Inaccurate medical records about a patient’s diagnosis or symptoms can cause great harm to the patient as well as to the doctors and nurses assigned to take care of the patient. Their licenses could be at stake. Attorneys on the other hand are the ones who take care of and help medical practitioners with their cases. For RNs, they do not need just any attorney but a nurse attorney. A nurse attorney knows the best regarding cases filed against RNs. That is why RNs should consider hiring a nurse attorney for the defense.
At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an RN at a pediatric hospital in Austin, Texas, and had been in that position for eight (8) months.
On or about September 22, 2019, while employed as an RN at a pediatric hospital in Austin, Texas, RN failed to accurately and completely document that the administration of the antibiotic, Rocephin, to a patient at 21 :26 was the resumption of the dose that had started being administered at 18:57, which had been stopped due to an infiltrated peripheral intravenous catheter. RN’s conduct resulted in an inaccurate and incomplete record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent care givers did not have accurate and complete information on which to base their decisions for further care.
In response, RN states that during the bedside change of shift report, she noticed that the medication was leaking at the intravenous (IV) catheter site. RN states that she had the other nurse pause the medication while she assessed the IV site, then she and the other nurse agreed to keep the existing bag of antibiotic medication since it was recently started and not much had leaked. RN states that once the IV team had inserted another IV, she attempted to administer the same bag of medication, but realized that she was unable to scan the medication. RN states she spoke to the physician regarding the situation and had the physician enter a one-time order for the administration of the medication. RN states she then scanned the bag and resumed the administration of the antibiotic. RN states that in hindsight, she would have made a note in the medication administration record that it was the same bag the day nurse attempted to administer so that it did not appear as if two separate bags were given.
The above action constitutes grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(10)&(13), Texas Occupations Code, and is a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C),(1)(D),(1)(F)&(3)(A) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12(1)(A),(1)(B)&(1)(C).
As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing decided to place her RN 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.