Tag Archives: registered nurse

Ohio Nurses Looking for Work? You Need to Network

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New Year, new you? It’s time to find a new job or to return to the workforce.

Often nurses who have been disciplined by the Nursing Board are concerned that they’ve run into a Catch-22. That is, that they’ve fallen in a cycle wherein they cannot be released from probation from the Nursing Board until they have worked as a nurse, but they also claim that they can’t find work as a nurse as they are under probation with the Nursing Board. 

While finding employment as a nurse (or any medical professional for that matter) is more difficult if you have restrictions on your license or if you are on probation, it is NOT impossible. That is, of course, if you know how to approach today’s job market. This blog post aims to highlight the best tips and tricks for nurses who have restricted licenses or who are under probation to (re)enter the job market.

To start: Did you know that 70-80% of the available jobs are never advertised? So, how do you find a job that you don’t even know exists?

The key is networking.

If you’re sitting at home applying to jobs online and finding that you’re not getting interviews, you are doing it all wrong. You need to reach out to friends, family members, neighbors, former co-workers, and even those who you do not know. Your circle of friends and colleagues should know that you are looking for work.

During your job search, you should...

Have a resumé.

  • Outline your education, training, certifications, prior work experience edited and ready to go. Include your current contact information. 
  • Make sure that it does not include any typos or spacing errors! This is important, as your resumé is your first impression to a potential future employer. If your resumé is sloppy, employers will think that your medical documentation/record keeping will be sloppy.  
  • Include all prior employment. Even if you left a job under less than favorable terms, include it on your resumé. You can discuss in an interview that things did not go well there and that they will not give you a positive review, but explain what you learned and how you have changed from the experience.

Update your LinkedIn account.

  • Consider paying for the upgraded “LinkedIn Premium” account that allows you to have access to more job opportunities, job market statistics, and messaging capabilities through the platform. 

Contact everyone.

  • Let friends, family members, and former co-workers know that you’re looking for work and the type of work that you are best suited to do. You never know who is hiring! 

Meet new professionals in your field.

  • Ask for 15 minutes of their time to meet for coffee or at their office. While they may not have a job, they may know of other opportunities. When meeting with one contact, make sure they give you names of at least two others who they can introduce you to.
  • Be bold! Reach out to people in leadership/management positions who you do not even know and ask them to meet with you for 15 minutes. You will be surprised by how many people will meet with you.

Speak to someone in the Human Resources department (if possible).

  • If applying for a job, see if you can talk with someone in HR or management after you submit your application. See if a friend or former colleague would be willing to call HR and put in a good word for you. 

Create a short list (2-3 people) who you can use as references. Have their names/contact information readily available to provide to a potential employer.

Talk with your monitor at the Nursing Board (if you do have a restricted nursing license) to make sure you understand the scope of the restriction and the types of jobs you can take under the restriction. 

  • If you can’t work in home health or hospice or in management, discuss with your monitor the types of jobs you can take on.
  • Under a restricted license, consider applying for jobs in nursing homes, dialysis centers, doctor’s offices, plasma centers, in a cash only practice (concierge practice), in a drug and alcohol treatment center, in a mental health facility or doing chart reviews for insurance companies. All these types of jobs generally accept nurses who are unable to pass narcotics and do not require the nurse to work in a patient’s home.

Prepare a one minute statement that explains what happened and the changes you have made in your file if you have been out of the workforce or have a restricted license.

  • Be honest and accurate but don’t feel like you have to belabor the point. Employers appreciate honesty and transparency.
  • If your license is restricted, the employer will see the restriction online, so you should be upfront and explain in your first interview the status of your license. 

Lastly, even if you have been out of the practice of nursing for a period of time seeking treatment for alcohol abuse or drug addiction, there are still job opportunities available to you. I was recently interviewed for an article entitled “After opioid addiction, recovering nurse struggles to find a job” in the Washington Post. For more information and similar stories, visit the hyperlink above.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or about the Ohio Board of Nursing, please feel free to contact me at or my partner Todd Collis. 

