My 2 Cents

Ohio Litigation Involving a Student Nurse and a Nursing School

See http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/docs/pdf/2/2008/2008-ohio-993.pdf.

The case is Potter v. RETS Tech Center Co., Inc., 2008-Ohio-993.

Kentucky Nurse-Publication by the Kentucky Nurses Association

The Kentucky Nurses Association is offering a new workplace advocacy benefit for Kentucky Nurses Association members. KNA members in need of legal consultations and/or representation, counseling, and advising receive a discount with my law firm. Its mentioned in the April-June 2008, Vol. 56, No.2 edition of the Kentucky Nurse. See http://www.nursingald.com/uploads/newsletters/KY062008.pdf.

If you follow this blog, you know that I am a due paying and card carrying member of the American Nurses Association and Ohio Nurses Association. I strongly urge all nurses to support national, specialty, and state nurses associations because these groups advocate for YOU.

For additional information about the Kentucky Nurses Association see, http://www.kentucky-nurses.org. 

Women's Studies and the Struggle to Find the Voice of Nursing

This year's National Women's Studies Association Annual Conference will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Duke Energy Convention Center and the Millennium Hotel, June 19-22.

The conference will engage feminists from across the country in panels, workshops, guided tours, letcutres and performance art presentations.

For additional information see http://www.nwsa.org/myconference/.

I gave $100.00 to the Friends of Women's Studies this year to support the J.D. and M.S. in Women's Studies joint degree program at the University of Cincinnati.

Now if I could do it all over again, I would have obtain a MSN in community health and JD or enroll in the JD and MS in Women's Studies joint degree program at UC.  See http://www.artsci.uc.edu/womens_studies.

I assumed I would work in a large firm for my law career; fast forward 11 years later and I have my own law practice defending nurses; the majority of my clients, like the nursing profession, are women.

I was asked to sit on the Board of the Friends of Women's Studies program at the University of Cincinnati; I am giving it serious consideration because it fits into the big picture of how I see myself as a RN, attorney, and mother and my current path.

My current career path is licensure defense and I enjoy licensure defense but it hurts. It hurts me personally to see so many of us wounded personally, emotionally, and professionally by licensure investigations and Board action. I spoke with a nurse today who has faced licensure actions in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana and I could hear the frustration and pain in her voice.

A history of women struggles in the United States could in my opinion begin and end with an account of the past, present, and future of nursing and the inherent struggles and issues in nursing, a female-dominated profession. If you haven't already read, Nursing, Physician Control, and the Medical Monopoly: Historical Perspectives on the Gender Inequality in Roles, Rights, and Range of Practice by Thetis M. Group and Joan I. Roberts. 

Female dominated professions and work environments in your opinion have what factors and traits in common? What are the benefits of being a member of and practicing in a male dominated profession and work environment?

As a profession, are we eating our "young and old" in nursing workplaces, nursing educational settings, and at the state regulatory level with state nursing boards?

Guidelines for Managers Working with Impaired Nurses

This publication was developed by the Ohio Nurses Association and should be available soon on the ONA website at www.ohnurses.org and www.CE4nurses.org. The publication was developed by the Ohio Nurses Foundation's Peer Assistance Program for Nurses.

I am planning to purchase the publication. If you purchase the publication and would like to write an informal review and agree to have it posted on this blog, email me.

Disciplinary Investigations & Adjudications in Indiana

In Indiana, the Medical Licensing Section of the Office of the Attorney
General (OAG) investigates complaints against licensed health professionals including nurses to to determine whether a violation
of a licensing statute or regulation has occurred.

For additional information about the process, see page 12 of the March 2008 Nursing Focus, the Indiana BON's newsletter. See http://www.in.gov/pla/files/March2008.pdf.

