4,000+ Complaints in Ohio Nursing Board and Counting!!!

See the proposed FY 2008 Ohio Board of Nursing Report which will be considered by the Ohio Board of Nursing at the Board Meeting next week.

See http://www.nursing.ohio.gov/PDFS/NextMeeting/M2/2.2AnnualReportDraft2008.pdf.

See page 11 and 12.

The majority of the complaints involved NCLEX Applicants (915), followed by Practice (761), then Drugs/Alcohol (722). Even Advanced Practice Nurse Practice Issues (15)complaints increased with this fiscal year.

What does this say to you about the practice of professional nursing and the regulation of nursing practice?

Comments

[Jack Stem]

Latonia,

I attended the Ohio Board of Nursing in Thursday (Sept. 21) because they were scheduled to discuss the Alternative Program for nurses impaired by substance abuse and addiction. I left before the public Q&A because I was so angry and disgusted by the complete lack of understanding of what this program is designed to do to safeguard public safety while also getting the nurse into appropriate treatment facilities (facilities with experience in treating health care professionals with the disease of chemical dependence). I was afraid I would say something that would hurt our chances of educating board members on how the AANA and OSANA approach an impaired colleague. A couple of board members showed a complete lack of knowledge about the disease of addiction or how to deal with it when it rears it's ugly head. These members also seemed to think the alternative program and the Practice Intervention Improvement Program were one and the same!

Continuing to see addiction as a moral issue instead of a disease that can be treated successfully is inexcusable in health care professionals, many with masters and doctoral levels of education. With the astounding growth in knowledge gained through research over the last 2 decades, the continued ignorance and prejudice all addicts face is unprofessional, unethical, and immoral. If a nurse was impaired as a result of any other chronic, progressive, fatal (when untreated or treated late in the course of the disease), there would be no end to the help and support they would receive from their colleagues.

It is the mission of the AANA Peer Assistance Committee and the OSANA Peer Assistance Committee to provide education to nurses, hospitals, training programs, and the board of nursing in order to develop comprehensive policies and protocols to recognize the signs and symptoms in health care providers as early as possible in order to intervene and get the practitioner out of the clinical arena and into appropriate treatment before the disease progresses, a patient is harmed, or the nurse ends up incarcerated or dead.

The biggest obstacle we are facing is the board of nursing. After attending the board meeting, it's pretty clear they are taking a discipline approach instead of an interventional/medical treatment approach.

We have our work cut out for us, but we will continue to work on changing the way Ohio manages nurses who have impaired practice as a result of the disease of chemical dependence.

Jack Stem
Chair
Peer Assistance and Practitioner Wellness Committe
State Peer Advisor
OSANA
[email protected]
513-833-4584