2019 RN APRN License Renewal

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The renewal window for registered nurse (“RN”) and advanced practice registered nurse (“APRN”) licenses issued by the Ohio Board of Nursing (“Board”) begins Monday, July 1, 2019, and ends on Thursday, October 31, 2019.  Renewal is completed online using the Ohio eLicense system.

Prepare for Renewal Now

  • Update your email address. Beginning in mid-June, the Board will send renewal notifications to your email address on record with the Board.  You will not receive a renewal notice by U.S. mail.  To update your email address, call the Ohio eLicense Service Center at (855) 405-5514.
  • Use an appropriate web browser. The Ohio eLicense website works best if you use Google Chrome as your web browser.  You can also use Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Internet Explorer (Version 11).
  • Expired or forgotten passwords. If you have not used the Ohio eLicense system in the past 12 months, your password has expired.  If your password has expired or you have forgotten your password, visit the Ohio eLicense system website and click the “Forgot Password?” link to reset your password.
  • Additional information may be required. The renewal application includes, but is not limited to, questions concerning criminal, licensure, mental health matters, and alcohol/drugs matters.  All information provided in the renewal application is required to be true and accurate.  Depending on the response given to certain questions in the renewal application, uploading an explanation and Certified copies of certain specific documents may also be required.  If you are required to provide any additional documentation as part of your renewal application, the documents must be uploaded through the online system.  No hard copies of documents will be accepted.

The Renewal Process

  • Renewal Fees. The renewal fee for RNs is $65.00 and the renewal fee for APRNs is $135.00.
  • Must pay by credit or debit. Renewal fees must be paid online at the time of renewal using either a Master Card, VISA, or Discover credit or debit card.
  • Continuing education (“CE”). You must complete your CE requirements by October 31, 2019 to maintain licensure.  You do not have to provide documentation of completed CE, but you do have to attest that you have complied with the CE requirements required by the Board.
  • Renew as soon as possible. Incomplete applications or failure to pay renewal fee will cause your application to be rejected by the Board.  Waiting until a deadline and realizing you do not have all of the information needed to complete the application may prevent you from renewing timely.
  • Late fees. If you do not complete your application and pay the appropriate renewal fee by September 15, 2019, you must pay a late fee.  For those licensees filing late, the total cost for RNs is $115.00 ($65.00 renewal fee plus $50.00 late fee) and the total cost for APRNs is $135.00 ($135.00 renewal fee plus $50.00 late fee).

If you do not file a complete renewal application and/or pay the required fee by October 31, 2019, your license will lapse.  A registered nurse or advanced practice registered nurse in Ohio whose license has lapsed is not authorized to work as a nurse until their nursing license is reinstated by the Board.  It is a disciplinable offense to engage in the practice of nursing on a lapsed nursing license.

In certain cases, the renewal application may be forwarded to the Board’s Compliance Unit for review and a Board investigator may contact the nurse to obtain additional information.  In other cases, a Consent Agreement may be offered to the nurse to resolve a disciplinable offense instead of preceding to an administrative hearing.

If you do not understand a question in your renewal application, or do not know what additional information to upload with your renewal application, it is recommended to obtain experienced legal counsel to assist you before submitting your renewal application, speaking with any Board investigator, or signing a Consent Agreement.

As always, if you have questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing, contact Beth Collis (Beth.Collis@dinsmore.com) at (614) 628-6945 or Todd Collis (Todd.Collis@dinsmore.com) at (614) 628-6962.

Use of Social Media by Nurses in Ohio

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The Ohio Board of Nursing’s (“OBN”) Fall 2018 edition of Momentum Magazine includes an interesting article concerning the use by nurses of social media.  The article addresses the American Nurses Association’s (“ANA”) Principles for Social Networking and the Nurse.  See: https://www.nursingworld.org/~4af4f2/globalassets/docs/ana/ethics/social-networking.pdf.

