Dates Reports Due | Months in Quarters |
---|---|
January 10 | October 1 through December 31 |
April 10 | January 1 through March 31 |
July 10 | April 1 through June 30 |
October 10 | July 1 through September 30 |
The Order itself does not specifically mandate disclosure of monitoring status during the interview process. However, the Order requires the nurse to provide a copy of his or her Order to the employer, and have the employer submit the Notification of Receipt of Order form within 10 days of the nurse’s hire date. The website of the Alabama Board of Nursing provides License Lookup as primary source verification to allow you to validate a license as of the date that the verification is printed.
An individual whose license status is “Active/Probation” is required to immediately provide all healthcare employers with a complete copy of his or her Order.
Documents that MUST be provided to you:
- A complete copy of the Order (usually 12-20 pages total).
- Notification of Receipt of Order form.
The practice restrictions are stated in the Order. If a particular stipulation in the Order does NOT apply to a nurse, this will be clearly noted in the Order.
Your role
- Complete and return the Notice of Receipt of Order to Probation/Compliance. Make sure that your phone number and email address are included. List the healthcare credentials of all monitors.
- Familiarize yourself with the Order and its requirements in the workplace.
- Accurately report the nurse’s work performance
- Timely submit quarterly Employer reports.
- Immediately notify the Board, should there be a problem involving the monitored nurse.
Nurses on probation need to be monitored by a nurse who works with them. In some instances, this nurse may also be the supervisor. This is to ensure that there are no issues with the monitored nurse, such as odd or suspicious behavior relating to drug usage or appropriation, inappropriate behavior, practice related problems, etc. If the supervisor is NOT onsite when the monitored nurse is working, there must be at least ONE other licensed nurse in good standing with their regulatory body, whose license type is at or above the license type of the monitored nurse, and who is onsite.
- There may be more than one monitor: some nurses have multiple monitors listed. All monitors must be aware of their responsibility as a monitor and be willing to assume such.
- If there is not at least one Monitor besides the supervisor on the Notice of Receipt form, Probation/Compliance will contact you for the name of an appropriate Monitor.
Reports must be submitted on-line from the Board’s website only. For the on-line reports to be set up for you, you must return the Notification of Receipt of Order form to Probation/Compliance. If this form is NOT returned to Probation/Compliance, you will not be able to submit reports for the nurse. Once your information is received and entered, you may access the reports by going directly to the Board’s website: www.abn.alabama.gov .
- Monitoring Reports
- Select “Online Employer Report”. Under this heading you will find
- Online Employer Report (this is the actual report)
- Online Employer Reporting Instruction Manual. Please read this manual before you begin completing reports. It contains necessary information about user names, passwords, etc.
The reports are available online throughout the month in which the reports are due (e.g.: reports due July 10 are available July 1-31). After the last day of the month, you will not be able to submit the report.
The information requested in the report is the MINIMUM that should be reported.
The number of hours actually worked (not scheduled) is needed, so staff may calculate whether the monitored nurse has met the work requirements of their respective Order.
Your assistance with monitoring a nurse who has an Active/Probation license status is appreciated.
- You should report any issues that occur during the quarter (was the nurse written up for absences, patient care problems, employment termination or resignation, etc.).
- The act of reporting an issue does not necessarily translate to problems for the nurse with the Board of Nursing.
- Your role is to ACCURATELY report job performance, attendance, and any problems that arise. You may contact Probation/Compliance between reporting periods, should a need arise.
Refer to the Order. A nurse who has this restriction will have the stipulation “Employment-Access to Drugs” or “Employment-Access to Controlled Substances.”
In order to have this restriction lifted, the monitored nurse must submit a written request to the Board. A letter will be sent to the nurse, with a copy to the employer, of the decision as to whether or not the restriction is lifted.
It may be inconvenient for a nurse on your staff to be unable to administer controlled substances to patients. The burden of giving controlled substance medications for a monitored nurse is best equally distributed among the other staff members on duty.
- It is helpful to assign which nurse will give controlled substances for each of the monitored nurse’s patients at the beginning of the shift. In this manner, each nurse for whom they may be responsible for medications, and the monitored nurse knows to whom he/she should go for assistance with this.
- The monitored nurse should NOT expect special favors. If others are giving controlled substances for the monitored nurse, the monitored nurse needs to take on some of the other staff members’ duties.
Refer to the Order (stipulation “Employment-Supervision Restriction” or “Employment-Restrictions”). Probation is the monitored practice of nursing which permits the nurse to continue to practice nursing, according to conditions set forth by the Board. The nurse who has a license status of Active/Probation is prohibited from performing supervisory duties.
For monitoring purposes, supervising nurse duties include, but are not limited to:
- making decisions about employment and/or disciplinary action of licensed staff.
- evaluating the performance of licensed staff.
- scheduling licensed staff.
- making patient assignments for licensed staff.
Nurses monitored by the Board who have the controlled substances restriction in effect are not allowed to access or administer any medications classified as Controlled Substances on Schedules II-V by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or the Alabama Controlled Substances List
- Access to controlled substances through any computerized system must be BLOCKED by the employer.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to carry keys for the narcotics cabinet.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to COUNT controlled substances.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to WITNESS waste of controlled substances.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to CHART any doses of controlled substances given by other nurses.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to ADMINISTER controlled substances to patients after being signed out by another nurse.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to CALL IN PRESCRIPTIONS for controlled substances.
- Monitored nurses are not allowed to order, receive, or sign for delivery/receipt of controlled substances.
You may wish to refer to these Troubleshooting Tips.