Staffing agency nurses serving in Alaska play a vital role in the state's small, hardy, and far-flung population. Nursing anywhere is a critical and humanitarian mission. Staffing agency nursing in Alaska is even more so. Kudos to you for your Alaska staffing agency nursing employment, commitment, and career. Your agency nursing should also be rewarding to you, secured by Alaska's reasonable-sized population centers in and around Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Badger, Knik-Fairview, College, North Lakes, and other locations. Alaska staffing agency nursing also offers you substantial employment opportunities with staffing agencies All Medical Personnel, Medical Staffing Network, TrueCare 24, Health Carousel, Favorite Healthcare Staffing, Wilderness Medical Staffing, and Integrity Medical Staffing, among others. For these and many other reasons, you should be ensuring that your Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges do not impede or destroy your Alaska staffing agency nursing practice. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now to retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team. Let us help you protect and preserve your valuable and laudable Alaska staffing agency nursing.
Alaska Staffing Agency Nurse Investment
If you face Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges, then you're probably already taking stock of all that you've invested in your Alaska staffing agency nursing employment and career. You are probably already thinking of the tuition, time, and effort you invested in your nursing education, the time, expense, and effort you invested in qualifying for, studying for, and passing the NCLEX, and the further time and cost you invested in the Alaska Board of Nursing's licensing process. When you think further about the investments that Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges threaten, you might also take stock of the staffing agency employment you won, the confidence your skilled staffing agency nursing earned you, and facility and patient relationships, reputation, and network you have developed. These assets all took considerable investment on your part, investments that are presently returning you considerable value. Get our help so that Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges do not ruin your investment.
Alaska Staffing Agency Nurse Employment Benefits
Your Alaska staffing agency employment is indeed likely returning you substantial value, rewards that you now, unfortunately, need to protect against Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. But the unfortunate event of those misconduct allegations and disciplinary charges don't make it any less wise to protect your investment. On the contrary, you should redouble your commitment to beating the disciplinary charges, considering the value of your staffing agency nursing. Your staffing agency employment likely provides you and perhaps also your family with a rewarding, stable, and secure income, health insurance, and other employment benefits. You are also learning, growing, deepening your skills, and broadening your professional network the longer you remain in nursing practice. Your agency work also lets you move around, finding the work most meaningful and rewarding to you, with supervisors and co-workers you respect, and patients whose lives you value. Your staffing agency nursing is also likely a good match for your ambitions, values, and commitments, insofar as you have dedicated your career to it. Congratulations on all you've earned. Now, protect it with our disciplinary defense.
Alaska Staffing Agency Facility Challenges
If your Alaska staffing agency work is at an assigned facility, though, your assignment probably isn't a bed of roses. Staffing agency nurses can find themselves at a disadvantage relative to nurses and other healthcare workers whom the hospital, nursing home, assisted living center, or other facility employs directly. As a so-called temp worker, you may not get the respect that direct employees receive from the facility's director, manager, physician, nurse supervisor, and even colleagues, aides, patients, and their family members. When the issue turns to alleged nursing incompetence or misconduct, you may find that the facility community makes you the scapegoat for the deficiencies of the facility's systems or other workers. Some of those different treatments are natural. The facility may invest heavily in its permanent employees. But that different treatment can also be highly unfair and even damaging to your disciplinary defense, when the facility denies you access to conciliation and grievance procedures, and fails to stand in your corner to provide you with any degree of defense. Get our help to address your facility issues so that the facility's response or non-response does not complicate and worsen your disciplinary charges.
Alaska Nurse Staffing Agency Challenges
Your own Alaska staffing agency can also present you with challenges when you face misconduct allegations and potential or formal disciplinary charges. Your staffing agency obviously has an important relationship with you. You and its other staffing nurses are your agency's lifeblood, earning your agency its valuable fees while building its reputation. Yet your agency's facility clients and individual residential patients are also valuable to your agency, perhaps, in the case of a large facility client, more valuable than your individual reputation and nursing services. Your staffing agency should be ready to step up to help you defend false, exaggerated, or unfair nursing misconduct allegations. But it may instead take the facility's side or its patient's side, declining to provide you access to investigation information, dispute resolution procedures, and other ordinary assistance. Don't let your staffing agency's other economic interests sway it against you, increasing your risk of crippling Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. Get our help with your staffing agency issues, to forestall, avoid, or better defend your Board of Nursing disciplinary charges.
Alaska Board of Nursing Disciplinary Charges
Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges may indeed be your greatest risk and concern. Of course, you should value your employment with your staffing agency. You should also value your facility assignments and relationships, as well as your individual patient relationships. But if you lose your nursing license to Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges, then you will almost surely also lose your nursing employment, assignments, and patients. Be aware that your staffing agency status may make your Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges harder to defend without your nursing employer squarely in your corner. Also, beware of the possibility that your agency or assigned facility may unfairly blame and scapegoat you for the misconduct of others. Let us help you with any misconduct allegations and investigation, even before you face formal Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. Let us go to bat for you with the Board of Nursing if you have already faced those charges.