Although the ANA Principles provide useful guidance concerning the use by nurses of social media, nurses licensed in Ohio are required to observe the OBN’s laws and rules concerning use of social media which include, but are not limited to, the following:

OAC 4723-4-03(H) and 4723-4-04(H): These are OBN rules which provide in part that registered nurses and practical nurses licensed in Ohio shall not disseminate patient information for purposes other than patient care, or for otherwise fulfilling the nurse’s assigned job responsibilities, through social media, texting, emailing or any other form of communication.

These rules prohibit nurses licensed in Ohio from using social media, texting, emailing or any other form of communication to disseminate patient information for purposes other than patient care, or for otherwise fulfilling the nurse’s assigned job responsibilities.

OAC 4723-4-06(Q): This is an OBN rule which provides that, for purposes of OBN rules OAC 4723-4-06(I), (J), (K), (L), and (M), a nurse shall not use social media, texting, emailing, or other forms of communication with, or about a patient, for non-health care purposes or for purposes other than fulfilling the nurse’s assigned job responsibilities.

This rule prohibits a nurse licensed in Ohio from using social media, texting, emailing, or other forms of communication with, or about a patient, for non-health care purposes or for purposes other than fulfilling the nurse’s assigned job responsibilities, for purposes of the OBN’s requirements that a nurse licensed in Ohio:

-maintain professional boundaries;

-provide patient privacy and courtesy;

-not engage in behavior that causes, may cause, or may reasonably be interpreted as, physical, verbal, mental, or emotional abuse;

-not misappropriate a patient’s property;

-not engage in behavior for, or that may reasonably be interpreted as behavior for, personal gain at a patient’s expense;

-not engage in inappropriate involvement in, or that may reasonably be interpreted as inappropriate involvement in, a patient’s personal relationships or financial matters;

-not engage in sexual conduct with a patient;

-not engage in conduct in the course of practice that may reasonably be interpreted as sexual; and

-not engage in any verbal behavior that is, or may reasonably be interpreted as, seductive or sexually demeaning to a patient.

A nurse licensed in Ohio who is determined by the OBN to have failed to comply with any of these rules based on the improper use of social media, texting, emailing, or any other form of communication is subject to disciplinary action by the OBN.

As noted in the OBN article, “The use of social media carries with it much responsibility.  Please be aware of your responsibilities and professional obligations and how its use may impact you.”

As always, if you have any questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing, contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or go to our website at http://www.collislaw.com for more information.

Ohio Nurses with Narcotic Restrictions: You CANNOT Observe Waste

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A nurse who is the subject of a disciplinary action by the Ohio Board of Nursing may, in certain instances, have one or more restrictions placed on their nursing license.  One type of restriction is a narcotics restriction.

Although the language of a narcotic restriction can and does vary depending on the facts and circumstances of each case, the Ohio Board of Nursing’s narcotic restriction typically provides:

“Unless otherwise approved in advance, in writing, by the board or its’ designee, NURSE shall not administer, have access to, or possess (except as prescribed for NURSE’s use by another so authorized by law who has received a complete copy of this Consent Agreement prior to prescribing for NURSE) any narcotics, other controlled substances, or mood-altering drugs in which NURSE is working in a position that requires a nursing license. In addition, NURSE shall not possess or carry any work keys for locked medication carts, cabinets, drawers, or containers. NURSE shall not count narcotics. NURSE shall not call in or order prescription refills for narcotics, other controlled substances, or mood-altering drugs.”

As stated noted above, a nurse with a narcotics restriction may not count narcotics.  Counting narcotics includes, but is not limited to, observing the waste of unused narcotics by another nurse because observing waste is considered part of the counting process.  If you have a narcotics restriction on your license, you may not observe waste and you should ensure that your employer is aware that your narcotic restriction prohibits you from observing waste before you are in a situation where you are asked to witness another nurse wasting.

Narcotic restrictions can be permanent or temporary.  If the narcotic restriction is permanent, the nurse must comply with the narcotic restriction on a permanent basis, unless the narcotic restriction includes the language, “Unless otherwise approved in advance, in writing, by the board or is designee”.  This language permits the nurse to request the Nursing Board’s approval for a specific exception to the permanent narcotic restriction.

