Published Jan 10, 2012
bnik
12 Posts
I am a LPN in Ohio. I am back in school and only 4 months from graduating for my RN. Anyway, I was very recently employed full time in a long-term care facility. I had requested to drop down to PRN and was denied by my manager. Since school has started and I'm already overwhelmed with my last semester, I decided to just quit. After turning this in to the manager, she states "you may want to look into it, but this could be considered abandonment and you could lose your license" Can I really be?? I didn't give the 2 weeks notice, but I wasn't on-duty (nor reporting for or leaving from a shift). The closest thing was that I was scheduled to work tonight - I turned in my resignation 7 hours before my shift... Unfortunately, I have looked online for a while now and can't find anything specific to the laws in Ohio about this... it seems like other states you needed to have accepted a patient load (either by written or verbal report) in order for a patient abandonment claim to be valid.
What do you all think?
AgentBeast, MSN, RN
1,974 Posts
Yeah, they like to say that, but no you can't be charged with patient abandonment. You need to #1 accept assignment and #2 then leave without handing the patients off to another nurse to be charge with patient abandonment. Yeah resigning 7 hours before you are scheduled to work is somewhat bad, but it doesn't constitute abandonment and doesn't fall within the jurisdiction of the Ohio Board of Nursing.
nurseprnRN, BSN, RN
1 Article; 5,116 Posts
you are correct. this "your license is at risk" thing is grossly overused, not just in this context but in many others.
our state nurses association publishes the lists of license revocations and conditions periodically. they are for (generally) having committed fraud, narcotics diversion, theft or other felony, appearing at work under the influence, and the like. "******* off the staffing coordinator" and "quitting on short notice" are not on the list.
Morainey, BSN, RN
831 Posts
Sounds like BS.
Asystole RN
2,352 Posts
As a professional registered nurse you really need to read you Nurse Practice Act (NPA), you state's board of nursing website, scope of practice, and your state's board of nursing advisory opinions....in full. If you had, I am sure you would have known the answer to this already.
For example, here is my state's advisory opinion on patient abandonment
Arizona State Board of Nursing 4747 North 7th Street, Suite 200 Phoenix, AZ 85014-3655 Phone (602) 889-5150 Fax - (602) 889-5155 E-Mail: [email protected] Home Page: http://www.azbn.gov N:\ADVISORY ADVISORY OPINION ABANDONMENT OF PATIENTS STATEMENT OF SCOPE Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) are required to provide reasonable notice to the supervisor for the continuity of patients care, rather than terminate the relationship without notification, which is defined as abandonment. The following requirements constitute patient abandonment: I. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS A. The nurse must have first ACCEPTED the patient assignment, thus establishing a nurse-patient relationship. Accepting a patient assignment varies from setting to setting and requires a clear understanding of workload and agreement to provide care, AND then B. DISENGAGED the nurse-patient relationship without giving reasonable notice and report to the qualified person (supervisor, nurse, etc.) so that others can make arrangements for continuation of nursing care. C. Examples of patient abandonment include, but are not limited to: i. Leaving without giving the supervisor or qualified person adequate notice ii. Leaving without giving report to a qualified person iii. Accepting an assignment of patient care and then leaving the nursing unit or patient care setting without notifying the qualified person D. Situations NOT considered to be patient abandonment, but are examples of employer- employee or contract issues of which the Board has no jurisdiction (salary, work conditions, hiring and termination policies): 1. No call/no show for work 2. Refusal to accept an assignment or a nurse-patient relationship 3. Refusal to work mandatory overtime 4. Refusal to work additional hours or shifts 5. Ending the employer-employee relationship without providing the employer with a period of time to obtain replacement staff for that specific position 6. Refusal to work in an unfamiliar, specialized, or "high tech" area when there has been no orientation, no educational preparation or employment experience 7. Resigning from a position and not fulfilling the remaining posted work schedule 8. Refusal to "float" to an unfamiliar unit to accept a full patient assignment II. RATIONALE To provide the nursing community with guidelines to clarify those circumstances which may be characterized as patient-abandonment. III. REFERENCES California Board of Nursing, (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.rn.ca.gov/practice/rns/htm Kentucky Board of Nursing. (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.kbn.ky.gov/practice/aos.htm Maryland Board of Nursing. (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.mbon.org/main.php?v=norm&p=0&c=practice/decregs.htl Texas Board of Nursing. (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.bne.state.tx.us/practice/gen_practice.html#Scope_of_Practice
