You do good work as a nurse. Every day you go to your job to save lives and make a measurable difference in the world. Despite your hard and admirable work, you can face disciplinary action and risk losing your license if you are not careful.
Knowing what behaviors or actions can lead to an investigation or discipline may help you avoid those situations. Here are some things that may put your nursing license at risk.
1. Giving into stress and negativity
An important responsibility of a nurse is to comfort your patients. Being a positive influence when caring for people is a crucial aspect of your job description. While everyone has bad days, you should not let it affect your ability to provide care for your patients. The work is stressful and you may be going through something difficult in your personal life, but if you give into these emotions too much, you may partake in unprofessional conduct.
2. Abusing drugs
As a nurse, you handle various prescription medications all the time. If you have a drug addiction or start slipping yourself some prescriptions on the side, you may face revocation of your license. According to a list of ways you can lose your license by Scrubs Magazine, you may even face criminal consequences for diverting drugs.
3. Letting social media collide with reality
You must strictly follow a code of conduct, especially when it comes to patient privacy. Everything you do when caring for patients is confidential information. If you use social media frequently, you may get the temptation to share aspects of your work with your friends and followers. If you break confidentiality, you may face an investigation.
Even the best nurses can make mistakes or have lapses in judgment sometimes. But you should do your best to avoid these behaviors. If you do receive a notice that you are under investigation, make sure you talk to a lawyer.