If the narcotic restriction is temporary, the nurse must comply with the narcotic restriction during their entire probationary period or, in certain cases, for a shorter period.  If the temporary narcotic restriction includes the language, “Unless otherwise approved in advance, in writing, by the board or its’ designee”, the nurse may request the Nursing Board’s approval for a specific exception to the temporary narcotic restriction.

As always, if you have questions about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing, contact one of the attorneys at Collis Law Group LLC at (614) 486-3909 or contact me at beth@collislaw.com.

Nurses who enter into a Consent Agreement with the Ohio Board of Nursing MUST complete all conditions OR negotiate terms to modify to the Agreement.

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A Consent Agreement with the Ohio Board of Nursing is a negotiated contract between the nurse and the Board that specifies the terms and conditions under which a nurse on probation may continue to practice as a nurse and/or seek reinstatement of their license, if suspended. By signing the Consent Agreement, the nurse agrees (among other things) to waive their right to a hearing and to comply with the terms in the Consent Agreement.

Failure to comply with the terms of the Consent Agreement can result in the Nursing Board automatically suspending a nurse’s license to practice in Ohio.

Typically, a Consent Agreement which includes a suspension will outline conditions for a nurse to seek reinstatement of their license or, for a Consent Agreement that includes probation, will place conditions on a nurse’s license. Often, nurses are subjected to random drug testing, are required to attend weekly AA/NA meetings, or complete additional continuing education courses. In some cases, a nurse may have a license limitation that does not allow them to work in certain settings or dispense medications.

Actions including, but not limited to, missing a mental health or chemical dependency examination, failure to check in daily for alcohol or drug screens, or failure to submit to a screen when selected are a few examples of a breach of the Consent Agreement.

Even when unemployed as a nurse, the nurse is still required to comply with the Consent Agreement. For Consent Agreements that include a probationary period, the nurse must actually work in a nursing position for the probation period to count down.

Compliance with a Consent Agreement can be time-consuming and costly. Nurses are often unable to afford the random screens or become frustrated with the lengthy probationary period, especially if they are not working as a nurse.

I am often contacted by nurses who want to stop compliance with the terms of their Consent Agreement because they can no longer afford the random screens or are no longer interested in completing all compliance terms.

A Consent Agreement is a negotiated contract between a nurse and the Nursing Board.  The nurse MUST negotiate alternative terms in writing with the Nursing Board. If the nurse simply stops complying with the Consent Agreement, without first negotiating a written amendment or modification to the Consent Agreement, their license will likely be automatically suspended by the Nursing Board for failure to comply with the Consent Agreement.

To seek an amendment or modification to the Consent Agreement, the nurse must be in full compliance with all probationary terms. Even if in full compliance, the Nursing Board may only agree to place the nurse’s license on indefinite suspension. And if the nurse wants to seek reinstatement of their license in the future, the nurse may be required to complete most if not all of the probationary terms again.

In summary, in order to cease having to comply with the terms and conditions of a Consent Agreement, the nurse must re-negotiate the terms of the Consent Agreement with the Nursing Board and must continue to comply with their Consent Agreement until the Nursing Board agrees in writing to the modified Consent Agreement.

All Consent Agreements must be approved by the full Board, which only meets six times a year. The nurse should expect that it could take up to 8 weeks before the Nursing Board will approve a new Consent Agreement or a modification to a Consent Agreement.  The nurse must continue to comply with their existing Consent Agreement until a new Consent Agreement or modification has been approved in writing by the Nursing Board.

Before making the decision on whether to stop complying with the terms of a Consent Agreement with the Board of Nursing, it is recommended to consult with an attorney. Factors such as the nurse’s financial condition and their desire to practice nursing in the future should be considered.

