The Lento Law Firm Defends Nebraska Nurse Aide Registry
Nebraska is home to many fine hospitals and health systems where registered nurse aides, known in other states as registered or certified nursing assistants (CNAs), may practice. Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, Methodist Hospital in Omaha, CHI St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, and CHI Health Good Samaritan in Kearney are among many other fine hospitals employing registered nurse aides to carry out critical patient care. Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, and Hastings are just a few of the attractive Nebraska cities in which to live while serving as a CNA. And Nebraska also has dozens of registered home health agencies, including Accentcare, Ambassador Health at Home, Central Plains Home Health, and St. Francis Home Health Care, employing many more nurse aides for residence-based care.
Nebraska also offers strong nursing education programs, like those at Doane University, Bryan College of Health Sciences, Union College-Nebraska, Creighton University, Nebraska Methodist College, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where you can pursue your LPN or RN degree while working as a registered nurse aide.
Yet to enjoy registered nurse aide employment and educational opportunities in Nebraska requires that you keep your Nebraska Nurse Aide Registry listing in good standing. Disciplinary charges against your nurse aide registry can lead to the loss of your Nebraska nurse aide employment and educational opportunities unless you effectively defend and defeat those charges. The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Hastings, and other Nebraska locations to help you defend your Nebraska nurse aide registration. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now for skilled and experienced Nebraska nurse aide registry defense.
Nationwide Stakes of Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
Nebraska recognizes nurse aide registration of nursing assistant certification in other states. Nebraska offers an Interstate Endorsement Form for nurse aides to complete for nurse aide employment in Nebraska when they already have registration or certification in another state. Nebraska officials contact the other state to confirm registration, just as officials in other states would contact Nebraska officials to confirm registration in Nebraska for endorsement to work in other states. The reciprocal nature of nurse aide registration means that if you lose your registration to discipline in Nebraska, you may not be able to work in other states. Our Professional License Defense Team can help you raise your best defense against Nebraska disciplinary charges to preserve your ability to work not only in Nebraska but also across the U.S.
Nebraska Nurse Aide Disciplinary Reports
Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services regularly disciplines healthcare professionals who violate the profession's rules and standards. If you suffer discipline as a Nebraska registered nurse aide, you won't be able to keep that discipline a secret. Your employer and prospective employers, professional colleagues, and any other member of the public may readily find out online. The Department publishes monthly reports of disciplinary actions against healthcare professionals, including nurses, for misconduct like misappropriation, neglect, practice beyond the scope, unprofessional conduct, and impaired practice. Don't underestimate the Department's resources and resolve to discipline nurse aides who violate the Department's rules and standards. Treat disciplinary notices seriously, retaining our Professional License Defense Team's help.
Beware Voluntary Surrender of Nurse Aide Registration
Avoid voluntary surrender of your nurse aide registration as a seemingly simple and attractive way to avoid disciplinary charges. Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services has the authority to offer voluntary surrender in lieu of disciplinary proceedings. But the voluntary surrender of your nurse aide registration can carry the same effect as a finding of misconduct and removal of your registration. You lose your nurse aide job and career dependent on registration. And the Department publishes voluntary surrender, just as it publishes disciplinary action. Instead of voluntary surrender, get our Defense Team's help.
Nebraska Nurse Aide Registration
Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services maintains the state's Nurse Aide Registry. Nebraska Revised Statute Section 71-6309 prohibits anyone from working as a nurse aide in the state unless they meet these requirements and maintain their registration. Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services publishes regulations at 172 Nebraska Administrative Code 108 carrying that statutory authority into effect. The state opens the registry to all qualified persons at least sixteen years old who have no criminal convictions reflecting moral turpitude, speak English, complete the required 75 hours of training, including one hour of abuse, neglect, and misappropriation training, and pass written and clinical skills exams. Under the administrative regulations, the training must include communication skills, infection control, safety procedures, basic nursing skills, personal care of patients and residents, mental health, social service needs, care of the cognitively impaired, restorative services, and residents' rights. You gained a valuable credential with your nurse aide registration. Protect it with our help. These requirements meet federal provisions for public funding of healthcare services and facilities.
Nebraska Nurse Aide Registry Reinstatement
If you have already suffered discipline, and the Department of Health and Human Services has already noted your discipline in the Nurse Aide Registry, you may ask the state to remove the discipline after waiting one year, particularly if the discipline relates to a criminal conviction. Nebraska Revised Statute Section 71-6309 states: “A person listed on the Nurse Aide Registry with respect to whom a finding of conviction has been placed on the registry may petition the department to have such finding removed at any time after one year has elapsed since the date such finding was placed on the registry.” The state, though, does not automatically grant such petitions. You must show the state that you once again have the character and competence for safe patient or resident care. Get our help with your reinstatement petition.