Arizona State Board of Nursing
4747 North 7th Street, Suite 200 Phoenix,
AZ 85014-3655
Phone (602) 889-5150
Fax - (602) 889-5155
E-Mail: [email protected]
Home Page: http://www.azbn.gov N:\ADVISORY
ADVISORY OPINION
ABANDONMENT OF PATIENTS
STATEMENT OF SCOPE
Registered Nurses (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) are required to provide reasonable notice to the supervisor for the continuity of patients care, rather than terminate the relationship without notification, which is defined as abandonment. The following requirements constitute patient abandonment:
I. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
A. The nurse must have first ACCEPTED the patient assignment, thus establishing a nurse-patient relationship. Accepting a patient assignment varies from setting to setting and requires a clear understanding of workload and agreement to provide care, AND then
B. DISENGAGED the nurse-patient relationship without giving reasonable notice and report to the qualified person (supervisor, nurse, etc.) so that others can make arrangements for continuation of nursing care.
C. Examples of patient abandonment include, but are not limited to:
i. Leaving without giving the supervisor or qualified person adequate notice
ii. Leaving without giving report to a qualified person
iii. Accepting an assignment of patient care and then leaving the nursing unit or patient care setting without notifying the qualified person
D. Situations NOT considered to be patient abandonment, but are examples of employer- employee or contract issues of which the Board has no jurisdiction (salary, work conditions, hiring and termination policies):
1. No call/no show for work
2. Refusal to accept an assignment or a nurse-patient relationship
3. Refusal to work mandatory overtime
4. Refusal to work additional hours or shifts
5. Ending the employer-employee relationship without providing the employer with a period of time to obtain replacement staff for that specific position
6. Refusal to work in an unfamiliar, specialized, or "high tech" area when there has been no orientation, no educational preparation or employment experience
7. Resigning from a position and not fulfilling the remaining posted work schedule
8. Refusal to "float" to an unfamiliar unit to accept a full patient assignment
II. RATIONALE
To provide the nursing community with guidelines to clarify those circumstances which may be characterized as patient-abandonment.
III. REFERENCES
California Board of Nursing, (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.rn.ca.gov/practice/rns/htm
Kentucky Board of Nursing. (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.kbn.ky.gov/practice/aos.htm
Maryland Board of Nursing. (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.mbon.org/main.php?v=norm&p=0&c=practice/decregs.htl
Texas Board of Nursing. (2009). Scope of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.bne.state.tx.us/practice/gen_practice.html#Scope_of_Practice
http://www.azbn.gov/documents/advisory_opinion/AO%20ABANDONMENT%20OF%20PATIENTS.pdf
xoemmylouox, ASN, RN
3,150 Posts
Nursing admin use this all of the time to scare you. Any place that is pathetic enough to use that is not a place you want to be anyway.. Cut your losses and move on to bigger and better things!
DanRN78
1 Post
Employers not individual nurses are responsible for continuity of nursing services. Abandonment occurs when a nurse prematurely severs the nurse patient relationship, like leaving the shift early. Don't worry.
Whispera, MSN, RN
3,458 Posts
Don't worry about being charged with abandonment, but you'll never get a job in the facility's system again, and maybe not from any other system in which your manager or co-workers (who were left covering your hours) have friends... People do talk, especially when they feel someone dumped on them...
calisss
Dec 31, 2014 by Whispera, MSN, RN
Further from the truth, I've resigned same day as my shift and have been working steadily since then. People may talk but talk is cheap.