Schools under fire! Fake Degrees Caught!

nursego · Feb 3, 2023

Oh well. Okay as long as you are not doing any important classes for your master's degree. LOL

Editorial Team / Moderator · Feb 4, 2023

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/georgia-nurses-accused-having-fake-diplomas-say-their-degrees-are-legitimate/VMNQMA4BP5FTTHZGANGNE4XLKA/

delrionurse · Feb 5, 2023

Lunah said:

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/georgia-nurses-accused-having-fake-diplomas-say-their-degrees-are-legitimate/VMNQMA4BP5FTTHZGANGNE4XLKA/

I'm curious if Florida is going to report how many nurses are working in their state are from these schools. It seems a catch 22 to revoke the same licenses that you granted.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 6, 2023

Further info:

King5 TV 2/1/2023

150 Washington applicants connected to Florida-based nursing diploma scheme

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Washington state's Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission announced it had identified 150 nursing applicants using credentials from the alleged scheme.....Of the 150 people, seven have had their licenses rescinded, four applicants were denied, 62 are in legal limbo, and the remaining 77 are under investigation.

'About a dozen' Oregon nurses connected to fake diploma scheme, board says

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The Oregon State Board of Nurses says the affected nurses' cases will go before the board for discussion during a meeting scheduled for Feb. 22.

Due to the ongoing investigation, officials declined to release the names and hospitals connected to the case. KOIN 6 also reached out to Washington's State Board of Burses but has not yet heard back.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 21, 2023

Update - NY interim report: Florida Nursing School Investigation

Thousands of NY nursing license/pending applications affected, going back to 2016, even earlier for Siena College.

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In order to protect the public health, safety and welfare, the State Education Department has contacted the individuals who graduated from the above programs and received a license to practice nursing. Since the education submitted is not acceptable, the Department requested the individual to either 1) return the license parchment or 2) have a qualified nursing program submit verification of acceptable education.

Applications from individuals who applied with education from one of the schools above but who have not been licensed, will be contacted in the coming weeks. Those applications will be held until the applicant demonstrates that they have met the requirements for acceptable education, examination, and moral character.

...The New York State Education Department is actively pursuing additional information from the federal authorities and will take appropriate action regarding the licensure or application status of any individual who is confirmed to have been approved to sit for the examination or obtained their license based on false and misleading information provided by the above-named schools. By law, however, certain aspects of the criminal investigation must remain confidential for the time being and potential disciplinary action by the Department against any specific individual cannot be publicized until completed.

Wow , there are 1644 pending applications just from the Palm Beach School of Nursing, yet alone hundreds from other schools. This will be a lengthy review process.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 21, 2023

Beckers Hospital Review 2/18/23

Florida pauses enrollment at 7 nursing schools amid degree scheme

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Florida's Commission for Independent Education has ordered seven nursing schools allegedly tied to the fraudulent degree scandal to pause graduation and enrollment activities through March, the state confirmed to Becker's Feb. 15.

The commission held an emergency meeting Feb. 10 to consider action against the institutions, all of which are presently or have been connected to at least one individual charged for their alleged participation in the sale of phony nursing degrees and transcripts.

The seven nursing schools were ordered to cease graduation and enrollment through at least March 31. Of these seven, four have voluntarily ceased all operations for an indefinite period to conduct an internal audit. Each institution must also provide lists and contact information for all current students, graduates and faculty, along with "any and all NCLEX numbers the institution uses or has used in the past," a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Education told Becker's.

Commission for Independent Education Emergency Meeting

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The purpose of this meeting is to consider action related to licenses issued by the Commission to the following institutions:

Carleen Health Institute of South Florida, West Palm Beach (#5075)

Med-Life Institute, Lauderdale Lakes (#3097)

Myrielle School of Nursing, Palm Springs (#7741)

Nursing Bridges Institute, Pensacola (#6138)

Palm Beach International College, Lake Worth (#7659)

Suncoast College of Health, Bradenton (#3214)

Techni-Pro Institute, LLC., Boca Raton (#2671)

The Commission may consider emergency action in accordance with section 120.60(6), Florida Statutes, and disciplinary measures in accordance with section 1005.38, Florida Statutes and Rule 6E-2.0061, Florida Administrative Code.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 23, 2023

New lengthy article in Forbes 2/21/2023

How Thousands Of Nurses Got Licensed With Fake Degrees

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...In recent months, Republican Congressman George Santos' lies have drawn attention to the problem of fraudulent degree claims (in a survey last year, nearly a fourth of workers admitted to having fibbed on a resume about a college degree or credential), while ChatGPT has heightened concerns about how easy it is—and how much easier it might become—to cheat one's way to a legitimate degree.

Now, the nursing diploma scandal and a new scholarly book are putting the spotlight on another underappreciated and fast growing fraud problem in education: phony degree mills. Fake Degrees and Fraudulent Credentials in Higher Education, edited by three Canadian academics, argues academic integrity scholars have paid too little attention to fake degrees, which are "just as important, if not more so, than other forms of academic fraud,’’ such as cheating and plagiarism.....

The U.S. has long been a hotbed for fake diplomas because of its emphasis on educational degrees, its decentralized system for accrediting schools and its relatively free market in education, the book asserts. House and Senate committees have held hearings on the problem for decades—but those haven't actually led to any legislative fixes....

As the fake nursing degree case shows, however, lots of funny diploma business is still made in America—and not just in Florida. In fact, the nurses case, though it was exposed after Eaton's book went to press, aptly illustrates the book's point about for-profit schools and a fragmented licensing and accreditation system providing fertile ground for diploma mills in the U.S.

