State boards of nursing are advocating that healthcare employers examine their nurses' credentials for certain red flags, related to the FBI's Operation Nightingale nursing school credentials scandal. Your nursing credentials could easily include one or more of those red flags.

If in the wake of the Florida nursing school scandal you face state licensing board or employer challenges over your nursing credentials, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team and national license defense attorney Joseph D. Lento. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now for the skills and experience you need to defend your nursing credentials issues.

How the So-Called Nursing Credential “Red Flags” Arose

The FBI's Operation Nightingale led to criminal charges against more than two dozen Florida nursing school officials. The involved nursing schools, all now closed but previously accredited, were largely access schools offering a mix of on-site and remote instruction. They were generally not university or hospital affiliated schools but instead had flexible programs and South or Central Florida community locations that attracted large numbers of Caribbean or African immigrant students.

Although Operation Nightingale charged none of those students, only school officials, the FBI published to state nursing boards a list of thousands of students names criminal defendant informants gave to the FBI. Their profiles thus became the profiles that state nursing boards urged employers to beware when evaluating the credentials of their nurses or nurse applicants.

The So-Called “Red Flags” of Nursing Credentials

In a way, it's a shame that state nursing boards are promoting profiles for suspect nursing credentials because profiles can implicate innocent persons and professionals. You deserve a fair shot at nursing licensure and employment no matter where you came from or how much you had to persevere to complete school, pass the NCLEX, and gain nursing employment. But that's how law enforcement and government officials proceed in some cases. The Texas Board of Nursing, for example, has urged nurse employers to scrutinize the credentials of nurses for these red flags:

• if the nurse has a country of origin other than the United States;
• the year the nurse immigrated to the United States;
• dates of nursing school attendance while was living abroad;
• graduation while the nursing school was in ‘teach out' status;
• clinical hours and credits include an LPN-to-RN bridge program;
• failure at one nursing program before passing another program;
• a gap in time between a nurse's graduation date and NCLEX passage; and
• online instruction during the pandemic.

Premier License Defense on Credentials “Red Flags”

Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team and national license defense attorney Joseph D. Lento if your state licensing board or your nursing employer challenges your nursing school credentials. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now to get the skills and experience you need for your best outcome to nursing credentials issues. Your nursing education, licensure, job, and career are worth defending against unfair scrutiny of your nursing credentials.