I attended two of the three days of the Ohio Nursing Board meeting this week. I tell you, if you haven't attended a meeting of your State Nursing Board, you should. Its an eye opener to learn more about nursing regulation and see the business coming before the Board.
It was mentioned by Board Members and Staff during the meeting that the Ohio Board of Nursing will receive over 6,000 complaints this year. 6,000 complaints and we have 220,000 RNs and LPNs. If you didn't know there are two sides of me: the attorney who loves money and nurse who loves nurses and nursing. The attorney hears 6,000 complaints and does the "money shake" but the nurse in me hears 6,000 complaints and a feel a ping in my heart and wonder what can be done to lower this number.
Now you can look at this and say well its just a small percentage of nurses in the State. But last year there were over 3,500 complaints and when you start adding these complaints together over let's say a two or five year period, the number of the complaints vs. the number of licensees is significant!
Are we going to get to a point where a significant portion of nurses in the State of Ohio have been investigated or disciplined by the State Nursing Board in the next ten years? What's going on in Ohio? We are not Texas or California "large" as far as the size of the state. Why are more nurses being reported to the State Nursing Board in Ohio?
1. Are more employers just reporting to the Nursing Board? Don't get me started on at-will employment and how nurses in most healthcare facilities are flipped, turned, and terminated faster than a burning pancake.
2. Have nurses here just "gone wild" and its Nurses Gone Wild in Ohio? I haven't gone wild yet but I am thinking about it.
3. Is it because more individuals are pursuing a nursing career strictly because of the benjamins (money) and this is somehow connected to professionalism, misconduct, and State Nursing Board complaints? Is there a connection between the failure to socialize into the professional practice of nursing and State Nursing Board complaints? Is it all about the benjamins for nurses? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_All_About_the_Benjamins
4. Is it because nursing schools/colleges are pushing out graduates like a Ford Motor Car Assembly line and graduates are not prepared for the realities of nursing practice?
5. Is it because more nurses are entering the profession with criminal backgrounds and this is driving State Nursing Board complaints?
6. Is it because more nurses are impaired (physical, mental, or chemical)?
7. Are nurses being blamed for mistakes in healthcare, termed, and reported to the State Nursing Board? Even when its a systems issue, I see cases where the nurse is on the chopping block.
8. What do you think?
I don't buy the argument that a small percentage of any profession will always be disciplined. That's baby boomer thinking. What can be done in the future for nurses as a profession to appreciate the professional, legal, and self-regulation components of nursing practice? I am working on one of many plans to address to this that will help the profession and satisfy the nurse and the attorney in me.
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