It is a nurse’s duty to ensure patients are getting the proper treatment they need in a timely manner. They should also follow the physician’s order and no order should be missed. A missed order could harm a patient. Some LVNs tend to miss orders and result in unnecessary harm to a patient. If this happens, an LVN should be prepared in case he or she will be summoned by the Board for such conduct. The LVN can hire a nurse attorney for this matter.
At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an LVN at a skilled nursing facility in College Station, Texas, and had been in that position for six (6) years and nine (9) months.
On or about May 4, 2020, while employed as an LVN at a skilled nursing facility in College Station, Texas, LVN did not confirm that all facility procedures were followed on a resident’s laboratory test results, which had been received during the previous charge nurse’s shift. As a result, it was not reported to the resident’s physician that the resident was hyponatremic, hypokalemic, and hypochloremic with elevated creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels. LVN’s conduct was likely to injure the resident from clinical care decisions formulated based upon incomplete information. When LVN contacted the resident’s physician on May 8, 2020, concerning a medication order, she did not communicate that the patient was still not eating and drinking and was weak.
In response, LVN states the resident was examined by her physician on May 3, 2020, who charted that she was having difficulty eating and drinking. LVN charted that the resident was refusing to eat on May 5, 2020, and May 8, 2020 and attempted to arrange for the resident’s family to bring the resident’s favorite foods for her to eat. LVN states that the labs in question were received during the prior nurse’s shift. LVN never saw the lab results while the patient was a resident in the facility. LVN states she was not responsible for notifying the doctor and if the labs were faxed and put in the book, per facility procedure, and she would not have looked at them unless the doctor responded back on her shift or there was a change in condition, and she needed to notify the doctor.
The above action constitutes grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(10)&(b)(13), Texas Occupations Code, and is a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(M)&(1)(P) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12(4).
As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing decided to place her LVN license under disciplinary action. It’s too bad that she failed to hire a nurse attorney for assistance, knowing that she had every reason to defend herself in the first place. Her defense would have gotten better if she 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. He is an experienced nurse attorney for various licensing cases for the past 16 years and represented over 300 nurses before the Texas BON. To contact him, please dial (832)-428-5679 for a confidential consultation or for more inquiries.