Do you want a strict or lenient State Board of Nursing?

Let me begin by saying I am a 2nd career BSN student, married to an RN. I have parents in their 80s and am concerned about the level of care they will get should they need to ever go into a nursing home. Recently, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran the following article about nurses getting "2nd" (and more) chances after screwups like stealing narcotics, failing to do CPR etc and they are still nurses. Personally, I am embarrassed that I may be grouped with people like this and am not in favor of leniency. Thoughts?
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle...226301371.html
Yes.......I think they should be stricter in who gets licensed and who gets their license revoked

What are you saying? No one deserves a second chance if they screw up?

No. I am saying that when people make willfully bad decisions they need to be held accountable at an appropriate level. I personally don't think that "talking to another RN" after failing to do CPR on a person in cardiac arrest is appropriate. Same with stealing a patient's narcotics. Should be automatic suspension of license IMHO. Everyone is human and makes mistakes but some of these are NOT "mistakes", they are negligent behavior.

My god I cannot believe what that BON allows!! You can pretty much kill someone and be allowed to keep your license, as long as you pay your taxes/child support. I'm all about 2nd chances, but this is insane.

I am sure one can dig through every state BON decisions and find something. They run these types of articles intermittently.

How lenient to be depends on a lot of factors that we are usually not aware of. It is like hearing about the details of somebody's divorce. Only the people involved know the full story and it is not difficult to manipulate the story to give a misleading picture.Nursing has its share of gray areas and moral ambiguities.

Quote from RNperdiemHow lenient to be depends on a lot of factors that we are usually not aware of. It is like hearing about the details of somebody's divorce. Only the people involved know the full story and it is not difficult to manipulate the story to give a misleading picture. Nursing has its share of gray areas and moral ambiguities.

If the violation is a result of deliberate choice (neglect, malfeasance, malpractice) I do not believe 'forgiveness' is in the interests of the public that we serve. However, if it was a true mistake due to momentary lapse of judgement/attention, inadequate information, faulty prioritization -- I vote "yes" on second chances. Actually, the "Just Culture" performance model model ( http://www.health.ny.gov/professiona...st_culture.pdf) outlines this perspective. I believe that this model has been adopted by many professional boards.