The disciplinary investigation and adjudicative process and procedures vary from state to state. However there are several constants:

1. Its an adverserial process;

2. The role of the State is always public protection;

3. The role of the State is not to advocate for the best interest of its licensees; and

4. State employees (investigators, analysts, attorneys, reviewers, etc.) cannot provide you with legal representation or give you legal advice;

5. You have a right to due process in the investigative and adjudicative proceedings which includes the right to retain an attorney to defend you, notification of the allegations against you, and to a fair hearing.

Indiana State Nurses Assistance Program (ISNAP)

An article about ISNAP, the alternative program for nurses with chemical dependency issues in Indiana appears in the March 2008, Nursing Focus. Nursing Focus is the IN BON's newsletter. See page 6. http://www.in.gov/pla/files/March2008.pdf.

Don't Purchase Professional Liability Insurance; Just Find a New Employer

This appears in the March 2008 edition of the Nursing Focus, a publication of Indiana Board of Nursing.

See http://www.in.gov/pla/files/March2008.pdf.

Dear Nurse Attorney,

I am a LPN in a long-term care facility. Should I carry my
own insurance? – Uninsured LPN

Dear Uninsured LPN,

If the long-term care facility has insurance, then you will
be covered under that policy. In the state of Indiana, longterm
care facilities are not required to carry insurance.
Therefore, I would check with the facility to see if the facility
carries its own insurance. However, by having your
own insurance, it entitles you to your own attorney. Many
of the policies available for nurses do not come into effect
until the facility’s policy has been exhausted. If you have
concerns over the care rendered in your facility, rather
than risk a malpractice action and putting your license at
risk, seek employment elsewhere.

Lorie A. Brown, R.N., M.D., J.D.

*******************************************************

Lorie Brown is a Indiana licensed nurse attorney and the views expressed in the Indiana Board of Nursing Nursing Focus are of course her opinion.

In my opinion all nurses should consider purchasing their own individual professional liability insurance policy. The risks you face in nursing practice won't disappear when you seek employment elsewhere; there are inherent risks associated with the practice of nursing. The potential for liability exists because of nursing accountability and this won't change with your employment setting.

A professional liability insurance policy provides you with protection in the event you are named as a defendant in certain cases AND in the event a complaint is filed against your license with a Nursing Board or another regulatory agency (depending on the policy).

There is an excellent article about professional liability insurance in the Feb/March/April 08 publication of the Ohio Nurse, a publication of the Ohio Nurses Foundation. See http://www.in.gov/pla/files/March2008.pdf. Scroll down to the Ohio Nurses Association and click on the publication.

No Such Title as a Graduate Nurse in Indiana

I am not too far off in left field with this blog.

The President of the Indiana Board of Nursing, Carolyn Slagle in her President's Message appearing in the March 2008 edition of the Indiana Board of Nursing newsletter, Nursing Focus, discusses the history of the graduate nurse and nurse extern in Indiana. See page 4 at http://www.in.gov/pla/files/March2008.pdf.

This title no longer exists and I posted about this here in 2007. I had a nursing student client who worked at a hospital in Indiana as a graduate nurse. Imagine that? When I graduated from nursing school in 1993 with my ASN, I worked as a graduate nurse at Decatur County Memorial Hospital in Decatur, Indiana.

As discussed in the President's Address, there is no longer a need for a graduate nurse or nurse extern role in the licensing scheme with the computerized NCLEX testing. Licenses are issued in a matter of weeks as opposed to months when I took the written exam. I believe we were the last class to take the written and paper exam. I guess I am dating myself now.

See my initial post at http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/441771/22570314

Recognizing an Learning Need and Acting Upon It

See http://wbjournal.com/j/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3638&Itemid=139.

A very practical manual for nurses who work in cysto rooms and assist with urological procedures. It is entitled “Cysto Room Survival Manual: Guidelines for Urologic Endoscopy.” All the proceeds of the book go back to the Society of Urological and Associates. See http://www.suna.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/SUNAMain

Is there a similiar manual available in your practice area? Should a manual be available in your practice area? What about a pocket size manual for nurses in your organization? For your specific unit on the most common patient populations and medication given?