title: Nursing law violations. A threat to competent and safe nursing practice.
abstract: Nurse Practice Act violations pose threats to consumers of nursing services and lead to disciplinary actions against nurses by boards of nursing. To analyze nursing law violations, the actions and decisions of boards of nursing, and evaluate trends in negligent and unsafe nursing practice, the authors reviewed nursing law violations as well as rates of recidivism among nurses who received actions against their nursing licenses in Kentucky. The authors discuss how their findings can assist nurse administrators in investigating nurse care givers before employment and in initiating safeguards against nurse violations that affect client safety.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA.
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chappell
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stanhope
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Johanson
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sutherland
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Weisenbeck
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004647:Employee Discipline / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D008008:Licensure, Nursing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*