Nebraska Nurse Aide Disciplinary Authority
Nebraska closely regulates nurse aide practice under the above statutory authority. Your employer must take that regulation seriously because Nebraska Revised Statute Section 71-448 authorizes the state to revoke the facility license of a healthcare employer whose nurse aides or other professionals whose conduct is detrimental to the health or safety of patients or residents. The Department of Health and Human Services has the express authority under Nebraska's Uniform Credentialing Act to discipline registered healthcare professionals, including nurse aides, for a wide range of wrongs. Nebraska's Uniform Credentialing Act sets forth the grounds for discipline, procedures for discipline, and the sanctions the Department may impose. Do not doubt the Department's authority to discipline. Instead, get our help to raise your best defense to the charges.
Nebraska Nurse Aide Disciplinary Sanctions
Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services may impose several different sanctions against you if it finds that you committed misconduct as a nurse aide. Section 38-196 of Nebraska's Uniform Credentialing Act lists the following sanctions: censure; probation; limitation or restriction of the license; civil penalty, license suspension; or license revocation. In the case of nurse aide discipline, the Department will both publish the discipline online and enter the discipline in the Nurse Aide Registry, which licensed facility employers of nurse aides must check before hiring or retaining a nurse aide. Yet just because Nebraska law and regulations authorize sanctions doesn't mean that a sanction must result when the Department issues a notice of disciplinary proceedings. You have the right to contest the disciplinary charges using our Defense Team's skilled services.
Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
Section 38-178 of Nebraska's Uniform Credentialing Act lists the grounds for the discipline of nurse aides and other registered healthcare professionals. The Department cannot discipline a nurse aide for any reason. It must tie its disciplinary allegations to one or more of the statutory grounds. The core concerns for nurse aides are the abuse or neglect of patients or residents or the misappropriation of their property. But the statutory grounds for discipline under the Uniform Credentialing Act include many more wrongs. Consider the following summary of disciplinary grounds together with how our Defense Team may be able to help you defend the charges.
Credentials Fraud as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's first disciplinary grounds for nurse aides and other healthcare professionals involve “misrepresentation of material facts in procuring or attempting to procure a credential.” Credentials fraud can include misrepresenting your training program, prior work experience, or criminal record on your application for registration. It can also include exam cheating, such as using unauthorized materials or having someone else take the exam for you. Credentials fraud can also extend to registration renewals if your renewal application omits or misrepresents criminal convictions, civil lawsuits, discipline in other states, or other disqualifying information. Our Defense Team may be able to help you show that you had the credentials you represented or that any misstatement or misleading omission was unintentional.
Unfitness to Practice as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for discipline of nurse aides and other healthcare professionals involve “immoral or dishonorable conduct evidencing unfitness to practice the profession in this state” or other violations of “the rules and regulations relating to the particular profession.” Immoral conduct could include theft, coercion, pornography, sexual harassment, and other violations of social norms. Violations of nurse aide rules typically involve allegations of abuse or neglect of patients or misappropriation of patient or resident property. Our Defense Team may be able to help you prove that you did not do as the complainant alleges or that others were responsible for the wrongs.
Substance Abuse as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for discipline involve “abuse of, dependence on, or active addiction to alcohol, any controlled substance, or any mind-altering substance,” including “practice of the profession while the ability to practice is impaired by alcohol, controlled substances, drugs, mind-altering substances, physical disability, mental disability, or emotional disability.” Impaired practice could include showing up to work while drunk or high, causing patients, residents, their family members, or other staff to complain to supervisors. The Uniform Credentialing Act expressly includes “failure to comply with a treatment program or an aftercare program, including, but not limited to, a program entered into under the Licensee Assistance Program” as grounds for discipline. Don't accept referrals to the Assistance Program without consulting our Defense Team. Referrals may include suspension or revocation of your registration or conditions you may find difficult to meet.
Criminal Conviction as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for discipline involve “conviction of (a) a misdemeanor or felony under Nebraska law or federal law, or (b) a crime [that] has a rational connection with the fitness or capacity of the applicant or credential holder to practice the profession.” The Department does not have to prove the crime in the disciplinary hearing but may instead rely on the certified record of conviction. Thus, defense of the disciplinary charge may involve demonstrating that the nurse aide did not suffer the conviction or, if the nurse aide did, then the conviction has no connection with the nurse aide's fitness or capacity to practice as an aide. Recall, too, the above-mentioned opportunity to petition for reinstatement on the Nurse Aide Registry, and to remove the public notice of conviction, after one year. Get our Defense Team's help contesting the disciplinary charge or petitioning after one year for reinstatement.
Incompetence as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next ground for the discipline of a nurse aide or other healthcare professional involves “practice of the profession (a) fraudulently, (b) beyond its authorized scope, (c) with gross incompetence or gross negligence, or (d) in a pattern of incompetent or negligent conduct. Fraudulent practice may involve a nurse aide misrepresenting that the aide is an RN or LPN or has other qualifications and authority that a nurse aide does not have. Providing services that only an RN or LPN may provide, like administration of medications, is another example of a potential violation of this provision. Gross incompetence or gross negligence may involve neglecting a patient or resident who needs nurse aide care for bathroom, hygiene, bed turning, and other such care when the patient or resident is in obvious need of the care and the nurse aide's failure or refusal to provide it will lead directly to harm.