Alaska Board of Nursing Disciplinary Authority
The Alaska Board of Nursing has the full legislative authority to take action against the nursing license it issued to you. Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.100 grants the Board of Nursing the authority to prescribe the requirements for nurse licensure, examine applicant qualifications for nurse licenses or nurse license renewals, and invoke disciplinary action against a licensee. Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 specifies the grounds on which the Board of Nursing may take disciplinary action, while Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.275 states the disciplinary sanctions the Board of Nursing may impose up to license suspension and revocation. Related Alaska Board of Nursing administrative regulations beginning at 12 Alaska Administrative Code 44.700 further articulate those statutory grounds and powers for discipline. Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.340 makes it a criminal misdemeanor to practice without a valid Board of Nursing license, punishable by up to ninety days in jail and a $2,000 fine. You must not practice nursing without a license. Get our help defending your current license.
Alaska Board of Nursing Disciplinary Impacts
If you lose your Alaska Board of Nursing license to disciplinary charges, you may suffer significantly broader and deeper adverse impacts than you may initially anticipate. Losing your Alaska nursing license means losing your Alaska staffing agency nursing employment, assignments, income, and benefits. Losing your Alaska nursing license also likely means loss, suspension, or scrutiny of any other nursing license you hold in another state. You may not be able to get a new nursing license in another state, after Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary officials enter your discipline in the national Nursys database. Losing your nursing license may also mean the loss of other professional licenses and certifications you may hold in other healthcare professions. And, of course, the collateral impacts can extend to your finances, health insurance, housing, transportation, and family financial commitments and relationships. Beware of the potentially broad, deep, and lasting impacts of the Alaska Board of Nursing license discipline. Let us help you defend and defeat your disciplinary charges.
Alaska Agency Nurse Disciplinary Sanctions
The Alaska Board of Nursing has broad discretionary authority to impose a range of disciplinary sanctions. Disciplinary charges do not necessarily mean an all-or-nothing result, license suspension, and revocation versus no discipline at all. Instead, Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.275 authorizes the Board of Nursing to impose anything from suspension or revocation down to censure, reprimand, limitation, peer review, education, training, or probation with or without conditions. Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary officials may literally fashion any responsible relief that may protect patients and the public while rehabilitating the accused nurse and ensuring the nurse's safety and competence for patient care. While the Board of Nursing's broad discretion may sound frightening and daunting, that same discretion can give our attorneys the basis for arguing for creative, win-win, non-disciplinary relief. Let us help you discern, propose, and negotiate disciplinary dismissal along with relief that retains your nursing license and improves your nursing practice.
Alaska Board of Nursing Disciplinary Actions
The Alaska Board of Nursing clearly has the resources, personnel, and commitment to pursue disciplinary charges and impose discipline against nurses who violate its rules and standards. Alaska's Department of Commerce, Community, & Economic Development, through its Division of Corporations, Business, & Professional Licensing, publishes quarterly disciplinary action reports online for all the world to see. Examine a quarterly report, and you'll see up to dozens of nurses and nurse aides who have committed misconduct having to do with false license applications, substance abuse, failure to complete continuing education, unlicensed practice, practice beyond the scope of licensing, and similar wrongs, along with the nurse's name, license number, and punishment. These reports should not only remove any doubt you may have of the Board of Nursing's resolve but also prove that you won't be able to conceal any discipline the Board imposes. Everyone from your staffing agency employer, assigned facilities, patients and their family members, friends, family members, and other licensing boards where you hold a license or hope to apply will know or be able to discover your discipline, if you fail to report the discipline as you may have to do. Get our help rather than run from charges or expect to hide discipline.
Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 authorizes the Board of Nursing to impose discipline on any one or more of ten distinct grounds. The grounds are both broad and narrow, some depending on the statute's definition but others depending on nursing customs, conventions, and standards. Beware the broad grounds on which you may face discipline. Consider the following examples and how our attorneys may be able to help you defend against the charges.
Credential Fraud as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to discipline your nursing license if you have “obtained or attempted to obtain a license to practice nursing by fraud or deceit.” Examples of credential fraud include concealing a disqualifying conviction from your license renewal form, misrepresenting your nursing education on your initial license application, or cheating on the NCLEX or other nursing exam. We may be able to help defend credential fraud charges by showing that your renewal form omitted no material disqualifying events, your initial application was accurate, any inaccuracies were unintentional and immaterial, and you did not cheat in passing any exam.
