Why are you scared?

Specialties Geriatric

Published

I hear nurses that have been in LTC say that they are afraid to lose their license.

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Specializes in Pediatric.

One reason: sometimes you're just so BUSY it's easy to forget what you're forgetting to do.

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It is impossible (in most facilities) to get all the work done in the appropriate time frames at the appropriate level of quality, sans short cuts and "creative" charting.

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Specializes in Dialysis.

I've never seen anyone in ltc lose their license. Now in local hospital, someone did for gross negligence

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Specializes in LTC.

The only time I've heard of anyone losing their license is d/t diverting narcotics/drug abuse. Even then, in most cases they've had to register with the state and comply with the monitoring program. If they fail to comply then yes, their license is suspended.

I have seen some horrendous nursing errors resulting in actual harm, including death, and somehow those nurses maintained their license. (and job!)

Most of the people that I've seen worrying about losing their license seem to be new nurses and new to LTC nurses. Once they realize that they'd actually have to TRY to lose their license they tend to settle down about that.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I hear nurses that have been in LTC say that they are afraid to lose their license.
Many of the people who repeatedly chant, "I am afraid to lose my license" seem to have only a truncated notion of what it takes to actually lose a nursing license.

In the area where I live, revocation of licensure usually occurs as a result of narcotic theft, diversion, impaired practice, or failure to satisfactorily fulfill the terms of an intervention program for nurses (IPN). All of the LTC nurses I personally know who have lost their licenses had problems with addiction, theft of drugs, or impaired practice.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

It takes a lot more than being overworked to the point of taking shortcuts to lose your license. I'd guess that 99% of nurses that lose their license do so because of narcotic diversion. Occasionally I hear of a nurse losing their license because of a conviction for violent crime or theft. Of course proven violation of residents rights can cause a nurse to lose their license, though I must admit I've never heard of any particular cases where this happened.

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