This has been a long week or it seems long anyway.
I spoke with a nurse this week who is having licensure issues with a nursing board. The nurse is upset because of the proposed discipline against her license offered by the state nursing board to resolve a pending complaint.
1. The nurse insisted that she was tricked by the State Nursing Board and never told she could retain an attorney during the investigation. She didn't know there were attorneys who represent nurses before the Nursing Board. She feels victimized and cheated.
Comment: Nurses are educated professionals. As a professional don't depend on anyone to inform you of what your rights are in a particular investigation whether its internally in the workplace, criminal, licensure, etc.
Its your license, do some initial research into your options. Trust your instincts; if your gut is saying "hey I am not comfortable" or "I need to speak with someone" get online, contact your state nurses association, or contact an attorney.
You worked hard for your education and license; work just as hard to keep it! We have to stop playing the victim role, meaning here that we blindly assume and trust that "everyone" whether its nursing management, human resources, law enforcement, regulatory agent, Board investigator, etc. has our "best interest" at heart. Its your job to have your own best interests at heart at all times. Then when things don't go as planned we can say "I didn't know" "no one told me" "how would I know".
Why do we as nurses like to play the victim role?
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