Nurse Whistle-Blower Facing Felony Charge for Reporting Doctor

Anne Mitchell, a 52 year old nurse from Kermit, Texas was found not guilty in state court on February 11 for “misuse of official information,” a third-degree felony in Texas. Mitchell wrote a letter to state regulators reporting Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. for practicing unsafe medicine. The prosecutor states that Mitchell had a history of making “inflammatory” statements about Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. and intended to damage his reputation when she reported him last April to the Texas Medical Board.

Mrs. Mitchell claims that Dr. Arafiles was performing improper medical procedures, such as a failed skin graft performed in the emergency room without surgical privileges and suturing a rubber tip to a patient’s crushed finger for protection. When the medical board notified Dr. Arafiles of the anonymous complaint, he claimed to the Winkler County sheriff that he was being harassed. The sheriff, who credits the doctor with saving him after a heart attack, obtained a search warrant to seize Mitchell’s work computer and found the letter.

Mitchell was fired without explanation on June 1 from Winkler County Memorial Hospital, where she had worked as a compliance and quality improvement officer for over 20 years. If convicted, Mitchell could have faced 10 years in prison for doing what she believed was her obligation under the law -- to report unsafe medical practices.

Mitchell’s lawyers, John H. Cook IV and Brian Carney, have filed a civil lawsuit in federal court charging the county, hospital, sheriff, doctor and prosecutor with vindictive prosecution and denial of the nurses’ First Amendment rights.

ABNS and CCI Partner to Create Unified Research Agenda

The American Board of Nursing Specialties (ABNS) recently published an article “Building an International Research Agenda” discussing their partnership with the Competency and Credentialing Institute (CCI) to host The Nursing Certification and Competency Summit.

The summit, held in October 2009, convened leaders and experts from nursing certification organizations, affiliated credentialing agencies, testing companies and consumer advocates to obtain consensus and establish priorities on a unified research agenda supporting nursing certification.

Close to 100 participants collaborated and laid the groundwork to achieve the research goals. The three overarching research priorities that serve as the framework for the agenda include: (1) the impact of certification on patient outcomes; (2) continuing competence in nursing; and (3) the health care work environment and certification.

To read the full article “Building an International Research Agenda, click here. The official research agenda and the supporting documents from the National Certification and Competency Summit are available online at http://nursingcertification.org/meetings-summit.html.

Managing Social Media Risks

Social media sites seem to be everywhere we look these days—in both our personal and professional lives. Some of the most popular sites are Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, as you probably know. In her article “Four Ways to Manage the Risks of Social Media,” Kirstin Simonson describes a recent survey conducted by Travelers Global Technology that found that nearly half of adults are actively using these, and other, sites, and that one in five access them while on the job. The survey also found that one in eight respondents said they post work-related information on social media Web sites.

Organizations should be aware of the risk of lawsuits regarding social media sites, and consider creating a written policy that outlines the rules and regulations of using social media sites. The policy should cover electronic communication like blogging, texting and instant messaging, and prohibit its use in ways that are illegal or against the group’s interests.

Employees should also be instructed to avoid privacy violation issues, and also be aware that their electronic communications may be intercepted, analyzed or archived by the company. Organizations must make sure the policy is clear and enforced and also set consequences of violating it, in order to steer clear of any risks.

Check out these sample policies/guidelines:

http://humanresources.about.com/od/policysamplesb/a/blogging_policy.htm

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/docs/DOC-1257