Once a charge from the Board is filed, that case becomes public record and available for the world to see. When this happens, this makes it very difficult to get a job that takes insurance. An experienced nurse attorney knows how to avoid these pitfalls. This incident that an RN committed, was one of those examples.
At the time of the incident, the RN was employed as the Director of Inpatient Rehab in a medical facility in San Antonio, Texas, and had been in that position for two years and eleven months.
On or about April 11, 2019, the RN failed to notify the physician surgeon regarding the Jackson Pratt (JP) drain of a patient, which had lost suction, and instead removed the drain without obtaining an order to do so. The RN’s conduct exposed the patient to a risk of harm from lack of ordered surgical site drainage and the risk of impaired healing.
In response to the incident, the RN states that on the day in question, the patient’s nurse approached her and asked for help because the JP drain was not working properly. The RN states that she is confident that pulling it out was the right thing to do, though she realizes that since it was not an emergency, that she should have obtained an order prior to removal.
The RN states that she tried to troubleshoot the problem first, as would be expected by the physician prior to calling about it, by milking the tubing and flushing the drain. She states that she inspected the insertion site and saw that the drain was almost out; The sutures in the patient’s skin were intact, though the sutures at the top of the drain were loose enough to allow movement of the drain tubing in or out of the insertion site. The RN states that she removed the loose sutures and withdrew the 12 to 1-inch drain left in the wound.
The RN adds that because of the movement of the tubing and lack of draining, that leaving the drain as it was exposed the patient at risk of infection. The RN states that when she called the physician later, she told her the drain was no longer in place and was therefore removed. She states that the physician said that it likely came out with dressing changes; she mentioned that it could have been dislodged due to therapy or turning the patient as well.
The following incident and defense against the case caused the Texas Board of Nursing to place the RN and her license into disciplinary proceedings. She would have sought assistance from a good nurse attorney to provide clarifications towards the case.
A nurse attorney is someone who represents medical professionals in court. They are also the ones who react and make decisions quickly on demanding conditions.
Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is a Texas nurse license defense lawyer that has a proven track record. He has over 12 years of experience handling Texas BON disciplinary action cases and has helped protect the license of numerous nurses in Texas. For a confidential consultation, call or text him at (832) 428-5679.
