A Professional’s help can provide a better form of defense against the Texas Board of Nursing. As an RN or LVN facing an accusation or any charge, they wish to deny should hire a nurse attorney for assistance and defense. This is just one of the many cases the LVN from Texas should have known about had she only hired a nurse attorney to help her.
At the time of the incident, an LVN was employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse at a hospital facility in Bryan, Texas, and had been in that position for six (6) years and four (4) months.
On or about March 18, 2018, while employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse, the said LVN failed to timely complete and document a full physical assessment, including vital signs, on a patient who may have ingested baby oil. Additionally, the LVN failed to notify her immediate supervisor and/or physician about the incident and failed to contact poison control. The failure of the LVN 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. Additionally, the LVN’s failure exposed the patient to the risk of harm by depriving the physician of vital information that would be required to institute timely medical interventions to stabilize the patient’s condition.
Concerning the events, the LVN states that at 2135 it was reported that a patient on another unit may have ingested baby oil. It was explained by the LVN that since her vital sign equipment was behind two (2) locks, she just decided to immediately see the patient. The said LVN states that when she entered the room, the patient was smiling, verbal, and had no signs or symptoms of pain or discomfort, nausea, respiratory distress, or LOC change. In addition, she assessed the patient’s vital signs of “res” and pain level, and decided to complete her work on her other unit due to the patient’s apparent stable condition, and that she later returned to the patient at 2340 and assessed “B, T, R, P and pain level,” and all vital signs were within normal limits. According to the LVN, she told the unit’s night nurse that the patient would need to be assessed during the night. The said LVN states that the protocol was for the patient to be assessed every 4 hours for 72 hours, and the LVN arranged for that to happen by the LVN, which she believed was adequate. It was indicated by the LVN that the report of the incident to an RN was based on LVN’s critical thinking skills, and if she failed in that area, she apologizes. Apart from that, the LVN states that she did not contact poison control for various reasons as cited in her assessment findings above including the patient’s lack of ability to independently ingest a liquid due to a pre-existing lack of body coordination and that she knows for the sake of the patient that she should have asked for help as needed.
Because of the incidents, the LVN was summoned by the Texas Board of Nursing to give her a fair chance to defend her case. She was given the chance to defend herself at the Board. However, the Texas Board of disciplined and suspended her RN license.
The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) found her guilty of the complaint against her and her RN license was suspended. She lost the case simply because the RN failed to find an effective and efficient nurse attorney. Avoid committing the same mistake she did. Find the right nurse attorney in Texas to help you with your needs. Contact nurse attorney Yong J. An directly by calling or texting him at (832) 428-5679 for a discreet consultation