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

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After reading yet another statement about "your license is at risk" (usually due to poor staffing) I'm curious about the reality, not the scare tactics.

How many people have actually had their licenses threatened (by Board actions, not patient/family mouthing off) due to unsafe work conditions?

Multiple occasions, or multiple discrepancies on the same count?

Multiple occasions.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
Wow. Were criminal charges filed as well?

Yes and I believe that she did jail time.

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Specializes in Med Surg/ICU/Psych/Emergency/CEN/retired.

Two. Both were narcotic related.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Two. Both were narcotic diversion?

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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)

Is the lad alright? Was he removed from the home?

Did Mom receive psychiatric care?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Two- both narcotic diversion. This is in 40 years,

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I have known of one nurse who was stealing controlled meds. He eventually did lose his license but I see that he is re-licensed as of last year.

Another nurse I know of is under some degree of discipline by the Board but she is still licensed.

In several decades of Nursing, those are the only 2.

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Specializes in MDS/ UR.

3- 2 for diversion- 1 for falsifying documentation

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Narcotic diversion, habitual user. This nurse had mentored many of my coworkers over decades and it hit them hard when they found out. This nurse thought confessing to the BON would show remorse and foster leniency, but no. License revoked permanently.

Edited to add: the felony conviction probably didn't help.

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I've known one nurse who lost her license and it was DUI related.

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Specializes in Early Intervention, Nsg. Education.

Three in 27 years.

2 for narcotic diversion, one for stealing from a patient. A LOT. Repeatedly.

I also know a sweet woman who used to work in LTC that clearly had mild dementia who was "encouraged to retire." She still came by once a week and read the newspaper to residents. The management at the LTC handled the situation beautifully. This was in 2005, and I doubt everything would turn out as well as it did. She was a warm body and held a current license, so there you go! Scary!

mm

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

I don't recall ever knowing anyone who actually lost their license. I have known a couple of people (over 40 years of nursing) who were disciplined by the BON for narcotic diversion. One of them wasn't allowed to carry the narcotic keys (back in the day when we HAD narcotic keys), so they promoted him to Nursing Supervisor. He continued to abuse drugs (at least I'm assuming that was the case as the newspaper reported that he died in a single car accident with enormous quantities of opioids on board.

The other lost her job for diversion but landed on her feet as DON for a nursing home. She SAID she was being disciplined by the BON, but I don't know what specifically the discipline was.

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