Did you know that the BRN, the governing and licensing entity for nurses, investigates loads of nurses each year? ANYONE can make a complaint against you; It can be an unhappy patient or their family, a co-worker, a manager, your employer, or even an unhappy ex-partner.
What would you do if you were taking are of a very sick patient and they died, and then the patient’s family accused you of poor nursing care? or if you did everything that you could as a nurse and the doctor was not being helpful?
What if you worked with another nurse who was diverting narcotics and they asked you to co-sign?
What if your ex decided that you were not taking care of their child with appropriate standard of nursing when the child got injured and was under your care while in your home?
What if you were accused of a DUI or were found with illicit drugs in your possession?
What if you left your patient under the watchful eye of a family member and they fall?
What if you didn’t label your syringes and accidentally gave the wrong medication?
What if you are a camp nurse and a parent accused you of neglect because their child got sunburned?
Remember, ANY ONE can file a complaint against you as a nurse. The complaint may allege that you did something wrong. It is your responsibility to defend yourself.
DOCUMENTATION can be the difference between you being found at fault or not. Over documentation may also impact how you look as a nurse and it is not always positive. And NEVER document something that you did not do! In this day and age of computer charting, there are ways to cut and paste and shortcuts to populate your charting – always go over the information before you click enter because wrong charting is wrong charting. For example, if you have a new double amputee, you should not be charting that they walked 21-50 feet or that they have good pedal pulses. These mistakes can make you look bad and bring in question all of your other charting.
The BRN exists to protect the PUBLIC, NOT the nurse.
The incident does not have to be at the workplace. Because you are a licensed nurse, you are a nurse all the time and your actions outside of the workplace can affect your license. And it does not matter whether or not you did wrong, you should always get legal counsel and secure an attorney. Not just any attorney – an attorney who has experience fighting the BRN and can effectively defend your license.
Once a complaint is received by the BRN, I do not know their dismissal process if it is an absurd claim, but I do know that the complaint goes to a special investigator. A special investigator is assigned and then they will request all pertinent records as necessary (i.e. patient health records, Pyxis/Omnicell or other automated medication dispensing machine records, photographs, police reports, and employee personnel files) as well as interview any persons who may have information regarding the incident.
The investigator will do his/her due diligence and report on findings and prepare a Final Report. The investigator is NOT a nurse. If an investigator ever contacts you, which they will cold call you when you least expect it, DO NOT answer any questions. It is appropriate to say that you have the full intention of cooperating with any investigation and that you are in the process of securing legal counsel and that your attorney with contact the BRN to make arrangements for you to respond. And then ACTUALLY get an ATTORNEY! And follow through – this will not go away and not cooperating can also be held against you.
Once the Final Report is completed by the investigator, the report and all related evidence will be forwarded to an Expert Practice Consultant who is a nurse. That nurse should be qualified to work in the same situation as the nurse being investigated and she/he will review the entire case. After reviewing all materials, he/she will write their own report with their opinion. How do I know this? …I am a Expert Nurse Practice Consultant, CLICK HERE to read more about the job.
Did the nurse being investigated provide the Standard of Nursing Care? And if not, to what degree did they deviate? Was it Unprofessional Conduct? Negligence? Incompetence? The final reports are reviewed and the BRN may offer probation, punishment, or license suspension or revocation or no action. If the respondent does not agree to the terms, the case will go to hearing in front of a judge with attorneys on both sides and the expert practice consultant as a witness.
Now, back to professional malpractice insurance…this insurance may help pay for your expenses should you need to retain an attorney to defend yourself. Read the policy! Not all policies are created equal. Two insurance companies that come to mind are NSO (Nursing Service Organization) and CM&F.
Plans are about $100+/year and that’s not a lot for peace of mind. If one policy is not sufficient, consider getting two just to be covered! I am not an insurance representative and get absolutely nothing if you purchase coverage. I have seen first-hand how these investigations could affect a nurse (I’ll explain why in a different post). A defense attorney could cost in the ballpark of $200+/hr and if you are found to be at fault, the BRN could assess you with the cost of the investigation in addition to what you are already paying to defend yourself.
I am not trying to scare you, Be safe. Do the right thing. Protect your livelihood.