If your nursing license has been suspended and, as a result, you're not able to work as a nurse, you might be wondering whether you can volunteer as a nurse until your suspension has ended. After all, many nurses entered the profession because they find caring for others to be personally fulfilling, and if a worthy charitable organization or not-for-profit has a need for someone with nursing skills, it might seem that providing your services on a volunteer basis could be a “win-win” for you and for the organization.
Unfortunately, in most cases, your suspension will prevent you from working in any position that requires an active nursing license. That's not to say that you can't volunteer at all for the organization, but you need to be extremely careful about making sure you are not doing any work that would normally require a nursing license. If you have questions about what you can and can't do while your license is suspended, the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team can help. Call us at 888.535.3686 or fill out our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation with one of our experienced attorneys to discuss your case.
Why Can't I Do Volunteer Work as a Nurse if My Nursing License is Suspended?
If your state's Board of Nursing (or equivalent regulatory agency) has suspended your nursing license, it's generally done so because there was a finding that you committed some form of misconduct. Because a license suspension is one of the more severe forms of nursing discipline, if your license is suspended, it's likely that your misconduct was relatively serious.
A suspension is typically designed in part to punish the nurse for that misconduct, and in many cases, it comes with requirements that the nurse complete additional training or a particular type of therapy before the suspension is lifted and their ability to work as a nurse is restored. Even once their license is restored, the nurse might be subject to a probation period that includes extra supervision or a limitation on the types of care that they can provide. This is all because there is another even more important reason for suspending the nurse's license than punishing the nurse for their misconduct, and that reason is to protect the public.
Boards of Nursing exist to protect the safety of the public. The entire nursing disciplinary system is designed to protect patients from actions taken by nurses that could potentially place patients at risk – even where the misconduct of a particular nurse did not actually place any patient at risk. If the nurse's misconduct created the potential for a patient to be harmed, the nurse can face discipline for that misconduct.
Allowing a nurse whose license is suspended to work as a volunteer nurse would contradict the entire nursing disciplinary system. “The public” includes patients who are cared for by licensed nurses working as volunteers in the same way “the public” includes patients who are cared for by licensed nurses who are being paid for their services. As a result, if your license is suspended, you won't be able to work as a volunteer nurse if the work that you do requires an active nursing license.
What Kind of Volunteer Work Can I Do if My Nursing License is Suspended?
Generally speaking, if your nursing license is suspended, you can work in any position – paid or volunteer – that does not require a nursing license. For example, you may be able to work as an assistant to a licensed nurse, provided that the job does not require you to have a nursing license – and provided that you do not provide any kind of care that can only be provided by a licensed nurse.
This second requirement – that you do not provide the kind of nursing care that requires a license – can be a challenge, especially if you find yourself in a situation where a patient you are caring for as an assistant to a nurse requires skilled nursing care that is normally provided by a licensed nurse. Because you have been trained as a nurse and may know exactly what needs to be done in that situation, the temptation may be to simply provide the care the patient needs instead of getting a licensed nurse – one whose license is active and not suspended – to do it.
That kind of situation can result in you facing even more discipline. Your BON can sanction you for violating your suspension, which can lead to an even longer suspension or, in the most serious case, the BON revoking your license completely.
That obviously dangerous temptation aside, there is generally nothing that would prevent you from doing volunteer work as a nurse's aide or assistant, assuming again that the position doesn't require you to be a licensed nurse.
What About in an Emergency Situation? Can I Provide Nursing Care?
There is a situation where you may be able to briefly provide health care that would normally require an active nursing license if that care were to be provided in a doctor's office, hospital, or care home setting – even if your license is suspended. It is not a situation you can plan for, however, or that has anything to do with regular volunteer work.
If you happen to be present when someone is in immediate need of emergency care, first aid type care, you should not have to worry about whether your license suspension prevents you from doing so. This can happen when there is a vehicle crash, and the occupants are injured and need immediate care if they are to survive, or in a similar situation where someone needs to be helped now because otherwise, they may die or suffer some sort of permanent injury. In these kinds of situations, a nurse can provide emergency help in the form of first aid even if their license is not active – just as anybody on the scene at the time could.
In this rare situation, the nurse is acting as a so-called “good Samaritan,” and depending on the state, may be protected from civil liability for providing first aid to the injured person or persons. Because of the existence of good Samaritan laws in almost every state, a nurse who stops to provide necessary first aid is extremely unlikely to suffer any licensing consequences for doing so.
Of course, it's not possible to predict when an emergency situation will arise, and clearly, this is not the same as working as a volunteer nurse.
What Should I do if I'm Not Sure if My Volunteer Work Involves Nursing Work?
One thing you do not want to do if your nursing license has been suspended is to be accused of practicing nursing without an active license. If you're unsure of whether your volunteer position has you crossing that line, the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team can help.
Our attorneys can review the volunteer position you're considering taking while your license is suspended (or may have already taken) and can advise you whether the work could put you in danger of being accused of practicing nursing without a license. We can also help you draw and understand clear boundaries – so you know in advance what kinds of work you can do and what kinds of work can result in you facing further discipline for working (even on a volunteer basis) as a nurse while your license is suspended.
The Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team Can Help
The ideal situation, of course, is one where your nursing license is never suspended in the first place. If you learn that a misconduct complaint has been filed against you, that is the point at which you should contact the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team. Our experienced attorneys have spent years helping nurses and other healthcare professionals all across the country defend themselves against misconduct allegations, and we're ready to help you, too.
Our nursing license defense attorneys can help from day one. We'll make sure you understand the allegations you're facing and can be by your side when the BON's investigator interviews you as part of the misconduct investigation, protecting your rights and helping make sure you only answer fair, understandable questions. Where appropriate, we can also conduct our own investigation of the allegations to identify information that might be useful to your defense. We'll make sure you don't miss any deadlines or opportunities to respond to allegations, and if your BON decides to bring formal allegations against you, we will be there to defend you against those. We'll negotiate on your behalf with your BON to resolve your disciplinary case so that you don't have to face the uncertainty of a hearing. Where negotiations don't result in a settlement, we will protect your rights and vigorously defend you at your disciplinary hearing.
In short, your best chance of the most favorable outcome if you are facing nursing misconduct allegations is if the Lento Law Firm is helping you. While we can provide the most help if we are on your case from the beginning, we can also help even if your case has been going on for some time and your hearing is just around the corner.
And, as we've explained above, if you have already been sanctioned with a suspension, we can help you make sure you meet the conditions of your suspension in a timely and effective way so that your license can be reinstated as quickly as possible.
Whatever your nursing disciplinary situation, the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team can help. Call us today at 888.535.3686 or use our contact form to schedule a confidential consultation with one of our experienced attorneys. Your nursing license is the key to your profession and to your livelihood. Let the Lento Law Firm help you protect it.
