Losing your license may greatly affect your future career, but only if you failed to hire a skilled nurse attorney for the case. There are some RNs and LVNs who missed their chances to get their license saved from disciplinary actions or worse revocation just because they couldn’t hire any nurse attorney to defend them. Unfortunately, this RN from Frisco, Texas happens to be one of them.
At the time of the initial incident, he was employed as an RN with a home health care agency in Frisco, Texas, and had been in that position for ten (10) years and six (6) months.
On or about June 28, 2020, while employed as an RN with a home health care agency providing Private Duty Nursing (PDN) care to pediatric patients in Frisco, Texas, RN inappropriately accepted an assignment to care for a patient when he lacked the training and documented demonstration of competency to safely care for the aforementioned patient, who had complex nursing care needs and was high acuity. The patient required highly skilled complex nursing care including: frequent tracheal suctioning to maintain his tracheostomy airway, monitoring and responding to ventilator alarms due to ventilator dependency, monitoring and reporting oxygen saturations, administration of continuous enteral tube feedings via the gastrostomy jejunostomy (GJ) tube, site care of the GJ tube, monitoring of the IV peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line, PICC site and PICC site dressing changes, and administration of intravenous (IV) total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and lipids. In addition, RN failed to obtain instruction and supervision as needed for encountering unfamiliar patient care situations. RN’s conduct exposed the patient to the risk of harm from care provided without the benefit of knowledge and expertise from the appropriate licensed personnel.
In response, RN states that his nursing training, skills and experiences acquired while working with trach patients in his prior employment in addition to the orientation and hands-on training received, various seminars provided at Miracle Hands, and care of other pedi-trach patients adequately prepared him for this assignment. RN indicates he also attended a pre-discharge meeting along with other staff from the health care agency and received instructions on the Plan of Care (POC), the patient’s home care needs prior to accepting the assignment on June 29th RN explains that he also arrived 95 minutes early to her shift and met with admitting nurse and the respiratory tech who were there getting the patient situated upon hospital discharge. RN adds that he used this time to get oriented to the home and familiarize himself with the patient and the POC. RN states he wouldn’t have accepted the assignment if he believed he couldn’t adequately and completely care for the child.
The above actions constitute 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)(C),(1)(D),(1)(M),(1)(T)&(2)(A) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(E)&(4).
The evidence against the RN was strong. At the same time, he was not able to properly defend his case in court. As a result, his nursing license was placed under disciplinary action.
Avoid the similar thing from happening on your end. Make sure to find the right defense attorney in case a complaint will be filed against you before the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). For more details or for a confidential consultation regarding accusations, it’s best to contact an experienced Texas nurse attorney. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is an experienced nurse attorney who represented more than 300 nurse cases for RNs and LVNs for the past 16 years. You can call him at (832) 428-5679 to get started or to inquire for more information regarding nursing license case defenses.