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Nurses who enter into a Consent Agreement with the Ohio Board of Nursing and nurses who are issued an Adjudication Order by the Nursing Board to address and resolve violations of the Ohio Nurse Practice Act (Ohio Revised Code Chapter 4723) are, pursuant to the terms of the Consent Agreement / Adjudication, required to abide by the following employment conditions:

Employment Conditions

1. Nurse X shall notify the Board, in writing, of the name and address of any current employer within thirty (30) days following the effective date of this Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order, or any new employer prior to accepting nursing employment.
2. Nurse X, within fifteen (15) days of the effective date of the Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order, if working in a position in which a nursing license is required, shall provide her employer(s) with a copy of this Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order and attachment. Further, Nurse X is under a continuing duty to provide a copy of this Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order and attachment to any new employer prior to accepting nursing employment. Nurse X shall have her employer(s), if working in a position where a nursing license is required, submit written reports regarding job performance on a quarterly basis beginning within thirty (30) days of the effective date of this Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order or beginning within thirty (30) days of working in a nursing position. Nurse X shall have her employer(s) send documentation to the Board, along with the first employer report, of receipt of a copy of this Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order and attachment, including the date Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order was received.

While these terms may appear simple and easy to comply with, many nurses fail to do so. Those nurses who fail to comply put themselves at serious risk of having their nursing licenses further sanctioned, including automatically suspended or, in extreme cases, permanently revoked. Therefore, the nursing license defense attorneys at Graff & McGovern always recommend that their clients, and any other nurses who want to comply with their Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order, keep the following tips in mind.

FOR NURSES WHO ARE EMPLOYED AS A NURSE WHEN THE CONSENT AGREEMENT / ADJUDICATION ORDER BECOMES EFFECTIVE:

1. The effective date of a Consent Agreement is the last date of signature on the Consent Agreement (always the date signed by the Nursing Board President). The effective date of an Adjudication Order is the date appearing at the end of the Adjudication, which should match the date in the Certification that appears after the Adjudication Order.
2. The complete Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order (including all referenced attachments such as the Notice of Opportunity and/or previous Consent Agreement(s) / Adjudication Order(s)) must be provided to the employer within 15 days of the effective date. This can sometimes be difficult if the fully executed Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order is not received by the nurse until 10-12 days after the effective date. When dealing with a Consent Agreement, it is a good idea, as a buffer, to at least provide the employer with a copy of the Consent Agreement signed by the nurse within 1-2 days of the projected effective date of the Consent Agreement (i.e., the date the full Board will vote upon and likely approve the Consent Agreement). That way, even if late mailing of the fully executed Consent Agreement from the Nursing Board to the nurse causes the nurse to miss the 15 day deadline by a day or two, good faith will have been demonstrated by having previously provided the employer with the version signed by the nurse and expected to be approved by the Nursing Board.
3. The Nursing Board must be advised of the nurse’s employer within 30 days of the effective date. The notification is typically achieved via an email from the nurse to the assigned Nursing Board Monitoring Agent that includes: the name and address of the employer, the nursing position held and the name of the supervisor. If the Monitoring Agent has not yet been identified by the Board, the email should be sent to: monitoring@nursing.ohio.gov
4. The Nursing Board must receive the initial Employer Report (Form #1) within 30 days of the effective date. The Employer Report must be presented to the employer to execute and fax to the Nursing Board. The nurse is not permitted to execute the Employer Report or fax it to the Board. The employer must do so. For the initial Employer Report, the nurse should remind the employer to check the box indicating that the Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order was provided to the employer by the employee. The nurse should then send an a email to the Monitoring Agent to confirm receipt of the first Employer Report and each subsequent Employer Report executed and faxed to the Nursing Board by the employer (which are due quarterly / every 90 days after the initial Employer Report). It is recommended that the nurse place these due dates on a calendar and that the nurse present the Employer Report form to the employer at least 5 business dates before the due date.

FOR NURSES WHO ARE NOT EMPLOYED AS A NURSE WHEN THE CONSENT AGREEMENT / ADJUDICATION ORDER BECOMES EFFECTIVE AND / OR FOR NURSES WHO PURSUE NEW NURSING EMPLOYMENT AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE:

1. The effective date of a Consent Agreement is the last date of signature on the Consent Agreement (always the date signed by the Nursing Board President). The effective date of an Adjudication Order is the date appearing at the end of the Adjudication, which should match the date in the Certification that appears after the Adjudication Order.
2. The complete Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order (including all referenced attachments such as the Notice of Opportunity and/or previous Consent Agreement(s) / Adjudication Order(s)) must be provided to the employer as part of the interview process and before an offer of employment is accepted by the nurse.
3. The nurse must notify the Nursing Board prior to accepting new nursing employment. That notification is typically achieved via an email from the nurse to the assigned Nursing Board Monitoring Agent that includes: the name and address of the employer, the nursing position held and the name of the supervisor. If the Monitoring Agent has not yet been identified by the Board, the email should be sent to: monitoring@nursing.ohio.gov Please know that under the terms appearing above, the Nursing Board does not have to provide approval of the nursing employment prior to the nurse accepting the employment (unless a practice restriction applies). Instead, the notification simply has to be provided before the nurse accepts the nursing employment being offered.? For those nurses with the ability to send email from their mobile phone, the above referenced notification can occur by taking a 1 minute break from the interview process to send the email after a nursing employment offer has been made.
4. The Nursing Board must receive the initial Employer Report (Form #1) within 30 days of the nurse accepting the new nursing employment. The Employer Report must be presented to the employer to execute and fax to the Nursing Board. The nurse is not permitted to execute the Employer Report or fax it to the Board. The employer must do so. For the initial employer report, the nurse should remind the employer to check the box indicating that the Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order was provided to the employer by the employee. The nurse should then send an a email to the Monitoring Agent to confirm receipt of the first Employer Report and each subsequent Employer Report executed and faxed to the Nursing Board by the employer (which are due quarterly / every 90 days after the initial Employer Report). It is recommended that the nurse place these due dates on a calendar and that the nurse present the Employer Report form to the employer at least 5 business dates before the due date.

Finally, regardless of whether the nursing employer is new or existing, whenever that employment status changes (such as leaving the employment or changing positions within the same employer), the nurse must notify the Nursing Board of the change within 5 days. That type of notification is best achieved by via an email from the nurse to the assigned Nursing Board Monitoring Agent providing notice of the change.

By keeping these tips in mind, nurses can avoid violating their Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order. If you have questions about the Ohio Board of Nursing and/or compliance with a Consent Agreement / Adjudication Order, please do not hesitate to contact the nursing license defense lawyers at Graff & McGovern. Jim McGovern can be reach at 614-228-5800, x2.