...According to an FBI agent's affidavit and other documents filed in federal court in Maryland, the nursing degree investigation began back in 2019 with a tip to the FBI: two men were creating phony transcripts and nursing certificates from a Northern Virginia for-profit nursing school—a school Virginia shut down in mid-2013 for multiple violations. One of the men, Virginian Musa Bangura, owned the failed school, and in 2015 the pair started selling phony diplomas and transcripts (showing both clinical training and courses in anatomy, pharmacology and the like) for $6,000 to $18,000 a set, backdating them to before the school lost its license. (Both men plead guilty last year to wire fraud.)

In the U.S., nurses must graduate from an approved one to four year LPN or RN nursing program which includes both classroom and hands-on training, pass the national exam, and meet any additional requirements of the state they want to be licensed in. Currently, 36 states participate in the Nursing Licensure Compact, which allows nurses licensed in one state to practice in others. The fragmentation creates problems for state regulators. For example, Maryland doesn't allow for-profit schools, but does allow graduates of other states' for-profit schools; 111 graduates of the Virginia mill were licensed by Maryland before it instituted new fraud controls in 2018.

In 2018, the second man involved in the Virginia school scheme, Maryland resident Patrick Nwaokwu, also began working with Johanah Napoleon, a Florida mill operator who had purchased the for-profit Palm Beach School of Nursing in 2016. Florida shut down the school in 2017 because too few students were passing the national tests, but gave the school until December 2019 to graduate current students....

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 23, 2023

Times union article states NY Education Dept sent letter on Feb 14th to nurses with active license from Florida schools involved in DOJ investigation. It also lists attorney helping nurses who claim legitimate education from these programs.

NY Times-Union Feb. 22, 2023

New York nurses who attended seven Florida schools could lose licenses

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...letter from state Education Department officials sent Feb. 7 gave nurses 14 days to demonstrate that they had met the educational and training requirements for the national licensure exam....

..State education officials acknowledged that some of the New York nurses who participated in Florida programs may have received some or all of the requisite training to qualify for the national licensure exam.

The state has not indicated whether there will be consequences for nurses who do not provide proof of their credentials within the 14-day period, which ends Tuesday, Feb. 21. It's also unclear to what extent nurses will face criminal charges if they are found to have intentionally obtained bogus degrees...

MarkMyWords · Feb 24, 2023

How can these nurses with fake degrees do the work? How would they know how anything operates?

Unless they had taken nursing classes and never finished? And had experience with patients on site.

Still, the audacity!

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 25, 2023

MarkMyWords said:

How can these nurses with fake degrees do the work? How would they know how anything operates?

Per news reports, some persons were nurses in another country, LPN's wanting to be RN's or CNA's able to pass LPN NCLEX. Per Federal reports, about 37% those found to have purchased degrees without attending classes were able to pass NCLEX -- low percentage compared to national passage rate > 80% NCLEX first time test takers.

Med Page Today 2/24/2023

Operation Nightingale: State Nursing Boards React to the Fake Diploma Scheme

— Just how sprawling is the fallout?

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...State nursing boards across the country have begun taking action against those who received fake credentials, as well as those who were seeking fake documents, who may have been involved in the scheme.

For example, the Texas Board of Nursing announced that it has filed formal charges against 23 nurses who allegedly fraudulently obtained credentials. However, the board noted that the charges are not a final disciplinary action, and that a nurse is permitted to work while charges are pending....

... The Arizona State Board of Nursing also issued a statement, noting that it has identified 10 individuals with current licenses who may be involved in the scheme.

"If credentials are fraudulent, the board has the ability to revoke or deny licensure, after providing due process to the individual involved," the statement said.

The board further explained that individuals identified by the investigation as possibly having illegitimate credentials have been flagged in the National Council of State Boards of Nursing nationwide data system. "This means that all state boards of nursing, including Arizona's, can monitor the individuals until their case is resolved. Once a disciplinary action has been taken by one state board of nursing related to diploma fraud, all of the other state boards of nursing will have access to that information in order to prevent additional fraud."...

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Feb 28, 2023

2/27/23 NY Board of Nursing Update -extensive Q + A:

Operation Nightingale and Florida Nursing Education – Questions & Answers

There are MANY more questions and answers listed at above NY BON link including how to surrender nursing license: Transfer credit from an allegedly fraudulent school cannot be transferred to another institution; If one had previous LPN diploma from different LPN program and previous LPN license can one obtain NY LPN license -- YES upon surrendering RN license; which Florida authorities to report nursing program that you attended in person, etc.

See AN NY forum members posts

Nancynurse1983, BSN · Mar 3, 2023

Hello everyone,

I'm having growing concerns about the number of fraudulent nurses we have practicing in the US. If you are not familiar with Operation Nightingale, here is a link to the report https://oig.hhs.gov/newsroom/media-materials/nightingale/ . I've been keeping abreast of the new reports coming out, and it seems 89 nurses have been terminated from VA hospitals for practicing with fraudulent licenses. I am employed within the VA system and have major concerns that this news was not communicated to us. I work with a nurse recently hired whom related to me that she had been in practice for seven years. I have growing concerns because she has absolutely no critical thinking skills. She takes little initiative when it comes to problem solving, and I observed her the other day sitting with a patient and staff for 30 minutes waiting on a pill, that could be and was ordered to be crushed, to dissolve in cold water. This seems like a public health crisis that should be getting more publicity. I am especially concerned about the care of our veteran population, and concerned that even this amount was allowed to practice after obtaining licensure fraudulently. Your thoughts are appreciated!