Nursing without license

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everybody,

I have been searching throughout the forums for information regarding legal implications of Nurses practicing without a license, either status "denied" or "expired" . The other day at work one of my co-workers searched the license verification site and found more than one nurse working on our floor with questionable license status :angryfire . Any info would be appreciated

Issue at hand is that this person who did not pass three different times was required to inform her mananger that she did not pass the exam, and therefore be demoted to unlicensed personnel. Any interim permit if she had one, fails to exist at the time that the person writes the exam.

And I do hope that charges get pressed against the facility for employing someone that never had a license as a nurse. And what was this person signing in their charts?

She has just lost her chance at a nursing license forever, without chance to get it back for working as a nurse, yet never having a license.

And the manager needs to keep on top of these things, she is the immediate supervisor. soemone definitely dod not follow thru on what they were supposed to be doing. I hope that they do get reported now.

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Someone asked what a Christian Science Nurse is.

CSNCN - Christian Science Nursing Communication Network I had never heard of such, but I found a NJ site and a CA site that states they exist.

CS Nursing Facilities

Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.
Yes, but you also must think-maybe they legally have a different name, or go by their middle name at work. for ex, we have a nurse (not her real name here, of course) named Jennifer Layla Jones. She goes by Layla Jones, its on her nametag, etc. everyone calls her layla. now, if you did an internet license search for Layla Jones, you wouldn't find anything, since legally she's Jennifer.

things aren't always as they seem, and i wouldn't go reporting people if you dont know for sure. your work should be verifying licenses, and making people show them when they renew

This is an excellent point, and something to keep in mind. I've worked with more than one person who has married, and we CALL them by their married name, but they have never legally changed it. Combine that with a nickname and they wouldn't even show up at all.

Specializes in Looking for a career in NICU.
Why don't we have a perfect world where info about licensure problems is promptly reported to employers and where employers are always on the ball in tracking licensure status?

Mostly money and manpower, but also priorities and attention to details.

Of course nurses are always responsible for informing their employers regarding problems with their licensure status, but often the boards aren't that efficient in doing that they are suppose to do in a timely manner.

In my state, fiscal belt tightening got rid of continuing ed requirements for nursing a decade ago (too expensive of a program to maintian, the heck with the value of it to the public in ensuring that nurses stay up to date with changes in medical care/nursing). I have now just been through the bi-annual licensure renewal process. This year the BON included a required questionnaire as part of the renewal process. My license expired at the end of September. I mailed in my renewal on Sept. 13th, they deposited my check on the 15th. Come the end of the month I had no license and no explanation as to why (it was "in process" they said). Five weeks later I was informed that they'd LOST my questionnaire. I then faxed it to them and was renewed the following day.

The only upside to this is that I don't work in patient care and thus didn't need my license to be able to work during the month of October. But I'm betting I was not the only nurse so affected, and that others who needed their licenses to be able to work didn't receive their renewals before their current licenses expired.

An astute employer will not allow a nurse to work without a current license. That's easy to track at the time of hire or at license renewal, but less so with pending examination changes or if something happens between renewals that changes the status of the license. In my situation, the renewal was retroactive back to when my license expired at the end of Sept. If I had worked as an RN with a pending renewal status license, I would not have been legal, but in reality the legal penalties would not be as severe as if I had done so with a revoked or a non-renewed license.

And to the original poster of this thread, my concern is if your employer is not focusing sufficient attention on one of the most basic tenets of safe patient care (current, valid personnel licensure), what else are they not doing that impacts patient care and patient safety? Does your continued employment with this employer indicate your tacit approval of such lassitude? And while it's easy to be unhappy with (former) co-workers who did not comply with licensure requirements, I think you have misfocused your attention from where the real problem lies, which is that your employer allowed this situation to happen.

HollyVK, RN (for another 2 yrs), BSN, JD

I'm not a nurse, so I have no idea if the BON has to know where you are working at all times. I have a couple of professional licenses in my state and anytime I move, change my e-mail or phone, I have 10 business days to inform them of the change. Both also has to know who my employer is, b/c with both, I cannot use the license unless I am employeed consistent with the licenses. It's against the law if I don't comply.

I think it would be safe to assume, that the BON probably does inform the last known employer in the case of a license revocation or suspension, but I would say they legally have the right to put this responsibility on the accused, just in case the BON does not have accurate employment information.

Yes, but you also must think-maybe they legally have a different name, or go by their middle name at work. for ex, we have a nurse (not her real name here, of course) named Jennifer Layla Jones. She goes by Layla Jones, its on her nametag, etc. everyone calls her layla. now, if you did an internet license search for Layla Jones, you wouldn't find anything, since legally she's Jennifer.

things aren't always as they seem, and i wouldn't go reporting people if you dont know for sure. your work should be verifying licenses, and making people show them when they renew

That happened once where I worked. We thought this nurse was diverting narcotics and had other questionable behavior. ONe of the nurses checked BON website and she wasn't listed. Told our DON. There was a big stink about it. Come to find out, her license was in her previous name before she was married. Boy, did we have egg on our face!:uhoh3:

We have a moral and legal responsiblity as Nurses to our patients. When I started this thread I was just looking for the answers but I see I opened a pandora's box of opinions. Sure if a nurse has nicknames you could make a mistake but in the end the suspected nurse is vindicated. What if any of you worked side by side everyday with a nurse who you grew to trust with your patients only to find out they never passed their boards after three attempts then lied to your employer? What if one day while busily caring for your patients, you receive a subpeona to appear before a judge because a patient's family is now sueing you in a wrongful death suit? only to find out their only cause of action is because of information they received about this unlicensed nurse? Bet anyone reading this didn't know that the BON and the employers involved now have to notify every patient the unlicensed nurse cared for....imagine the Lawyer's feast...even if the the unlicensed nurse gave the most appropriate care because that nurse is unlicensed and if the patient passed.... guess who's fault it's going to be? And any of us licensed nurses who worked side by side, charted the same charts are now in question? Yeah, I guess because we hold licenses in the end we couldn't be held responsible but imagine the time and money wasted on someone else's irresponsibility....

