Jenny Barnhouse, Executive Director
Oklahoma Board of Nursing
P.O. Box 52926
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73152
Re: Egan, Case No. 3.2023010163.26
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. The Respondent is licensed to practice registered nursing (RN) in the State of Oklahoma and is the holder of a multistate license in the primary state of residence Texas.
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 “[i]s guilty of any act that jeopardizes a patient’s life, health or safety[.]”[2] 59 O.S.2021, § 567.8(B)(3), (7-8).
On September 24, 2025, a Board Nurse Investigator filed a Complaint against the Respondent’s Oklahoma RN license and Respondent’s multistate license privilege to practice as an RN in Oklahoma because on January 14-15, 2023, Respondent, while working as a staff nurse on the 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shift in the Emergency Department (ED) at a Hospital, practiced outside of her scope of practice, when the Respondent left the ED, entered an ambulance and initiated a peripheral intravenous catheter in Patient #1 without a physician’s order.
At a hearing held November 19, 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 RN license and multistate licensure privilege are reprimanded. Respondent shall, within ninety (90) days of receipt of this the Board’s Order complete a Nursing Jurisprudence course approved by the Board. Respondent shall complete a Board approved course in The Roles and Responsibilities of the Registered Nurse, to include all applicable state and federal regulations within one hundred eighty (180) days of receipt of the Board’s Order.
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
[1] Unprofessional conduct includes “conduct detrimental to the public interest.” OAC 485:10-11-1(b)(3)(H).
[2] Conduct that jeopardizes a patient’s life, health, and safety includes failing to utilize appropriate judgment in “administering safe nursing practice” and “patient care[.]” OAC 485:10-11-1(b)(4)(D).
