An experienced skilled nurse attorney has helped nurses when it comes to cases that may lead toward disciplinary action. Unfortunately, not all nurses were able to hire a nurse attorney as they face such cases.
At the time of the initial incident, Respondent was employed as a Registered Nurse at a hospital in Pharr, Texas, and had been in that position for one (1) year and two (2) months.
On or about December 2, 2018, the RN incorrectly labeled another patient’s type and cross lab draws with a label for a Patient. There were multiple contributing systems factors including blood left in the patient’s room from a previous patient by a previous staff member, failure of Environmental Services to remove the previous patient’s blood from the room, and failure of the lab that received the blood from the RN to identify the double-labeled vial of blood with stickers from 2 separate patients. The patient was later transfused to the Intensive Care Unit, suffered a blood transfusion reaction, and died. An additional system contributing factor was the failure of the transfusion team which the RN was not on to timely identifies a transfusion reaction by the patient. The RN’s conduct may have contributed to the patient suffering a blood transfusion reaction.
After the incident, the RN reports she entered the patient’s room in the emergency department and encountered a very chaotic scene. Multiple patient family members were already in the room and had numerous personal belongings strewn about the counter, and multiple interdisciplinary departments were present to evaluate the patient. The RN reports she drew a “rainbow” of blood specimens (tubes with various colored tops), affixed the tubes with white patient labels, and placed them on the counter. The RN reports she checked the stickers against the patient using two patient identifiers and affixed the correct patient stickers to the tubes. The RN reports, unbeknownst to her, the providers for the previous patient had left behind a blood specimen for the previous patient in the room. The RN reports, as a result, the blood specimen stayed in the room for over 10.5 hours and was still in the room at the time a patient was admitted. The RN reports the blood tube of the previous patient ended up mixed in with a patient’s blood tubes on the counter amid the clutter and confusion. The RN reports this tube arrived at the lab with stickers for both patients, and that the lab failed to reject the double-labeled blood specimen. The RN submitted substantial additional mitigation including the following: 2 good nursing evaluations over the past 2+ years from her current employment at UTMB, | positive letter of reference from an APRN colleague at UTMB, accountability, remorse, and acceptance of responsibility for contributing to the patient’s harm. In addition, the RN has completed her BSN and her CEN. The RN has stated how the events in issue have resulted in her improvement in her nursing practice related to blood collections, level of care and caution, and her handling of doctor’s orders.
However, due to the lack of an experienced nurse attorney, the following incident and defense against the case caused the Texas Board of Nursing to place the RN and her license into disciplinary proceedings. She would have sought assistance from a good nurse attorney to provide clarifications towards the case.
If you’ve ever done any errors during your shift as an RN or LVN, and you wish to preserve your career and your license, an experienced nurse attorney is what you need. Nurse Attorney Yong J. An, an experienced nurse lawyer for various licensing cases for 14 years, can assist you by contacting him at (832) 428-5679.