As always, if you have a question about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group, LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

 

Ohio Nursing Board Investigations

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A person may report to the Ohio Board of Nursing (“Nursing Board”) information the person has that appears to show a violation of a Nursing Board law or rule. The Nursing Board is required to investigate evidence that appears to show a violation of a Nursing Board law or rule.

The Nursing Board employs investigators who are located throughout Ohio. Each complaint received by the Board is assigned to an investigator. The investigator collects and reviews documents and interviews relevant parties.

In most instances, the investigator will also contact the nurse who is the subject of a complaint by phone, email, or correspondence and request the nurse to meet or speak with the investigator to address the concerns in a complaint or to give their “side of the story.”

In Ohio, a nurse’s participation in a Nursing Board investigation is voluntary, however, any information provided to the investigator may be used against the nurse in a Nursing Board disciplinary action.

Further, Ohio Revised Code Section 9.84 provides in part that a person who appears as a witness before any Nursing Board representative in an administrative investigation shall be permitted to be represented and advised by an attorney, and that the person shall be advised of the right to counsel before they are interrogated. We have seen printed on the back of a Nursing Board investigator’s business card the following statement:

“I have been advised by the OBN Agent that (i) I have the right to have an attorney present (per 9.84, ORC) and (ii) my interview is voluntary.”

However, in the stress of meeting with a Nursing Board investigator, a nurse might not take the time to read the card, and, even if they do read the card, they might feel uncomfortable requesting to postpone the meeting after they obtain legal counsel.

It is recommended to request and obtain legal counsel before speaking with or responding in writing to a Nursing Board investigator. Often, nurses are concerned that it will appear that they are hiding something or are uncooperative if they first obtain legal counsel. This is not the case. There are circumstances where it is advisable for a nurse and their legal counsel to meet with a Nursing Board investigator. Legal counsel can assist with protecting your rights, narrowing the issues, and providing guidance concerning the process.

It is also important to note that any information obtained by a Nursing Board investigator can be shared with local law enforcement if information is obtained that appears to show that a nurse has violated a criminal or other law outside of the Nursing Board’s jurisdiction.

As always, if you have a question about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

Disclosures to the Ohio Board of Nursing

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There are certain matters which must be disclosed to the Ohio Board of Nursing (“Board”) by a nurse license applicant or a nurse who is renewing their license.
The Board’s nurse license application and renewal application includes, but is not limited to, questions concerning felonies, certain misdemeanors, incompetency, professional licensure actions or investigations, mental illness, and substance abuse.
If the reply to any of the questions in the nurse license or renewal application is “yes”, then a disclosure is required. The applicant or nurse in renewal must mark “yes” to any applicable question and provide the Board a written statement of the circumstances underlying the “yes” reply and, for Court matters, Certified copies of certain court documents.
The Board is authorized to take disciplinary action against an applicant or licensee for any of the matters in Ohio Revised Code Section 4723.28. The sanction, if any, the Nursing Board imposes will depend on the individual facts and circumstances of the disclosed matter. Whether the applicant or nurse has other convictions, the acts underlying the offense, how long ago the offense occurred, and whether restitution or probationary terms were completed are typically also evaluated by the Board.

 
Except for certain limited instances, self-reporting criminal convictions prior to renewal is not required. However, criminal convictions are reported by the Court to the Board and it is recommended that a nurse consult with legal counsel to determine if it is in the nurse’s interest to self-report a conviction prior to renewal.
It is recommended to consult with legal counsel familiar with Board matters to determine if disclosure of a particular matter is required in an initial or renewal application and, if so, what information is required or recommended to be provided to the Board.
As always, if you have a question about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

Nurses: Marijuana is still Illegal in Ohio, and a Positive Drug Screen could lead to Discipline

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Marijuana for medical or recreational purposes is now legal in some states, such as Colorado and Oregon. However, use of marijuana is still illegal in Ohio. If employed as a nurse, you can be subjected to pre-employment, for cause, or random drug tests. If you test positive for marijuana, you may be terminated from your job and may be subjected to discipline by the Ohio Board of Nursing. Chemicals in marijuana, mainly THC, can show on a urine, blood, saliva or hair follicle drug test after 120 or more days, based on usage and other personal factors. (See Samhsa.gov for guidance on drug testing).

