A state nursing board investigation rightly deeply concerns or even frightens a nurse. If you face a nursing board investigation, you have every reason to be concerned. Formal disciplinary charges could follow, and license suspension or revocation could be the result of those charges. But discipline isn’t the only result or even the most likely result of your state nursing board investigation. And the action you take when learning of an investigation can make all the difference in your outcome. Your best move is to retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team the moment you learn of an investigation. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for the skilled and experienced license defense you need when facing a state nursing board investigation.
State Nursing Board Authority to Investigate
Don’t doubt the authority of your state nursing board to investigate allegations of misconduct. Your state legislature enacted a nurse practice act creating your state nursing board to regulate nursing in the state. See, for example, the Indiana Nurse Practice Act, creating the Indiana State Board of Nursing and giving it the authority and duty to license, investigate, and discipline nurses in the state. The primary duty of your state nursing board is to license, investigate, and discipline nurses. That’s why your state legislature created your state nursing board. The legislature will also have given your state nursing board the resources to investigate allegations against you. Don’t underestimate the commitment of your board to investigate when someone complains about your nursing. Instead, get our help managing the investigation to the best effect, for your best disciplinary outcome.
Goal of Nursing Board Investigation
Appreciating the goal of a nursing board investigation can help you understand and appropriately influence the potential outcome. Your state legislature created and empowered your state nursing board to protect patients and the public against unfit and incompetent nursing. See, for example, the New Jersey Board of Nursing, which the state legislature created in 1912 “to protect the health, safety and welfare of New Jersey’s residents by ensuring that those who practice nursing are qualified and competent to do so.” When pursuing an investigation, your state nursing board isn’t necessarily out to get you by suspending or revoking your license. Indeed, state nursing boards know the great need for nursing care and the general shortage of nurses. If you can show the board that you are fit, safe, and competent for nursing, then the board’s investigation should not lead to any discipline. That’s our goal when you retain us during your investigation: to show the investigator that the allegations against you are unfounded and that you present no threat to patients or the public.
Common Triggers for Nursing Board Investigation
The cause of your nursing board investigation may also influence your potential outcomes. Nursing board investigations can begin from any number of sources. Patients or their family members may complain to the board, alleging your misconduct. Patients, though, can be confused or even deluded. Patients also don’t generally know the nursing standard of care and may just complain because their condition, treatment, or necessary care is painful. Their family members may not have observed anything directly and may instead be relying on a confused or deluded patient’s reports. While patient complaints may be common, they may also be unreliable. If, on the other hand, your colleagues, facility, or employer complain, they likely have the knowledge of nursing standards. They may also have directly observed the alleged misconduct, making them reliable reporters. Retain our attorneys the moment you learn of a patient, colleague, or employer concern that may lead to a state nursing board complaint. We may be able to help you supply information and assurances, or take prompt remedial measures, to avoid a complaint and investigation.
Worst Potential Outcome of Nursing Board Investigation
The worst potential outcome of a nursing board investigation is a prompt disciplinary charge and immediate license suspension on an emergency basis, leading to license revocation. State nursing boards have the authority to take emergency action when a nurse’s misconduct presents an imminent and continuing threat to patients or the public. See, for example, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s power to temporarily and summarily suspend a nurse’s license. Once the investigation establishes an imminent threat and the board temporarily suspends the license, the board may then hold the necessary hearing to permanently revoke the license. Even if the board does not immediately suspend the accused nurse’s license before hearing, it may do so after hearing if the evidence establishes the nurse’s unfitness. Retain us the moment you learn of a state nursing board investigation so that we can help you retain your license.
Charges as Nursing Board Investigation Outcome
While an immediate license suspension and later revocation is the worst potential outcome of a nursing board investigation, it’s not the only potential negative outcome. You may get to keep your license once the investigation concludes, but the investigation may result in formal disciplinary charges. The state nursing board may then hold a hearing on your disciplinary charges, imposing a sanction up to license suspension or revocation. See, for example, the Texas Nurse Practice Act, authorizing the Board of Nursing to issue formal disciplinary charges after concluding an investigation that finds probable cause for discipline. You plainly don’t want your nursing board investigation to result in formal disciplinary charges. While a charge is not the same as a finding of misconduct, a charge may lead to such a finding and result in license suspension or revocation. Again, retain us as soon as you learn of a disciplinary complaint and investigation so that we can help you head off a formal disciplinary charge, if possible.
