On or about July 11, 2018, through July 12, 2018, while employed as a Registered Nurse in a hospital in Kingsville, the RN allegedly falsely documented that she completed an Initial RN Assessment on a patient when she, in fact, did not assess the patient. She subsequently admitted that she did not physically see or assess the patient. This kind of case can also be defended by a nurse attorney.
The RN’s conduct resulted in an inaccurate medical record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent caregivers would not have complete information on which to base their care decisions.
This issue was filed as a complaint and sent to the Texas Board of Nursing. The Texas Board of Nursing has full jurisdiction in all cases that may affect the status of an RN or LVN’s license in the future. But they advise nurses to attend a hearing first before placing the sentence, which the LVN attended for her career’s security.
In response to the accusations filed against her, the RN states that the allegation was not done intentionally. She states that she could have taken an admission patient as her fifth patient, but she declined because the ICU Charge nurse strictly told her that floater nurses could not take more than four patients.
Instead, she states that she agreed to do the initial assessment for admission. She states that when the patient arrived, she was not informed and did not complete the initial assessment on time. She explains that as she was taking care of her assigned patients, she suddenly remembered the admission and asked the assigned LVN what time the patient arrived.
The RN states that she informed her that the patient arrived around 9:00 p.m. and also gave her her initial findings. She states that she documented the findings she was given and placed it in the chart on the time when the patient arrived. She states that she got caught up in her assigned patients’ care, but went to do a proper initial assessment on the patient around 1:00 a.m.
The RN states that the assigned RN literally blocked her from the room, told her that it was her patient and that she already documented a false assessment when she did not actually see the patient. She states that she still had six (6) hours left in her shift, and it was her understanding that she could edit her documentation before the end of her shift.
As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing placed her RN license to disciplinary action. It’s too bad that she failed to hire a nurse attorney for assistance if she had every reason to defend herself in the first place. Her defense would have gotten better if she actually sought legal consultation from a Texas nurse attorney as well.
So if you’re facing a complaint from the Board, it’s best to seek legal advice first. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is willing to assist every nurse in need of immediate help for nurse licensing cases. To contact him, please dial (832)-428-5679 for a confidential consultation or for more inquiries.