Tips for Responding to Nursing Complaints

No matter how much attention and detail you might put into your nursing career, it is quite possible that at some point you will have to deal with a formal complaint filed against you with your state board of nursing. Complaints against nurses happen more often than you may imagine. While receiving such a letter is clearly upsetting, responding properly to a nursing board complaint is key to guaranteeing that the ensuing process goes smoothly. Here are a few tips for how to deal with nursing complaints or nursing investigations by your state board of nursing.

Respond Promptly

Few things are more detrimental to the complaint process than a tardy response time on the nurse’s part. You want to start off “on the right foot” with the state board of nursing, so responding in a timely manner according to the rules of your state board is imperative. The letter you receive will usually tell you the time you have within which to respond. You can usually get an extension of time that will allow you to request and review the documents gathered by your state board and to gather documents that you will need to include in any response to the investigation.