Say you’re a nurse in Wisconsin, accused of medical negligence and facing harsh disciplinary actions. What should you do?
Should you:
a) stay and accept your punishment?
b) go undercover?
c) move to North Carolina and continue your nursing career there?
If you answered “c,” then you win! What do you win? If your home state does not take significant action against you, or notify the state you have moved to about your performance history, then you win the opportunity to do it all over again in a new state.
While bad or careless nurses may be big winners in this scenario, hospital patients are definitely the losers.
How realistic is this?
Unfortunately, the potential for this sort of situation is actually pretty high.
As USA Today reports, there currently exists a 24-state compact that allows any nurse within one of those states to work in any of the other 23, using his or her home state license. Those who set up the compact meant well, intending for good nurses to have the flexibility to move where they were needed most.
However, more and more, the system is being abused. For example, a nurse accused of drug abuse in Wisconsin could move to North Carolina, meanwhile continuing to use drugs. This actually happened, and the story is detailed in USA Today.
Tomorrow, read about why this is happening.
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