Do you ever get tired of hearing this phrase?

[Double-Helix]

"I'm so afraid I'm going to lose my license!"

This is one of my biggest pet peeves about this site. It seems like several times a day where someone (usually a new nurse) is working in a busy facility and fears that they are going to lose their license by making some kind of error. Most people even cite this as their reason for quitting their job. LTC and SNFs seems to be the biggest offenders.

So I did a search on the words "I lost my license" and read through several pages of posts about the subject. Guess what? Not ONE post about someone who legitimately lost their license due to a patient care issue. They were all related to drug use/abuse or a felony crimes.

I understand that there are some facilities that put you in unsafe working conditions. But it's really not that easy to lose your license. Even published stories about people who made fatal medication errors have retained their nursing licenses.

So please, let's get it straight that you're highly unlikely to lose your license because you're working in a busy hospital, or LTC, or a SNF with a high census. You might not like working in a busy environment like that, but quitting because you feel your "license is in jeopardy" is not a realistic reason. If you do this, you are probably denying yourself a great opportunity to learn and grow as a nurse.

That's my vent for today. Thanks for listening.

[suanna]

Actual cases where nurses lost their licenses and no drugs. Pt neglect/abuse and HIPAA are the new buzz reasons for revoking a nurses license.

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/nurse-loses-license-61456.html

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/patient-dies-under-621207-page24.html

https://allnurses.com/nursing-news/nurse-suicide-follows-556477.html

2. Impersonating Another Licensed Practitioner

Believe it or not, this happens. And employers sometimes don't catch it for years. A wannabe nurse may have a felony conviction that will prevent him from getting a license, or she may have had her own license revoked in the past. Whatever the case, identity theft is plausible if these "nurses" can obtain the correct papers. Whatever license you may or may not have will be immediately revoked by your state board, and that will stay on your record.

4.Providing a False Copy of License

Although rare, this does occur. Nurses who have a suspended license may provide an employer with a fake license, thinking that once their suspension is up it won't matter. It does matter, though - especially if your employer finds out. The license you may have will be revoked, or, if you don't have a license, you will not be allowed to ever apply for a license.

5. Mail fraud

Mail fraud encompasses many felonies. Broadly speaking, mail fraud involves using the postal service to unlawfully obtain money or valuables, impersonate someone other than yourself, or stealing someone else's mail. There are many kind of mail fraud including work-from-home scams, solicitation disguised as an invoice, and online auction fraud. Mail fraud may not be directly related to nursing, but it can directly affect your career if you are convicted. Mail fraud is yet another way you can lose your license.

6. Falsifying Patient Records

Maybe you had been working 12 hours and were too tired to complete that patient record. Maybe you gave your patient a little extra morphine to help him get through the night, but you didn't record it. Whatever the case, falsifying patient records is grounds for license revocation. In the best-case scenario, your falsified record gets you in trouble, but doesn't affect anyone else. Worst-case scenario? Something happens to your patient.

7. Unprofessional Conduct

This broad term allows state boards to be subjective in judging why a nurse might get his license revoked. "Unprofessional conduct" can range from using inappropriate language around colleagues and patients to having an affair with a superior. Although it seems obvious, many nurses fail to understand why their conduct may be called into question. The level of professionalism in the nursing field is of the utmost importance, and employers won't take kindly to those few nurses who exhibit inappropriate behavior of any sort. First-time offenders may only be reprimanded or suspended temporarily, but keep it up and you may be out of a job before you know it.

Hosting a Mediaographic Website

Believe it or not - it happens. Just this last year, a nurse in Pennsylvania got her licensed revoked because she was hosting her own Mediaographic website. This most likely falls under "Unprofessional Conduct," and it's easy to chuckle at. But with today's advancements in technology, and the widespread range of the internet, nurses who use their webcams to do a little work on a side may find themselves without a job.

8. Hosting a Mediaographic Website

Believe it or not - it happens. Just this last year, a nurse in Pennsylvania got her licensed revoked because she was hosting her own Mediaographic website. This most likely falls under "Unprofessional Conduct," and it's easy to chuckle at. But with today's advancements in technology, and the widespread range of the internet, nurses who use their webcams to do a little work on a side may find themselves without a job.

