Why the Disciplinary System Punishes the Exhausted More Than the Incompetent
Nurses are tired — you know this on a personal level, and now there’s an international study with the data to back it up. Shifts are long, the pressure is high, and facilities are understaffed. Mistakes get made, and it’s no wonder.
With the level of awareness we seem to have these days about nursing burnout, you’d think disciplinary bodies would better differentiate the mistakes good nurses make when they’re exhausted from the mistakes incompetent nurses make because they don’t know what they’re doing.
But they don’t, and it can feel like medical licensing boards punish exhausted nurses for their mistakes even more than the incompetent ones. The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm sees this flaw in the system and works to help nurses nationwide protect their licenses. Call us at 888-535-3686 or send us a message online, and we’ll help you, too.
Exhaustion Mistakes Are NOT a Sign of Incompetence
Incompetent nurses don’t know how to read a patient chart, administer medication, or follow the basic protocols every nurse learns during their training.
A skilled nurse who makes a mistake does so not because they don’t know any better, but because their fatigue has caused them to miss a step: they know to update the chart, but forgot. They understand that dosing instructions can mean life or death, but mixed up a patient’s medication anyway because they were just too tired to focus.
Once a complaint is filed with the state licensing board, however, such nuances seem to evaporate.
Boards: A Mistake Is a Mistake
Medical licensing boards exist to maintain the public’s trust in the medical system — not to protect any individual’s career or reputation. Patient safety is a board’s first priority, and anything that jeopardizes that is a problem, regardless of the cause.
If it seems that licensing boards punish the tired more than the untrained, this may be because there are two perceptual problems at work:
- Medical licensing boards (as well as facility administrators and shift supervisors) are prone to misinterpreting fatigue as ignorance or inability. The board thinks it’s punishing incompetence; in fact, it’s punishing exhaustion.
- Because the system generally does a good job of weeding out incompetent nurses before they progress too far in their careers, and because so many nurses work to the point of exhaustion, there are simply more tired nurses out there than incompetent ones.
Make Your Case Heard
Nurses in understaffed, overstretched work environments need to be aware of the risks that come with exhaustion and take precautions. Document your experience on every shift, including the hours you work, the number of patients you’re handling, the breaks you miss, your time between shifts for rest and recovery, and all of the demands that are over and above a normal, manageable workload. Proactively ask your supervisors for the changes and accommodations you need to stay at the top of your game every day. If you do face disciplinary proceedings, this record will be an asset in your defense.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team will be another asset. We’ll make sure your licensing board understands that exhaustion is not incompetence, and that it reviews your case within the proper context. Contact us today at 888-535-3686, or send us a message online, and we’ll get started.