Sunday, August 28, 2005
Man Fakes LPN License
Seems he doctored up his CNA license to look like an LPN license to get more hours and more pay. He gave meds and supervised other staff. He says "I wasn't doing anything to put anyone's life in jeopardy". He was only busted when he applied for a position at another place and they didn't find him on the state registry.The Senior Investigator for the State Board of Nursing says that he's found about 50 cases in a dozen years of license fraud. I wonder how many he hasn't found.
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In a related story, problems caused by 'baby nurses' are now making headlines. Hundreds of certificates are passed out after 2 or 3-day classes which proclaim the holder to be a 'Certified Baby Nurse'. Basically it's about the same as the Red Cross babysitter class (including CPR). By calling themselves baby nurses, they may appear more professional - leading to a misplacement of trust in these babysitters which would normally be held for people holding nursing degrees.
In New York State, no one can say they're an engineer or a doctor unless they're a licensed professional, but nurses - and their trusting patients - don't yet have this protection.______________________________
Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) introduced a bill in March to make the term "nurse" a protected title. The bill is in committee.
Marj would like to redirect readers to her new blog location Livin' Large. Sounds like she's really busy with her OR residency!
Posted by HypnoKitten at 11:32 AM
thanks for the redirect. hope things are well on your end! :) cheers!
Very interesting story on the "baby nurses." I'd never even heard of them, but will now know to look out for them. ;-)
A lot of people say they're nurses but a few well aimed questions will reveal that they're either students, medical assistants, or they work in a doctor's office two days a week. It's an easy title to throw around.
One of our techs recently finished school and passed the NCLEX. She got a rude awakening. Seems she had no idea how hard nursing really was, even though she spent years working closely with RNs. A little added responsibility can make a huge difference.