Nurses are largely the face of many medical practices and businesses. While people may remember the name of their doctor, not the nurse who treated them, nurses often manage most patient interactions and hands-on treatments.
As such, they must maintain a professional but compassionate bedside manner to properly manage patient interactions. Health care providers are subject to the same implicit biases and internal prejudices as any other person, which can lead to discrimination.
If co-workers, patients or patients’ family members accuse nurses of discriminating against individuals based on their race, religion or other protected characteristics, is the nurse at risk of losing their license?
Professional misconduct can impact licensing
Nursing professionals generally need to treat all patients with the same dignity and respect. Allowing personal prejudices and implicit bias to affect the standard of care provided is a deviation from accepted professional standards. If coworkers or patients make credible complaints of discrimination regarding a nurse’s conduct, the nurse could face a professional review that could result in a variety of consequences.
Especially in scenarios where a nurse’s alleged discrimination affected the care provided, not just the feelings of the patient, displaying personal biases in medical settings could impact the future career of a nurse. Sensitivity training and efforts to address implicit bias could potentially help nurses preserve their licenses after claims that they treat certain patients differently than others.
Consulting with a legal professional when facing accusations that could affect a nursing career can be beneficial. Nurses who have support when facing disciplinary action may be able to avoid the worst penalties, such as the suspension of their nursing licenses.
