Oklahoma Board of Nursing 2025-32A

Jenny Barnhouse, Executive Director
Oklahoma Board of Nursing
P.O. Box 52926
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73152

Re: Taylor, Case No. 3.2024040055.25

Dear Executive Director Barnhouse:

This office has received your request for a written Attorney General Opinion regarding the action that the Oklahoma Board of Nursing intends to take in the above-referenced case. Respondent is licensed with a single-state licensed practical nursing (LPN) license, which lapsed on September 1, 2023. On March 27, 2002, Respondent was previously disciplined in an Agreed Order with the Board for practicing without a valid LPN license and falsifying her Application for Reinstatement of License.  Respondent successfully completed the terms of that Order.

The Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act authorizes the Board to impose discipline when a nurse “[f]ails to adequately care for patients or to conform to the minimum standards of acceptable nursing” in a way that “unnecessarily exposes a patient or other person to risk of harm[,]” “[i]s guilty of unprofessional conduct[,]”^[1] or “[v]iolated a rule promulgated by the Board, an order of the Board, or a state or federal law relating to the practice of registered, practical or advanced practice registered nursing or advanced unlicensed assisting[.]” 59 O.S.2021, § 567.8(B)(3), (7), (9).

In an October 1, 2024, complaint, Board staff alleged that Respondent violated the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act as follows: 

1. From January 22, 2001, through February 22, 2024, Respondent worked in a position that does not require a nursing license at a hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ("Hospital").
2. On or about September 2, 2023, Respondent submitted to the Board a Reinstatement or Return to Active Status of Licensure (LPN) Application ("Application") to practice single-state licensed practical nursing. Respondent falsified the Application by answering "Yes" to the following question: "Are you currently employed in a position requiring an Oklahoma RN/LPN license?" and by checking "I am employed in a position requiring nursing licensure for a minimum of 520 work hours in the past five years" to the following "Check all of the following that apply. You must submit the requested documentation in order for your application to be considered."
3. Further, Respondent falsified the licensure renewals submitted on August 25, 2021, by checking "I have maintained employment in a position that requires my license with at least 520 hours worked over the past two years (volunteer hours do not meet this requirement)" to the following "The Oklahoma Board of Nursing requires that each licensee shall demonstrate evidence of completion of one or more continuing qualifications for practice within the past two years prior to the expiration date of the license. Please check one of the following continuing qualifications options you have met within the past two years", on August 22, 2019, and on August 10, 2017, by submitting the response, "I have maintained employment in a position that requires my {RN/LPN} license with at least 520 hours worked over the past two years." 
4. On or about June 13, 2024, Respondent, during a telephonic investigative conference with Board staff, admitted to Board staff that she had been working in a position that does not require a nursing license. Further, Respondent admitted that she has never completed and/or submitted any continuing education since her employment at the Hospital began on January 22, 2001.

At a hearing held March 25, 2025, the Board found that Respondent violated the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act and rules promulgated by the Board related to the practice of practical nursing and proposed the following discipline: Respondent’s single-state LPN license is reprimanded.  Respondent’s filed Application for Reinstatement or Return to Active Status of Licensure (LPN) to practice as a licensed practical nurse is granted upon Respondent’s successful completion of the continuing education requirements required by the Board.

Prior to Respondent’s successful completion of the Board’s Order, any violations of the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act by Respondent may require Respondent’s appearance before the Board to show cause why Respondent’s license should not be revoked or other such action taken as the Board deems proper. Upon successful completion of all the terms of the Board’s Order, all encumbrances shall be removed from Respondent’s single-state licensed practical nurse license. 

Given the serious nature of the allegations, the Board may reasonably believe that this action is necessary to protect public health, safety, and welfare. It is, therefore, the official opinion of the Attorney General that the Oklahoma Board of Nursing has adequate support for the conclusion that this action advances the State’s policy to protect public health, safety, and welfare by ensuring nurses meet minimum standards of professional conduct.

Cheryl Dixon
Deputy General Counsel