I still says it's a criminal act and anyone working without a license (putting aside the newly expired license) has antisocial tendencies. It's against the law to drive without a license, plain and simple, it's also againt the law to practice nursing without a license..

I went to school with this one gal - after graduation, she moved and was going to take her boards in another state. Well, a few years later, she moved back and took a job at the hospital where I worked in L&D, where she worked for about 2 years - before they discovered she HAD NO LICENSE. She had apparently failed the boards in the other state. She kept telling them she misplaced it when she moved.:rolleyes:

This was all hushed up big time - don't know if it was reported to the state or not.

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

Every place I've ever worked has verified licenses and has been on top of renewals. You present a license and it's verified before you ever start working. When your license is due to be renewed, the new one is on file or you don't work.

My one stint in management was in industry (occupational health). I verified licenses of the nurses very soon after starting, and verified licenses of applicants before I ever talked to them. My boss, the HR manager who was not at all medical, was also very aware of the need for license verification and made sure it had been done. It was also one of the audit items the corporate nurse looked at.

I can understand a facility not knowing that a nurse has lost a license while employed because the employee didn't tell, but I can't understand not checking in the first place.

How does this happen? In Illinois, every Rn's license expires at the same time (May) every 2 years. I've worked too hard/long to become a nurse, I'm responsible to make sure I send that check in every 2 years, get my license, give it to my boss. (Heaven forbid, should I ever have to take state boards again!)

We get reminders from the hospital in our paychecks, posters.....

If you forget, I figure you're an idiot!

I know we all lead busy lives... but why would you let your license lapse?

:nurse:

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.
How does this happen? In Illinois, every Rn's license expires at the same time (May) every 2 years. I've worked too hard/long to become a nurse, I'm responsible to make sure I send that check in every 2 years, get my license, give it to my boss. (Heaven forbid, should I ever have to take state boards again!)

We get reminders from the hospital in our paychecks, posters.....

If you forget, I figure you're an idiot!

I know we all lead busy lives... but why would you let your license lapse?

:nurse:

Some states (OK and TX that I know of) use your birth month as your license renewal date.

Specializes in Med/Surg.

Even as a new grad with my name posted on the BON website with a valid license number next to it, I could not start working until I had the actual license in my hand which lucky for me came the next day after I found out I passed. It's scary that people can practice nursing without a license. I am not talking about one that expired...I am talking about people who never actually had one.

Specializes in Peds, GI, Home Health, Risk Mgmt.

In a perfect world there would be no sick people, and if there were, there would be no unlicensed healthcare providers . .

But, of course, that's never going to happen.

So what's the take-away message from this thread? (Besides the fact that YOU at all time are responsible for the status of your own license).

1. There are people out there who will attempt to practice without a valid license, including LPNs/LVNs trying to pass themselves off as RNs, and LPNs and RNs with license issues (including trying to fraudulently use another nurse's license).

Kentucky: Board of Nursing - Imposter Alert!

2. Healthcare employers are responsible for ensuring that all personnel have current, valid licenses. Per the discussion here, we can see that doesn't always happen.

3. There are consequences for this happening, some of which (civil litigation) Touchstone laid out in her attached post. But what I believe confuses people is the disconnect between the actions of the administrative licensing entity and the potential criminal consequences that may be addressed by the criminal justice system.

If your driver's license is revoked and you continue to drive, you are obviously breaking the law. But if you cause no harm to others, who's going to bother to prosecute you criminally?

It's the same with your nursing license. It's the state's BON that controls your license status, but generally it's your local county/parish prosecutor who decides if he/she is going to file criminal charges against you for practicing nursing without a license, and probably only in connection with other criminal charges relating to patient injury. Although it's certainly not out of the question to see a prosecution based solely on the licensure issue:

State of New Jersey

HollyVK, RN, BSN, JD

We have a moral and legal responsiblity as Nurses to our patients. When I started this thread I was just looking for the answers but I see I opened a pandora's box of opinions. Sure if a nurse has nicknames you could make a mistake but in the end the suspected nurse is vindicated. What if any of you worked side by side everyday with a nurse who you grew to trust with your patients only to find out they never passed their boards after three attempts then lied to your employer?

What if one day while busily caring for your patients, you receive a subpeona to appear before a judge because a patient's family is now sueing you in a wrongful death suit? only to find out their only cause of action is because of information they received about this unlicensed nurse?

Bet anyone reading this didn't know that the BON and the employers involved now have to notify every patient the unlicensed nurse cared for....imagine the Lawyer's feast...even if the the unlicensed nurse gave the most appropriate care because that nurse is unlicensed and if the patient passed.... guess who's fault it's going to be? And any of us licensed nurses who worked side by side, charted the same charts are now in question? Yeah, I guess because we hold licenses in the end we couldn't be held responsible but imagine the time and money wasted on someone else's irresponsibility....

I still says it's a criminal act and anyone working without a license (putting aside the newly expired license) has antisocial tendencies. It's against the law to drive without a license, plain and simple, it's also againt the law to practice nursing without a license..

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