According to RC 4723.28(B)(8), it is a disciplinable offense for a nurse to be self-administering or otherwise taking into the body any dangerous drug, as defined in RC 4729.01, in any way that is not in accordance with a legal, valid prescription issued for that individual, or self-administering or otherwise taking into the body any drug that is a Schedule I controlled substance. (Marijuana is defined as a Schedule I substance.)

Courts have held that an employee is not protected from a wrongful discharge even if they are lawfully taking medical marijuana, and test positive at work. (Coats v. Dish Network). This is because marijuana is unlawful under Federal Law, which the court determined prevails in this situation.

The Ohio Board of Nursing routinely takes disciplinary action against a nurse who tests positive for marijuana, even in cases where the nurse has consumed marijuana in a legal jurisdiction. Therefore, it is important for Ohio nurses to be aware of the risks they take if consuming marijuana, whether it be legally or illegally. Testing positive on a drug screen may result in a disciplinary action against your nursing license.

As always, if you have a question about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

 

The Ohio Board of Nursing’s Practice Intervention and Improvement Program

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The Ohio Board of Nursing is the state agency that regulates the practice of nursing in Ohio. The mission of the Nursing Board is to protect the public by ensuring that nurses have the skills to provide care to patients. In instances where a nurse has violated the Ohio Nurse Practice Act, the Nursing Board has the authority to take a disciplinary action, such as to suspend or revoke a nurse’s license to practice in Ohio. However, in instances where the Nursing Board has reason to believe that a nurse has a deficiency in their practice that may be corrected, the Board may require the nurse to seek additional education and/or training.

The Nursing Board’s Practice Intervention and Improvement Program (“PIIP”) permits the Nursing Board to offer a nurse an opportunity to seek remedial education and training in a specific area instead of taking disciplinary action against a nurse who has a practice deficiency. The PIIP program is considered non-disciplinary and does not constitute a restriction or limitation on a nurse’s license. Participation in PIIP is confidential.

The criteria the Nursing Board uses to identify an individual’s practice deficiency includes, but is not limited to:

(1) Whether the public will be adequately protected from unsafe practice if the individual enters PIIP;
(2) Whether the individual’s practice deficiency resulted in harm to the patient;
(3) The likelihood that the identified practice deficiency can be corrected through remediation;
(4) The frequency of the occurrence of the practice deficiency;
(5) Whether the individual is eligible for participation in PIIP under 4723-18-03 of the Administrative Code; and
(6) Whether the individual has a mental or physical impairment that contributed to the practice deficiency.

If the supervising member believes, after investigation and review, that the individual’s practice deficiency can be successfully corrected through participation in PIIP, the Nursing Board may choose to take no disciplinary action. This decision is generally reached, if the individual enters into a Participatory Agreement with PIIP, complies with the terms and conditions of PIIP, and successfully completes PIIP.

The PIIP Participatory Agreement includes, but is not limited to, provisions that:

(1) Identify the practice deficiencies and the specific remediation (including educational interventions) the participant must complete;
(2) Require the participant to pay all expenses for the required remediation;
(3) Require the participant to provide the Participatory Agreement to a manager of the participant’s employers;
(4) Require the participant to participate in workplace monitoring;
(5) Require the participant to cause all workplace monitors to provide remediation and to send written progress reports regarding the participant’s progress to PIIP at specified intervals;
(6) Require the participant to submit a written personal progress report containing the information required by PIIP to PIIP at specified intervals; and
(7) Specify the terms and conditions the participant must meet to successfully complete the remediation, including the time frames for successfully completing both the educational intervention and workplace monitoring components of the remediation.

