subject of disciplinary actions against Nurses until recently. The legal aspects of nursing were not much talked about when I was in school. Over the years, legal topics came up in the form of in-services etc..The Legal Consultant specialty has developed and there is more information these days here and there, but most nurses have no idea how the BRN's work against them. I never in a million years would have thought this. My opinion now is that their priority is related to the side of the accuser. They are now hyper-vigilant in keeping the appearance that they are keeping the public safe. They are not on the side of the nurse which is what I used to think. I'm not saying all who work for or are on the boards are mean, ill-intended ...NOT AT ALL. The organizations in general, are operating with less help and shrinking budgets as the States adjust to the economy and so on. This is a multi-faceted situation. Just that the current laws guiding and the budgets with which they must operate under needs to change. It's not just this way for nurses either. All health-care providers governing boards have similar short-comings in the manner with which they function.

[gonzoRN, MSN, RN]

My two cents. I moved twice during monitoring. Complete pain in the rear, but it can be done. However, both states made me start over. I completed over EIGHT years of monitoring. Since finishing, I've moved twice. Neither of those states required me to go back in to monitoring, although the hoop jumping I had to do was insane. My background...I self reported, alcohol, never arrested. I highly encourage everyone to keep every scrap of documentation, in paper and in the cloud. If you ever plan on moving start working on your letter now. Every board and every potential employer will ask for that explanatory letter. Get help with it from your sponsor, your support group, your attorney. I can't stress enough how important that letter is. Lastly, move to a compact state, opens your options up dramatically.

[atoth1]

gosh, i had a dui 3 years ago. got it reduced to reckless driving. i was deemed "unsafe to practice" by an hprp cert. social worker by reason of "mentally ill." i had to have a complete psy eval. done by a hprp cert. md who (and i never saw this report) said i needed a complete psy/neuro eval. done. none of these hprp cert. evaluators gave me an axis I dx. i am suing both social worker and md as well as hprp. i go to small claims court today, in a few hours to get my $500 back from the social worker.

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

My two cents. I moved twice during monitoring. Complete pain in the rear, but it can be done. However, both states made me start over. I completed over EIGHT years of monitoring. Since finishing, I've moved twice. Neither of those states required me to go back in to monitoring, although the hoop jumping I had to do was insane. My background...I self reported, alcohol, never arrested. I highly encourage everyone to keep every scrap of documentation, in paper and in the cloud. If you ever plan on moving start working on your letter now. Every board and every potential employer will ask for that explanatory letter. Get help with it from your sponsor, your support group, your attorney. I can't stress enough how important that letter is. Lastly, move to a compact state, opens your options up dramatically.

Wow! Eight years? You must be one dedicated nurse. I would have given up. Kudos!

[gonzoRN, MSN, RN]

My last move was FL and into IPN. The move was necessary, to take care of a parent with cancer. The hardest part, believe it or not, was physically appearing before the BON. It was the most demeaning thing....standing there asking/begging to keep my license and to have the "privilege" of another 4 years of monitoring. I tried to look at the whole thing as character building, but it was hard. Fortunately, my parent did well, we both made it through, and they are still with me today!

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

My last move was FL and into IPN. The move was necessary, to take care of a parent with cancer. The hardest part, believe it or not, was physically appearing before the BON. It was the most demeaning thing....standing there asking/begging to keep my license and to have the "privilege" of another 4 years of monitoring. I tried to look at the whole thing as character building, but it was hard. Fortunately, my parent did well, we both made it through, and they are still with me today!

Happy to hear your parents are well. So, did you have to repeat the whole process over again?

[gonzoRN, MSN, RN]

Happy to hear your parents are well. So, did you have to repeat the whole process over again?

Not the whole process--just monitoring, mandatory group, and ... time.

[SororAKS, ADN, RN]

What puzzles me about the structure of government, of which regulatory agencies are a part of, is that there is virtually no oversight or grievance process that actually has teeth to hold the members of said agencies accountable for those they oversee. There aren't national standards or limitations on how much regulatory agencies can discipline a practitioner-ideally there would be a limit, per incident, that would prevent additional penalties being placed if a disciplinary process had already been successfully completed in another jurisdiction.

I just heard about another nurse having a similarly frustrating time with a BON that they don't have many options with which to appeal and where the BON is just imposing ridiculous (incredulously so) restrictions on their ability to practice. This incident doesn't have anything to do with a nurse being impaired. It's just another example of where overreach has occurred and draconian discipline is imposed...for nothing.

It's soo frustrating to watch this, day in day out, happening to people that love caring for others, doctors and nurses alike. We need one huge class action suit with some good lawyers to shake some sense into these Boards.

At one time I wanted to go to law school to help in these situations. Maybe now is the time. So sick of watching this.

[ontheupside]

Well said!!!! What state are you in?

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

What puzzles me about the structure of government, of which regulatory agencies are a part of, is that there is virtually no oversight or grievance process that actually has teeth to hold the members of said agencies accountable for those they oversee. There aren't national standards or limitations on how much regulatory agencies can discipline a practitioner-ideally there would be a limit, per incident, that would prevent additional penalties being placed if a disciplinary process had already been successfully completed in another jurisdiction.

I just heard about another nurse having a similarly frustrating time with a BON that they don't have many options with which to appeal and where the BON is just imposing ridiculous (incredulously so) restrictions on their ability to practice. This incident doesn't have anything to do with a nurse being impaired. It's just another example of where overreach has occurred and draconian discipline is imposed...for nothing.

It's soo frustrating to watch this, day in day out, happening to people that love caring for others, doctors and nurses alike. We need one huge class action suit with some good lawyers to shake some sense into these Boards.

At one time I wanted to go to law school to help in these situations. Maybe now is the time. So sick of watching this.

Thank you so much. I Would like to be a part of a class action suit or whatever it would take. I so agree with what you said. How do we get something like this started? Anyone...? A couple lawyers who specialize in Malpractice defense have told me they agree that the system is out-dated and scued towards the boards and leave the nurses (also paramedics, chiropractors, even physicians) with few options. The processes are very unfair and lacking in due process. However, even these two lawyers were like.."oh well. This is how it is." I would like to find lawyers who care about this and would want to work with us. I need some direction as far as where to begin.