It takes a long time to become a nurse; two to four years in most cases. Because of this, losing your nursing license is a catastrophe. All that time and expense wasted.
Unfortunately, nurses can lose their licenses for several reasons. Most of these involve one form of professional misconduct or another.
This article explains the most common reasons for nurse license revocation. Then, we explore the various legal pitfalls medical professionals face and how you can prevent license loss as a nurse in the future. By the end, you should know how nurses lose their licenses and how easily it can happen.
Understanding Nurse License Suspension
Nurse license suspensions are serious. Once revocation takes place, you can no longer practice or earn an income.
Some suspensions are temporary. The TBON usually applies these when they believe you are a threat to public safety, pending a hearing. However, they can last longer. A disciplinary suspension occurs when the board confirms wrongdoing or a breach of trust. Members set the revocation length based on the severity of the wrongdoing, with some bans being permanent.
The consequences of nursing license suspension can be painful. You may lose the right to work in your chosen area of employment and find it harder to get work elsewhere (particularly in the medical field). You could also go through financial hardship. You may lose your house and other assets if you don’t have savings (perhaps because you’re beginning your career).
However, the most consequential concern is usually reputational damage. Once people believe you are a wrongdoer, it can be hard to progress in a trust-based field like medicine.
Common Reasons for Nurse License Revocation
Here are some of the most common reasons nurses can lose their licenses:
1. Professional Misconduct
Professional misconduct is the most common reason for license loss. It includes things like being intoxicated on the job, treating patients with contempt, violating patient boundaries (like sending them gifts), and misbehaving at work.
2. Practicing Beyond Your License
Officials may also strike you off the nursing register and revoke your license if you perform treatments beyond your training. For example, nurses shouldn’t perform advanced practices without the proper apprenticeships.
3. Violating Data Protection
HIPPA-related violations are another reason nurses lose their licenses. Failing to protect patient information is a serious offense.
4. Stealing Medicine
Stealing medicine often leads to quick way license loss. Taking addictive drugs for yourself or someone else is against the rules.
5. Failing to Complete Educational Requirements
Lack of education is another reason nurses get struck off. Avoiding minimum “top-up” requirements could force administrators to suspend your license.
6. Making Mistakes In Patient Care
Finally, nurses can lose their licenses for making mistakes in patient care. Errors can include leaving out vital information patients need to ensure continued care quality and prescribing unnecessary medication.
Legal Pitfalls for Nurses
The legal pitfalls for nurses operating in the U.S. (including the state of Texas) are considerable. Again, many of these can lead to loss of license and sometimes more severe penalties.
The main pitfalls include:
- Practicing without a valid license. Any nurse operating in Texas must hold a valid license from the Texas Board of Nursing (BON).
- Performing work outside of licensing scope. Nurses must remain in their lanes when providing treatment. RNs, LPNs, VNs, and PNs should only perform medical tasks and procedures covered by their training.
- Patient confidentiality issues. Nurses must also uphold patient confidentiality, ensuring they follow the rules regarding patients’ protected health information (PHI).
- Documentation errors. Nurses must complete documentation to a high standard to guarantee patient care. Inaccuracies could invite legal action if it later turns out they were the cause of patient harm.
- Nurses must avoid being violent to patients or other members of staff.
Preventing License Loss as a Nurse
Fortunately, diligent nurses are unlikely to lose their licenses. Abiding by a few simple practices can reduce the risk substantially.
Here’s what to do:
Always Behave Ethically
Don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want a supervisor to see. Always behave ethically and act in the interest of patients.
If unsure whether an action is ethical, talk to a supervisor. Experienced colleagues can direct you on most matters involving patients, procedures, and protocols.
Keep Documentation
Ensure you maintain sufficient documentation for every patient you treat. Write down everything that happens in detail so you can rely on it later if anyone raises questions or concerns.
While it might be time-consuming, consider keeping personal records of events. The more copies you have of what happened, the more likely you are to avoid misconduct allegations.
Be Honest
Don’t try to conceal the truth. If something’s gone wrong, be honest. It is better to be upfront about what’s happened than for an investigation to discover you are lying later on. Even if you didn’t do anything that might get your license revoked, it could still affect your reputation.
Be Sensitive
Be careful of letting your personality shine too much. Remain as neutral as you can and reflect your health institution’s culture. If you know malpractice is occurring, become a whistleblower and seek a higher authority to stamp it out.
Don't Drink Before A Shift
Never go to work drunk. If you make a mistake, law enforcement may charge you with criminal negligence. You are taking care of patients’ lives, so you need to be at your best every day.
Remain Within Your Lane
Don’t move outside of your scope of practice, no matter how tempting it might be. While you might know more advanced procedures, patients may sue if you get them wrong.
Stay within your scope of practice by studying what you can and can’t do. If you don’t know a procedure, don’t improvise – ask for help.
Wrapping Up
Unfortunately, 1% of nurses lose their licenses every year. However, you can avoid this fate by following the simple tips outlined in this guide. Stay within your lane and never act unethically or dishonestly while working.
In addition, if you have lost or are in danger of losing your nursing licens, our team of experienced nurse defense attorneys can help you. Texas Nursing Lawyers have over 45 years of combined experience helping nursing professionals keep their licenses and stay in the career they care so deeply about. Get in contact with us today to schedule a consultation.