9. Patient Abuse and Neglect

Sadly, this is quite obvious and, even worse, happens more often than we'd like to admit. Patient neglect and abuse can happen because a nurse is intentionally causing pain and/or suffering, or because of a simple mistake because a nurse is over-worked or has too many patients. One of the most serious offenses, patient neglect and abuses affects more than just the nurse, and even more than just the patient. The patient's friends and family must also suffer alongside him/her, making this grave offense even worse.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often. Many times, a nurse doesn't neglect a patient on purpose, but her forgetfulness can cause more damage than imagined and result in the loss of her license.

http://nursinglink.monster.com/benefits/articles/4771-10-ways-to-lose-your-nursing-license

Sorry for the long quote, but what is wrong with a Media webpage? Unless it was illegal acts (Kiddy Media, animals...) I didn't think you could be in trouble for participating in a legal enterprise. I don't spend a lot of time with Media, but I will fight to my last breath for the right of anyone who wants to to publish it or look at it, (as long as it isn't illegal activities). I don't want my BON to decide I'm not moral enough to be a nurse because they have a different set personal tastes than I do. What is next- smoker-,play the poker tables in vegas, hang out at the track, divorced, gay, ... My Baptist minister has a lot of moral judgements I wouldn't want my licence to depend on.

As to the original post, yep- I think this is entirely overdone. Part of the problem is all the advice from experienced nurses that end up the post with " you have a licence to protect..." The best reason to get out of a job that is making you feel unsafe is that you cannot provide the care you feel the patients deserve. Punitive measures from the BON are pretty rare in my state for late meds, hurried charting, missed treatments...

[NurseAnnie123]

I have been meaning to post this exact for weeks now!!!! I absolutely HATE opening a post that says anything along the lines of "risking my license by working here".. I tend to immediately back out of the post when I read that.

[RNperdiem, RN]

New nurses are worried about the worst case scenarios: losing the license, getting fired from the job, living with the guilt of harming a patient, and the overwhelming stress the responsibility of nursing entails.

If an overwhelmed nurse wants to worry about losing her license, I give her the same tolerance that I give the patient family members who can only focus on one patient variable.( I had a family this week who was obsessive about their mother's WBC count; they wanted to know first thing every day.)

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

":bowingpurall of you seasoned, experience nurses, we look up to you for guidence and wisdom and hope to be as confident, proficient and skilled as you one day. i am assuming all the questions posted on here about that are just posted to get reassurance and support that everything will be alright. i agree though the only way to learn and become proficient is to keep chugging along and to not give up if the going gets tough.:yeah:"

thanks, sweets.

you know what they say: good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

(from wikipedia: the pierian spring..

an early reference to the pierian spring is found in the satyricon of petronius, from the late 1st century ad:

"this is the right armour of genius–'drink deep or taste not the pierian spring.'only then pour out your heart."[citation needed] lines 215 to 232 of pope's poem read:

"a little learning is a dang'rous thing;drink deep, or taste not the pierian spring:there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,and drinking largely sobers us again.fir'd at first sight with what the muse imparts,in fearless youth we tempt the heights of arts,while from the bounded level of our mindshort views we take, nor see the lengths behind;but more advanc'd, behold with strange surprisenew distant scenes of endless science rise!so pleas'd at first the towering alps we try,mount o'er the vales, and seem to tread the sky,th' eternal snows appear already past,and the first clouds and mountains seem the last;but, those attain'd, we tremble to surveythe growing labours of the lengthen'd way,th' increasing prospects tire our wand'ring eyes,hills peep o'er hills, and alps on alps arise!" in greek mythology, it was believed that drinking from the pierian spring would bring you great knowledge and inspiration. thus, pope is explaining how if you only learn a little it can "intoxicate" you in such a way that makes you feel as though you know a great deal. however, when "drinking largely" it "sobers" you now that you are wise and have a greater understanding, and also "drinking" it "largely sobers" you so you may never acquire complete wisdom and understanding.

the opening stanza also appears in ray bradbury's fahrenheit 451, as fire captain beatty chastizes guy montag, the protagonist, about reading books, which are forbidden in the society of the novel.