Best Potential Outcome of Nursing Board Investigation
You’ve just seen two negative outcomes of a nursing board investigation, including immediate license suspension and formal charges leading to suspension or revocation. Those are not the only potential results or even the most likely results. The best potential outcome is that the investigator finds no evidence of your wrongdoing and instead concludes the investigation with a recommendation to dismiss the complaint. Investigators generally prepare an investigation report to share with the state nursing board. The nursing board usually accepts the investigator’s recommendation whether to pursue charges or to dismiss the complaint and close the investigation file. Your best potential investigation outcome would be no finding of any evidence of your wrongdoing and the closing of the disciplinary investigation file. We can help you work toward that best outcome, as further explained below.
Other Potential Outcomes of Nursing Board Investigation
While an emergency license suspension and later license revocation are the worst investigation outcomes, and a dismissal of the complaint and closure of the investigation file is the best investigation outcome, plenty of investigations lead to results that fall in between. State nursing boards have broad discretion to impose a range of punitive sanctions or non-punitive remedial measures. Your state nursing board investigation could, for instance, result in formal disciplinary charges leading to probation, reprimand, warning, or license limitation. Or the investigation could lead to a conciliation conference in which you consent to remedial measures like additional training, education, monitoring, counseling, or supervision, without facing any formal disciplinary charges or punitive sanctions. See, for example, the Texas Nurse Practice Act already cited above, authorizing the Board of Nursing to impose probation with or without conditions and the other intermediate measures listed above. Our attorneys know the wide range of potential investigation outcomes. We also know how to strategically advocate and negotiate for better outcomes.
Influencing Nursing Board Investigation Outcomes
Don’t assume that your investigation outcome is a foregone conclusion. You may have a substantial opportunity to properly and positively influence the investigation’s outcome. Indeed, the accused nurse’s response to the disciplinary investigation may be the single most influential factor in the investigation’s outcome. When you retain us as soon as you learn of your disciplinary investigation, we can help you identify, secure, organize, and present your defense evidence to the investigator. The investigator may contact the complainant and other witnesses against you first, before reaching out to you for an interview or with a request for your response and documentation, or contact you first before communicating with other witnesses. But in either case, we can help you ensure that the investigator receives your defense information and evidence in the most accurate, complete, and reliable manner. We can also help the investigator appreciate that you are trustworthy, competent, organized, and concerned over the charges, all of which should go a long way toward positively influencing the investigation’s outcome.
Your Duty to Cooperate with an Investigation
When the investigator does contact you, you must not make an inaccurate, evasive, or incomplete response. You must instead cooperate with the investigation. You have no constitutional privilege against self-incrimination in a state nursing board proceeding. See, for example, the Minnesota Nurse Practice Act, expressly requiring an accused nurse to cooperate with a disciplinary investigation and expressly stating that the privilege against self-incrimination does not apply. Refusing to cooperate with an investigation may be its own ground for your discipline, even if you did nothing else wrong. And misstatements or omissions when you communicate with an investigator may also be grounds for discipline if the investigator believes you were trying to cover up your wrongs. Investigators may attempt to take multiple statements from you, comparing and contrasting the statements for deception. Don’t get trapped by your disciplinary investigator. Retain us to ensure that you give a single interview when you are fully prepared and informed to do so, under fair conditions.
Our Defense of Nursing Board Investigation
Our attorneys can guide you through your disciplinary investigation in the manner just suggested above. We can communicate with the investigator to arrange a time, date, and place for your interview when you know the allegations and have reviewed all documentation to ensure that your responses are accurate, truthful, and complete. We can help you through the interview, ensuring that the investigator’s questions are fair and that your answers are clear and complete. We may also be able to show the investigator remedial measures that you have already taken or can readily take to address any concerns that the allegations against you have raised. We may, in other words, be able to negotiate a resolution of the investigation that avoids disciplinary charges, keeps your record clean, and preserves your reputation and employment.
How to Prepare for a Nursing Board Investigation
Your best move when learning of a state nursing board investigation is indeed to retain our highly qualified attorneys to guide you through the process while communicating with the investigator. Yet you have some things you can do to prepare for the investigation in the meantime. First, be sure to preserve every bit of potential evidence related in any way to the allegations against you. That includes preserving emails, texts, or other electronically stored information. Anything you discard or lose may be construed against you in a disciplinary proceeding. Next, avoid making multiple offhand comments or other disclosures about your disciplinary investigation. Anything you say can and will be used against you. Loose lips sink ships. You must cooperate with the investigation but should not be sharing things with others that could come back to hurt or could affect your reputation and employment. Instead, retain our attorneys, listen to our instructions, and rely on our skilled and experienced representation.
Premier Nursing License Defense Representation
If you are a nurse facing a state nursing board investigation, to preserve your license, you can do no better than to retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team. We have helped hundreds of nurses and other professionals nationwide successfully defend licensing board investigations and disciplinary charges. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our highly skilled defense representation.