Are you interested in getting a professional LVN license in the Houston, Texas? Did you know that your dream of becoming an LVN or RN is not an easy thing to achieve? You need a lot of focus and determination to finish your nursing education. Once you graduate, the next step to take is to pass the RN or LVN License board exam. Upon passing the examination, you are already considered as a member of the professional nurses in the state. But nurses should not forget about the benefit of having a nurse attorney by their side during the times when this happens.
All LVN or RN is under the jurisdiction of the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). All complaints or cases concerning the practice of the LVN or RN license are lodged before the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). Thereafter, the members of the Board will hear the case and decide on the issues or matters submitted for resolution. The parties charged together with a nurse attorney are given an opportunity to be heard. This is part of their right to due process.
In one of the recent cases decided by the Texas Board of Nursing (BON), an LVN failed to defend her LVN license. Before a case was filed against her, she was employed as a staff nurse in a state hospital.
On or about May 2, 2016, the LVN inappropriately accessed the Pyxis medication dispensing system for patients and canceled the removal of Fentanyl for a patient after he had clocked out at 20:28. Her conduct was likely to deceive the hospital.
Subsequently, she also misappropriated Fentanyl and used vials belonging to the facility and patients thereof, and failed to take precautions to prevent such misappropriation. More specifically, a vial of Fentanyl 00mcg/2mL was found in the Pyxis medication dispensing system drawer that only the LVN had accessed, with the lid popped off and puncture marks. Her conduct was likely to defraud the facility and patients thereof of the cost of the medications.
The RN explains that after her shift she went to her car and had a sickening feeling that when she accessed the Fentanyl in the Pyxis, she may have told the machine that she pulled one when she did not.
She states that she decided to go back and make sure she did not leave a miscount. The LVN states that it is common to access the drawer as if to take medication and not take one, then count the medication in the drawer and press cancel so that the count remains the same. She states this is the reason why she canceled the removal of Fentanyl.
The LVN further states that this was a very busy day on the unit and she believes she failed to make the 30-minute window to waste due to her time spent with patients. She states that wasting must also be done with another nurse and that it is difficult to make that 30-minute window with both nurses constantly in and out of patient’s rooms.
Unfortunately, the Texas BON disciplined and suspended her LVN license because she failed to properly defend her case.
Do you have questions about the Texas Board of Nursing disciplinary process? Contact Nurse Attorney Yong J. An for a confidential consultation by calling or texting 24/7 at (832) 428-5679 and ask for nurse attorney Yong.