Generally, to comply with PIIP, the nurse will identify a nurse educator who will prepare an individualized course of study for the nurse. The course may include a series of written materials to review or a list of on-line continuing education courses that must be completed. The course of study is almost always tailored to the individual need of the nurse and generally does not require the nurse to return to complete coursework in a nursing school setting or to repeat an entire nursing course. The educator will generally meet individually with the nurse to evaluate their skills to determine if the deficiency in their practice has been remediated. In most instances, the nurse can complete the remedial education in a matter of weeks.

A PIIP participant can be terminated from PIIP for reasons including, but not limited to, the failure to: 1) comply with the Participatory Agreement; 2) progress through or successfully complete the educational intervention in the manner and time frame required; or 3) incorporate learned knowledge and skills into practice.

In addition to avoiding public discipline, a participant who successfully completes PIIP will not be reported to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing disciplinary data bank or the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) unless the Nursing Board imposes disciplinary action against the participant.

As always, if you have a question about this post or the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.

 

TYPICALLY, A CONSENT AGREEMENT WHICH HAS BEEN SIGNED BY A NURSE AND THE OHIO BOARD OF NURSING IS FINAL AND GENERALLY WILL NOT BE MODIFIED

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In our private practice of representing nurses before the Ohio Board of Nursing, we are often contacted by nurses who have entered into a Consent Agreement with the Nursing Board and who want to change the terms after the Consent Agreement has already been approved by the nurse and the Nursing Board.  Typically, however, a Consent Agreement which has been approved by the nurse and the Nursing Board is final and will not be renegotiated.

A Consent Agreement is a legally binding contract that a nurse may enter into with the Nursing Board to resolve a pending disciplinary matter.  For example, in some instances, a nurse will agree in the Consent Agreement to allow their license to be placed on suspension or on probation, and to be subject to various conditions, such as random drug screens or completion of CEUs in addition to CEUs required for license renewal.  The time to propose and negotiate changes to the Consent Agreement is before the Consent Agreement has been signed by the nurse and the Nursing Board.

While certain provisions in the Consent Agreement are considered by the Nursing Board to be non-negotiable, there are certain sections of the Consent Agreement which may be negotiated.  For example, information pertaining to completed treatment for impairment or other relevant evidence in support of the nurse’s defense may be negotiated to be included in the Consent Agreement.  Additionally, there are certain instances where the Board will negotiate the duration of a suspension or probation based on the evidence in the matter.

We are also contacted by nurses who have violated their Consent Agreement and want to attempt to negotiate more favorable or different terms with the Nursing Board.  Although there is a “standard” provision in most Consent Agreements permitting modification of the Consent Agreement upon the written agreement of the nurse and the Board, it is our general experience that the Nursing Board does not re-negotiate Consent Agreements.  For example, if a nurse is required to pay a $500 fine within 6 months of the Consent Agreement taking effect and the nurse fails to do so, it is our general experience that the Nursing Board will not agree to modify the terms of the Consent Agreement to require the nurse to pay a $250 fine instead. Similarly, if a nurse is required to submit to random drug screens for 1 year and tests positive for drugs – even on 1 screen – the Board will not modify the Consent Agreement to eliminate the random drug screening requirement.

Additionally, failure of a nurse to comply with the terms of the Consent Agreement generally results in the Nursing Board suspending the nurse’s license based on a violation of the Consent Agreement.  If the Board suspends the nurse’s license based on the nurse’s failure to comply with the terms of the Consent Agreement, the earliest the nurse could have their license reinstated would be at the Board meeting subsequent to the suspension, and, in certain instances, it can take longer.  In this regard, please note that the Nursing Board meets every other month.

Prior to entering into a Consent Agreement with the Nursing Board, it is important that you fully understand and agree to all terms and conditions of the Consent Agreement.  After the Consent Agreement is signed by the nurse and by the Nursing Board, the Consent Agreement is a legally binding contract between the nurse and the Nursing Board which is, generally, considered by the Nursing Board to be final and not subject to modification.

As always, if you have any questions about this post or about the Ohio Board of Nursing in general, please feel free to contact one of the attorneys at the Collis Law Group LLC at 614-486-3909 or email me at beth@collislaw.com.