Criminal Conviction as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 also authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to discipline your nursing license if you suffer a criminal conviction that “is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties” of a nurse. Examples include crimes of dishonesty like embezzlement or criminal fraud, violent crimes like assault with a deadly weapon, and moral turpitude crimes like lewd and lascivious misconduct or indecent exposure. We may be able to help defend these charges by showing that a court reversed your conviction, the conviction was not substantially related to nursing, or you did not suffer the alleged conviction.
Substance Abuse as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 also authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to impose discipline if a nurse “habitually abuses alcoholic beverages, or illegally uses controlled substances.” We may be able to help defend substance abuse charges by showing that the complainant misidentified you or your condition through delusion or mistake, or in retaliation, or that your intoxication was only temporary, aberrational, promptly corrected without patient risk, or due to a one-time medication reaction.
Endangerment as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 also authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to discipline your nursing license if you “intentionally or negligently engaged in conduct that has resulted in a significant risk to the health or safety of a client or in injury to a client.” Examples include patient abuse, patient neglect, violation or careless disregard of physician orders, and medication mistakes. We may be able to help defend endangerment charges by showing that others, not you, committed the alleged wrongs, your conduct met nursing standards, your conduct did not endanger a patient, or you acted reasonably under physician or nurse supervisor orders, in a safe harbor.
Impairment as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 also authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to discipline your nursing license if you “practice nursing while afflicted with physical or mental illness, deterioration, or disability,” if that impairment interferes with nursing functions. Examples of disqualifying disabilities could include dementia, severe depression, or other cognitive disturbances, orthopedic issues preventing patient lifting and moving, or vision impairments. We may be able to help defend impairment charges by showing that you were not impaired, your impairment did not affect your nursing performance, or you have recovered from a temporary impairment that is unlikely to return.
Unprofessional Conduct as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 also authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to discipline your nursing license if you are “guilty of unprofessional conduct,” as the Board of Nursing discerns. Examples of unprofessionalism include physician or supervisor insubordination, colleague disrespect, and issues with your hygiene, demeanor, or dress. We may be able to help defend unprofessionalism charges by showing that your conduct met nursing customs and conventions or that any departure was due to innocent circumstances promptly corrected and unlikely to repeat.
Incompetence as Grounds for Alaska Agency Nurse Discipline
Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.270 also authorizes the Alaska Board of Nursing to discipline your nursing license if you are “professionally incompetent.” Examples include substantial lack of knowledge regarding anatomy, disease, or medication, or substantial lack of skill in ordinary nursing procedures for patient hygiene, movement, evaluation, or medication. We may be able to help defend incompetence charges by showing that you did not commit the alleged incompetent acts or that your nursing met customary practices.
Alaska Agency Nurse Disciplinary Procedures
Because the Alaska Board of Nursing is a state government actor and you have property and liberty interests in your nursing license, the Board must generally provide you with constitutional due process before suspending or revoking your license, other than on an emergency and temporary basis. Alaska Statutes Section 08.68.140 expressly incorporates the state's Administrative Procedure Act, which provides for those constitutional due process protections. We can help you invoke your rights to fair notice of the charges, disclosure of the allegedly incriminating evidence, and the formal hearing at which we can cross-examine adverse witnesses and present your own exonerating evidence and mitigating circumstances. Don't rest on your constitutional rights and accordingly lose them. Let us help you strategically and effectively deploy these procedures.
Alaska Agency Nurse Appeal Procedures
We may be able to help you through reconsideration or an appeal of your discipline if you have already lost your Alaska Board of Nursing hearing. Section 44.62.540 of Alaska's Administrative Procedure Act authorizes a petition for reconsideration of an adverse decision, while the following section authorizes a petition for reduction of the penalty. Section 44.62.560 of Alaska's Administrative Procedure Act further provides for Superior Court review of adverse administrative decisions, by appeal within thirty days of the last date for reconsideration. Let us help with your petition for reduction or reconsideration, or your Superior Court appeal.
Alaska Board of Nursing Alternative Probation Program
You may have an alternative to discipline if your charges relate to substance abuse. 12 Alaska Administrative Code 44.740 authorizes the Board of Nursing to place you on probation while you participate in the Board's designated substance abuse recovery program. However, the same rule warns that you must meet the program terms to retain or recover your license. Beware consent orders for alternative probation and recovery programs. The order may require you to relinquish or limit your license, preventing you from nursing practice and employment. You may also find the program terms for drug testing, evaluation, monitoring, and reporting so arbitrary, unnecessary, and arduous that you fail to fully comply, placing your license at risk of revocation. Let us review any proposed consent order before you enter into it. We may be able to negotiate better terms or simply successfully defend your disciplinary charges, removing these risks.
Alaska Agency Nurse Misconduct Defense
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Badger, Knik-Fairview, College, North Lakes, and other Alaska locations to defend Alaska Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. Hundreds of nurses and other professionals have used our skilled and strategic services to retain their licenses. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now.