Defense of incompetence charges can involve showing that the nurse aide was not assigned to provide necessary services, was not aware of the need of the patient or resident, or simply did not perform incompetently. Patients and residents suffer natural disability and diseases, the regular course of which may manifest in ways appearing to involve nurse aide neglect. Expert defense testimony procured by our Defense Team may help prove these defenses.
Incapacity as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for nurse aide or other healthcare practitioner discipline involve “physical or mental incapacity to practice the profession as evidenced by a legal judgment or a determination by other lawful means.” The Act similarly authorizes discipline for “illness, deterioration, or disability that impairs the ability to practice the profession.” Incapacity of a nurse aide may involve a bad back or other health condition causing an inability to lift, turn, and transfer a resident or patient or a decline in the nurse aide's mental acuity leading to forgetfulness and neglect of a patient or resident. Defending incapacity charges can involve showing that the nurse aide is not incapacitated, is instead able to perform as required, and that others may have been responsible for the failure to perform, leading to the patient or resident harm.
Discipline in Other States as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for nurse aide discipline involve “having had his or her credential denied, refused renewal, limited, suspended, revoked, or disciplined … by another state or jurisdiction based upon acts by the applicant or credential holder similar to acts described in this section.” If you suffer discipline as a nurse aide in another state, that discipline can affect your registration in Nebraska. Defending such a charge may involve procuring correct records showing that the nurse aide did not suffer such discipline or that any discipline in another state was not based on conduct that Nebraska nurse aide laws prohibit.
False Advertising as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for nurse aide or other healthcare professional discipline involve: “use of untruthful, deceptive, or misleading statements in advertisements,” “conviction of fraudulent or misleading advertising, or conviction of a violation of the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act.” Nurse aides typically do not advertise their own services, instead working for healthcare facilities or services that do advertise. But a nurse aide could violate these provisions by misrepresenting to patients or residents that the nurse aide held an RN or LPN licensure or had other skills and qualifications to provide services that the nurse aide did not, in fact, have. Defending such charges can involve showing that the nurse aide did not make the statement the complainant alleges or that any statements were, in fact, true.
Drug Distribution as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for discipline involve “distribution of intoxicating liquors, controlled substances, or drugs for any other than lawful purposes.” Nurse aides often have access to medications. Theft or other misuse of those medications can lead to disciplinary charges. Defense of such charges would typically involve showing that the nurse aide did not take, possess, or distribute any such alcohol or drugs, that others did so if drugs or alcohol was missing, and that any movement of medications was for lawful purposes such as to secure them out of the reach of patients or residents.
Unprofessional Conduct as Grounds for Nebraska Nurse Aide Discipline
The Uniform Credentialing Act's next grounds for nurse aide discipline involve “unprofessional conduct as defined in section 38-179.” Section 38-179 includes such actions as receiving compensation for promises of a cure, dividing fees for services with others not authorized to provide those services, pretending to hold RN or LPN credentials, sexual abuse, disruptive behavior, and many other wrongs tending to transgress the norms and customs of the nurse aide profession. Defense of unprofessionalism charges may involve showing that the nurse aide did not do as the complainant alleges or producing expert testimony tending to show that the nurse aide's conduct was in good faith within those professional norms and customs.
Nebraska Nurse Aide Disciplinary Procedures
Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services will follow the disciplinary procedures set forth in Nebraska's Uniform Credentialing Act to determine whether to discipline when receiving a complaint about your nurse aide's conduct. Anyone may complain, although patients, residents, employers, supervisors, and co-workers are common sources of complaints. The Act's Section 38-184 authorizes the Department to initiate disciplinary actions. Section 38-186 grants the attorney general the power to initiate disciplinary action and act as the prosecutor of the complaint. Sections 38-188 and 38-189 provide for an administrative hearing and notice to the accused nurse aide of the time and place of that hearing. You may and should retain our Defense Team for the skilled and experienced services you would need at the hearing to present your defense evidence and challenge the attorney general's witnesses, including by our cross-examination. The Department must write a decision on the charges, giving you the opportunity to evaluate and challenge the decision, if necessary, on appeal to a state court. Procedures can make a difference when you retain our Defense Team to strategically invoke them on your behalf.
Premier Nebraska Nurse Aide Defense Available
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available in Omaha, Lincoln, Kearney, Hastings, and any other Nebraska location to defend your nurse aide registration against disciplinary charges. Hundreds of professionals nationwide have trusted the Lento Law Firm for their best outcome to disciplinary charges. You can, too, as a nurse aide in Nebraska. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
