Category: License Protection

  As nurses, we have all had those moments when something just did not feel right. The medication did not look like what we usually give. The patient’s condition did not match the diagnosis. The lab result seemed completely inconsistent with everything else we were seeing. Maybe an order made us stop and think, “Wait a minute. Is this really […]

Something happens at work. You are terminated. You are convicted of a crime. Another state takes disciplinary action against your nursing license. Then comes the question that can make even the most seasoned nurse’s heart rate jump: Do I have to report this to the Board of Nursing? The answer is not always yes. One of the biggest mistakes nurses […]

Welcome back to Part 2 of our nursing myth-busting series. As nurses, we learn an incredible amount in nursing school, orientation, continuing education, and years of clinical practice. But we also learn from each other. Unfortunately, sometimes the “rules” passed around the nurses’ station are not rules at all. They are nursing urban legends. And when your license is on […]

“You haven’t taken report yet, so you can leave.” “The doctor ordered it, so you’re covered.” “If you documented it, you’re protected.” Have you ever heard one of these statements at the nurses’ station? Nursing has its own version of urban legends. They get passed from nurse to nurse, shift to shift, and sometimes generation to generation. Eventually, we hear […]

There is something wonderful about a lazy river. You get in, grab a tube, lean back, and let the current carry you. You do not have to decide where you are going. You do not have to work very hard. You just float. And before you know it, you are right back where you started. I think that is what […]

The Lindsay Clancy tragedy is one of those stories that is almost impossible to comprehend. Three beautiful children, Cora, Dawson and Callan, lost their lives. Their mother, a labor and delivery nurse, had been struggling with serious mental health symptoms and had repeatedly sought help before that terrible day. Nothing can diminish the magnitude of what happened or the heartbreaking […]

  One of the most important lessons nurses can take from the Lindsay Clancy case is the extraordinary importance of documentation. As nurses, we sometimes think of documentation as the part of the job that comes after the “real” nursing is finished. But documentation is part of patient care. The medical record may eventually become the only way someone who was not […]

  The American Nurses Association (ANA) recently made a historic decision to open its national membership to licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and licensed vocational nurses (LVNs). For the first time in its 130-year history, LPNs will be eligible to join the nation’s largest nursing organization. According to the ANA, the goal is to create a more unified nursing profession and […]

  Many nurses believe that what they post on their personal social media accounts is protected by free speech. While the First Amendment protects people from government censorship in many circumstances, it does not protect most nurses from the employment consequences of what they choose to post online. If you are employed by a private hospital, healthcare system, or clinic, […]

  For the past several months, nurses across the country have been asking the same question: “How can nursing not be considered a profession?” That question sparked outrage after the U.S. Department of Education issued a rule that would have excluded graduate nursing degrees from the definition of a “professional degree” for federal student loan purposes. The consequences were significant. […]