Category: License Protection

There is little doubt these days that one of the most important questions on the minds of nurses is “if I am assigned a patient infected with the Ebola virus, can I refuse to take care of that patient?” The answer is “no!” I know how scary it can be to take care of a patient with a highly contagious […]

My new client, Katie, sits across from me because of a situation that happened at work and resulted in a complaint before the Nurse Licensing Board. She’s scared and crying. I can tell by talking to her that she is a very compassionate nurse and does a great job. Yet, she doesn’t understand why this is happening to her. Like […]

  If you’ve been asked to go into a peer assistance program or if you voluntarily choose to go into the program to protect your license, here some things you should know. First, you will need to sign a recovery monitoring agreement which basically is a contract that you are entering the program and agree to certain of its requirements. […]

Substance abuse is one of the most important issues in nursing because access is so easy. Even with Pyxis machines that distribute medications with a thumb print, there still are ways that a determined nurse can divert medication. According to the Indiana State Nurses Assistance Program [ISNAP]: Impaired nurses demonstrate mood swings and irritability. He/she may seem depressed for no […]

Lately I have been receiving a lot of calls from nurses who either had a criminal problem in their past and are afraid that they won’t be able to get their nursing license or have had a criminal matter after they had obtained their license. None of these nurses ever thought that they would have a criminal matter but somehow […]

I have heard from many nurses that where they are working is understaffed which is not safe for the patients. Those nurses put in a lot of overtime because they are concerned that if they didn’t, there would be fewer staff available to care for the patients. They also expressed concerns that if the facility is able to get staff […]

What would you do if your supervisor asked you to do something that you think may be questionable? Would you follow the order or would you question it? Let me give you some examples to consider: You work homecare and you never see your supervisor. She tells you to sign her name on your time card so you can get […]

Each year 7,000 nurses have some type of discipline placed on their license. My home State of Indiana has the highest number of nurses on probation. Other top contenders for that dubious title are Texas and Ohio. If you would like to see the discipline imposed in your State, check out the National Council of State Board of Nursing website […]

Your license is a privilege and not a right.  Just as your driver’s license can be suspended, so can your nursing license.  The Board needs only to provide you with reasonable notice which could mean the day before or even, and I have seen it, the morning of a hearing.  In the hearing the State must show that you are […]

Undoubtedly, you worked hard to obtain your nursing license. Depending on what type of nurse you are, you may have spent up to 6-8 years, and tens of thousands of dollars, obtaining the necessary education, training, and certifications to become a licensed, practicing nurse. And yet, one split-second mistake, bad decision, or momentary lapse of judgment could cause you to lose […]