[nic900]

I agree what I do on my own time is my biz but can u imagine having a patient for several shifts who recognized you from your Media web site?

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I agree that the actual risk is overblown.

However, when I see AN posts such as, (paraphrased) "I overheard half a conversation between two other nurses and I have now concluded that they are conspiring to call in phony scripts ... and who do I report this to?"

or

"I am a patient sitter and I reported xyz patient situation to the nurse and she didn't do anything ..."

Or, when as charge nurse I get a call from the house supervisor that the family of a patient in my ER has called administration complaining of poor care ... and when I speak to the family the "poor care" turns out to be that the patient "hasn't gotten anything to eat all day!" (when their presenting symptom is abdominal pain and they have a CT scan pending) ...

Or when I see frequent, repeated statements from AN posters that indicate a lack of understanding of the legalities of nursing: what "rules" are facility/organization-specific policies, what are state health department regulations concerning the licensing/operation of healthcare facilities, what are DEA regulations concerning the use of controlled substances, and the jurisdiction of individual state boards of nursing which are responsible for regulation concerning the licensing and practice of nurses ...

It is clear to me that the nursing profession operates in a quagmire of confusion over its role ... and it is small wonder that those prone to anxiety sometimes get into a permanently heightened state of nervousness.

[vashtee, RN]

The phrase I get sick of hearing on this site is "lateral violence".

[mazy]

Add "hostile work environment" to the list.

[aachavez]

I agree what I do on my own time is my biz but can u imagine having a patient for several shifts who recognized you from your Media web site?

I agree with all the 'what you do on your own time'. But also this ^.

If you're on Media sites, you're putting yourself out there for the entire world to see. It shouldn't be surprising when someone actually recognizes you at some point. If you really truly don't care what others (patients, family members etc) then hey, by all means. No harm done right? Still dont see this as cause for revoking a license.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

Patient recognizes me from Media? Oh well. I'm not any worse for being in Media than patient is for watching Media.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Sorry for the long quote, but what is wrong with a Media webpage? Unless it was illegal acts (Kiddy Media, animals...) I didn't think you could be in trouble for participating in a legal enterprise. I don't spend a lot of time with Media, but I will fight to my last breath for the right of anyone who wants to to publish it or look at it, (as long as it isn't illegal activities). I don't want my BON to decide I'm not moral enough to be a nurse because they have a different set personal tastes than I do. What is next- smoker-,play the poker tables in vegas, hang out at the track, divorced, gay, ... My Baptist minister has a lot of moral judgements I wouldn't want my licence to depend on.

As to the original post, yep- I think this is entirely overdone. Part of the problem is all the advice from experienced nurses that end up the post with " you have a licence to protect..." The best reason to get out of a job that is making you feel unsafe is that you cannot provide the care you feel the patients deserve. Punitive measures from the BON are pretty rare in my state for late meds, hurried charting, missed treatments...

Personally....I could care less as long as it doesn't hurt children or animals....I copied that from a legal blog and nurses have lost their licenses for internet Media sites.....many states have moral clauses......check out the links.

[Traum-a-Rama]

I think the "lose my license" fear, especially among us new nurses, is not just due to it being drilled into our heads through school, but also from witnessing real instances of nurses being thrown under the bus by management (and sometimes our own peers) due to bogus complaints from patients who think the H sign stands for Hotel Four Seasons and not Hospital. I think it's the combined effect of the almighty "customer service" model with the expectation that we can effectively AND safely care for 6-7 patients (and fluff their pillows and massage their feet!) because, well, we were able to handle 5 last year. We know we have the right to refuse that assignment, but we never do that...do we risk our job in this economy or risk our license?!? Seems like an easy answer, but not so much when you're actually in that situation.

~~JMHO