The role of a nurse is very essential in inpatient care. A patient’s recovery with long-term health outcomes is implicated by the quality of care that nurses give to their patients. Although they give such quality care, a lot of factors hinder nurses in giving such care. Sometimes nurses make mistakes in providing patient care and can be counted as a violation of the Nursing Practice Act or to any related rules and regulations of nursing. If you are an RN and such a situation happens, always remember that a nurse attorney can help.
At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an RN at a hospital in Pharr, Texas, and had been in that position for eight (8) months.
On or about December 8, 2020, through April 6, 2021, while employed as an RN at a hospital in Pharr, Texas, RN failed to complete and/or document a complex nursing assessment, to include vital signs, for four (4) different patients. RN’s conduct resulted in inaccurate medical records and was likely to injure patients from possibly undetected changes in condition and from subsequent care givers not having complete information on which to base their care decisions.
In response, RN states that a follow up pain assessment score was documented, but the LOC or POSS score was not documented for Patient A. RN explains that the flow sheet being used to document follow up did not require this information to complete the chart, and she did not know at the time this was a required field. Regarding Patient B, RN states that she documented a pre and post pain assessment but did not complete a full head to toe assessment. Regarding Patient C and Patient D, RN states that she followed up on documentation with a new admit but did not review daily charting for other patients. RN explains that due to the unit becoming a COVID unit, there were no written instructions for vital signs, written policy for patient care, and no set standards.
The above action constitutes grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(10)&(13), Texas Occupations Code, and is a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(D)&(3)(A) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12 (1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C)&(4).
A case was ultimately filed against her before the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). The said allegation was fatal to the RN’s capability to perform the essential functions and duties. Sad to say, the nursing defense attorney who handled her case was not able to properly defend her interests and rights before the Board. The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) found her guilty of the offense alleged in the complaint and decided to place her RN license under disciplinary action.
If you also received a letter from the Texas Board of Nursing regarding a case or complaint filed against you, you should hire a nurse attorney immediately before it’s too late. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is one of those dedicated nurse attorneys who helped represent more than 300 nurse cases for the past 16 years. You may contact him 24/7 at (832) 428-5679 for more information or if you want to schedule a private consultation.