License at Risk? Put up or shut up,,,

Editorial Team / Admin · May 18, 2017

If you head on over to your state BON website, you'll likely be able to find a list of actions taken against licenses for the month or whatever period of time- and the vast majority of them are related to drugs, alcohol, defying previous BON orders related to drugs/alcohol, failure to complete mandatory CE, or criminal acts. I don't think I've ever seen a listing of a license lost for anything likely to result from short staffing.

dishes, BSN, RN · May 18, 2017

There have been preventable sentinel events and patient deaths related to unsafe patient staff ratios. I think maybe the overworked/understaffed nurses are concerned about the ramifications if they fail to rescue a patient or make an error that causes irreparable harm.

Guest219794 · May 18, 2017

There have been preventable sentinel events and patient deaths related to unsafe patient staff ratios. I think maybe the overworked/understaffed nurses are concerned about the ramifications if they fail to rescue a patient or make an error that causes irreparable harm.

This is true.

It would make a lot of sense if people responded to problems with: "That is not safe.", rather than "I worked hard for my license, I need to protect it, as though it was fragile.

JKL33 · May 18, 2017

Alright, I'll admit to being one who just yesterday read a very concerning post here and responded that the situation could lead to "legal and/or licensing ramifications" if continued. And yeah, I get your point. Mea culpa.

We should say these things instead: "you could have inappropriate disciplinary action placed in your employee file as they try to make you a scapegoat for their own failures...", or "you could be fired in their effort to save face", or "you could then be blacklisted across their entire organizational network, which these days could be half the state or more", "you could be labeled 'ineligible for rehire' which is information accessible to your next prospective employer", or "they're likely to slander you in order to discredit your account", "you could end up facing financial- and employment-related hardship as a result of various possible fallouts from this situation" etc., etc., etc.

I checked my state's BON site as a result of your call for people to "put up or shut up,,,"

Quite a few sanctions related to drug diversion, impairment, and failure to complete continuing education. Also quite a few 'negligence, incompetence, violation of general duty'; those latter 3 were not attached to other more specific sanctions, but were reported as stand-alones.

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · May 18, 2017

Alright, I'll admit to being one who just yesterday read a very concerning post here and responded that the situation could lead to "legal and/or licensing ramifications" if continued. And yeah, I get your point. Mea culpa.
We should say these things instead: "you could have inappropriate disciplinary action placed in your employee file as they try to make you a scapegoat for their own failures...", or "you could be fired in their effort to save face", or "you could then be blacklisted across their entire organizational network, which these days could be half the state or more", "you could be labeled 'ineligible for rehire' which is information accessible to your next prospective employer", or "they're likely to slander you in order to discredit your account", "you could end up facing financial- and employment-related hardship as a result of various possible fallouts from this situation" etc., etc., etc.
I checked my state's BON site as a result of your call for people to "put up or shut up,,,"
Quite a few sanctions related to drug diversion, impairment, and failure to complete continuing education. Also quite a few 'negligence, incompetence, violation of general duty'; those latter 3 were not attached to other more specific sanctions, but were reported as stand-alones.

Interesting about the "failure to complete continuing education." I wonder if that means that the licensee lied about it instead of just not doing it. In my state, we sign an affidavit that we complete it, and I gather that actual audits are rare...

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · May 18, 2017

Keep in mind that the BON expects you to refuse an unsafe assignment (however, they don't care if your employer fires you as a result of refusing). If you choose to take on an unsafe assignment, then you are accountable to the BON if anything bad happens as a result.

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · May 19, 2017

Look at the amount of "Remedial education" and you can see where nurses who perhaps accept unsafe assignments or do not document events thoroughly end up. The sad part is that ANYBODY can file a complaint on my license and the BON is likely to investigate. Maybe not find anything - but that's years of time and a lawyer spent protecting what a previous poster said is fragile and hard-won.

smf0903 · Aug 27, 2017

Two people, both narc discrepancies (multiple discrepancies).

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Aug 27, 2017

99% of all of the suspensions and whatnot involved substance abuse, whether diversion, being under the influence at work, being positive for illegal drugs or forging scripts.

The only actual revocation I know of (friend of a friend) had Muchausen's by proxy and injected her toddler son with feces using equipment stolen from work. (She was a pediatric nurse at the time)

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Aug 27, 2017

Two people, both narc discrepancies (multiple discrepancies).

Multiple occasions, or multiple discrepancies on the same count?

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Aug 27, 2017

99% of all of the suspensions and whatnot involved substance abuse, whether diversion, being under the influence at work, being positive for illegal drugs or forging scripts.
The only actual revocation I know of (friend of a friend) had Muchausen's by proxy and injected her toddler son with feces using equipment stolen from work. (She was a pediatric nurse at the time)

Wow. Were criminal charges filed as well?