Happy Nurses Week

Happy Nurses Week.

I always liked the recognition when I was working and the food and little give-aways were nice, however, what I really liked was when a patient and/or family recognized the care being given to them. I don't mean gifts or cards or even verbal thank-yous, but that feeling you get when you know that someone else recognizes that you are not just there doing a job, earning money, but that you really care about what happens to them and that no matter what the outcome, you worked as hard as possible to make a difference. Sometimes the recognition was a look, a smile, a hug and maybe it was verbal.

So, here is a written thank you to all the nurses out there...THANK YOU FOR DECIDING TO BECOME A NURSE AND FOR STEPPING FORWARD TO CARE FOR ALL THAT DESPERATELY NEED YOU!!!!!

Another Nurse Bites the Dust

I just spoke with a nurse who is taking steps to stop nursing. This is a nurse who properly cared for a patient and documented his care throughly. His level of care was excellent and he constantly watched the patient and intervened appropriately. But, the patient was transferred to acute care three days later and the BON is looking at every nurse involved. We explained the level of care that this wonderful nurse provided and the BON is still stating that SOMEHOW he did not follow policy and procedure and that what he did three days prior contributed to the patient's transfer and ultimate demise.

Understandably, the nurse is frustrated and worried. He is looking at other occupations because he can't believe that his care of the patient is being scrutinized. So, once again, we will loose a qualified, skilled nurse due to the unfairness and unreasonableness.

So much for protecting the public.

Don't Miss This!!!!

At this week's Board meeting, the Board is presenting its proposed Disciplinary Sanctions for various violations. You must read this while understanding that these sanctions may be imposed on you in the future. Do not dismiss this because "I am a good nurse. I will never get in trouble with the Board." Many of my clients fell into this group; they are very good nurses that either made an error or found themselves subject to a violation because of actions outside of their control. I find some of these propositions troubling because the least intrusive of the sanctions are still heavy handed and do not allow for dismissal. Please review this immediately and be ready to comment when the proposed matrix is published.

How does this help the public?

I have been receiving several phone calls regarding Office of Inspector General letters informing nurses that they may be excluded from the Medicare/Medicaid program. I discuss this on my Information for Nurses blog, but I wanted to address the underlying issue of the over intrusive government (both state and federal). When the OIG first began the exclusion, it was for providers that defrauded the government and the exclusion would seem to be warranted, but the exclusions have exploded.

Now, when we are in the middle of a HUGE nursing shortage, nurses are facing exclusion for a large variety of reasons that have nothing to do with fraud. This is nothing more that yet one more governmental entity getting a bite of the nurse when an issue arises. How many entities does one nurse have to face over one issue?

It is an election year, encourage your state and federal legislators to stop this overreaching. They are harming the public, not helping. We do not need more governmental control, we need less. Administrative Lawyers, such as myself, know that an agency/regulatory entity is only as good as the people working there and even then, they could be hindered by policies or supervisors.

Another burden for Disciplined Nurses

Every nurse used to be worried about their name showing up in the Board's newsletter. That worry is still present, but now there is an additional burden for the disciplined nurse to endure; their Agreed Orders are available online for all to review. No more just seeing numbers and wondering what the nurse did, but now the facts are available for review.

My hope is that there will be positive outcomes from this additional information. I hope that nurses will recognize how vulnerable they are while practicing and become more involved in advocacy for nurses to limit disciplinary actions against nurses for minor violations. I also hope that nurses will realize that another nurse that has been disciplined by the Board is not a "bad" nurse and that after reviewing the facts, they realized that they have also been in the same situation and that only luck prevented them from ending up with disciplinary action. Just a note - I am not saying that there should not be regulation because there are often valid reasons to discipline licensees; my concern has always been a just review of the facts of the case and if the FACTS show a valid concern for the public's safety, then the application of appropriate discipline to protect the public.

My hope is always that nurses band together to provide a united front against those that are a danger to the nursing profession. Too many nurses are leaving nursing because of unjust actions and non-support from their fellow nurses. Nursing is a grand profession and nurses deserve respect from everyone including fellow nurses.