Long-Term Care Survey Alert
Ward Off This Potential Patient Safety Disaster: Validate Nursing Licensure
PDF
Question: We are aware of a facility in our region that hired an LPN whose license had expired, which surveyors (and the facility) detected when the nurse made a serious medication error. In the light of that "wake up call" and also a media report where a facility accidentally hired a "fake" RN who was really a certified nursing assistant, we're looking at changing our protocol to ensure our nurses hold licenses in good standing. What's a surefire way of doing so and generating documentation showing that we checked the person's licensure status?
Answer: Ask nurses to present a picture ID and nursing license when they apply for a position. That approach helps to avoid the problem of someone getting a job by using a stolen nursing license and other falsified identification.
Even then, a nurse's license could have disciplinary actions pending against it or the license might even have been revoked within the window for renewal.
Find out if your state health department or agency responsible for nursing licensure has a Web site and, if so, check the status of the person's license. In Michigan, for example, you can check a nurse's license by keying in the person's name or license number. The Web site lists any disciplinary actions or complaints pending against the license and is updated frequently. You can print the search results, which is public information ... and place it in the employee's file.
Source: Colleen Frey, RN
Clinical Improvement Specialist
Detroit Receiving Hospital
Long-Term Care Survey Alert
- Quality of Care:
Check The Fifth Vital Sign In Wound Assessment
Stay on top of wound pain - or your facility will be in pain on [...] - Quality Reporting:
Don't Inflate Your Pain Quality Measures
Take credit where credit's due on the MDS. If a resident's pain management regimen controls [...] - Survey Management:
6 Mistakes You Never Want To Make With Advance Directives
These shortfalls offer advance warning of survey and legal woes
Advance directives help healthcare providers honor [...] - Care Planning:
Advance Directives No 'Get Out Of F314 Tags
Using this excuse for a decubitus ulcer is like telling surveyors the dog ate the [...] - Abuse and Neglect Prevention:
Stop Unintentional Resident Injuries In Their Tracks
The underlying cause of residents' bruises or skin tears may lie in your staffing ratios [...] - End-of-Life Care:
Stay Out Of The Fray With A These Lessons From Survey Battle
Case chronicles facility's struggle with a resident's end-of-life instructions - and her family's counter demands.
Advance [...] - Reader Question:
Ward Off This Potential Patient Safety Disaster: Validate Nursing Licensure
Question: We are aware of a facility in our region that hired an LPN whose [...] - Survey News To Use
-The whole is greater than the sum of its parts ... and CMS' internal long-term [...] - Clip 'N Save:
Does Your Facility's Pain Management Program Pass Muster?
Use this chart to find out.