GA: 20+ Practicing Georgia Nurses Obtained Licenses with Fake Diplomas or Transcripts, Feds Say

[appalachiablue]

- '20+ practicing Georgia nurses obtained licenses with fake diplomas or transcripts, feds say.' WSB-TV, Jan. 30, 2023. - The Georgia Board of Nursing has sent them letters asking them to voluntarily surrender their nursing licenses within 30 days.

ATLANTA — Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray has learned that 22 nurses practicing in Georgia have allegedly obtained their licenses with fake diplomas or transcripts. The Georgia Board of Nursing has sent them letters asking them to voluntarily surrender their nursing licenses within 30 days. Those letters were sent on Jan. 17 and so far, none of the nurses have.

“It’s concerning and alarming,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Gray. Raffensperger’s office oversees the nursing board. “Our job is to make sure that our people in Georgia, our patients know they have credentialed nurses that are practicing there,” Raffensperger said.

The Georgia nurses are allegedly among the thousands who paid $15,000 each for a bogus diploma from three south Florida nursing schools. The FBI and Justice Department announced the bust of the $100,000 million nationwide fraud ring last week. They called it Operation Nightingale. Federal prosecutors say instead of going to class, the nurses bought degrees and transcripts. “The fact of the matter is the nursing candidates had done no work for these diplomas,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe.

Channel 2 Action News has confirmed three of those nurses with sham degrees worked at the Atlanta VA Medical Center.

“Within days of learning of this nationwide scheme, we removed three nurses from patient care at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Their removal is very unfortunate but patient safety is and must be our primary responsibility at VA,” said VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes. Raffensperger said state investigators are now working with the FBI to get the evidence needed to revoke the licenses of any of the nurses who refuse to surrender them voluntarily. ---

https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta/20-practicing-georgia-nurses-obtained-licenses-with-fake-diplomas-or-transcripts-feds-say/NWVLIW6GQFDM7ETYG5C64MFRMY/

[sheshe2]

1. Unbelievable.

This isn't flipping burgers, it is life and death.

How much training have these people had? Do they even know how to give a shot?

[appalachiablue]

2. This really lowers confidence in a much needed and generally

well regarded profession. The corruption by the south FL group is bad enough, but somewhat understandable given the money angle.

But how do the 'nurses' who paid into the fraud intend to cover their lack of skill and training which can obviously damage patients. And work at a job without being exposed? Maybe they don't think or care. Very disturbing. Or, are the places that employ them in on the scam, receive some incentive and will make things work, so to speak. (eta).

[sheshe2]

3. I know.

My family, Grandfather a doctor, grandmother, mother, sister and niece all nurses. They were all knowledgeable and dedicated professionals.

I don't get how they could be in the field taking care of patients without one iota of training. These people that bought their degrees are disturbed individuals. I am glad they have been caught. They all deserve jail time.

Frightening to say the least.

[Skittles]

4. wouldn't they still have to pass an exam to get their license?

[Irish_Dem]

5. Yes I assume in all states you need to pass a written exam to get an RN.

Same with other regulated professions, law, medicine, psychology, etc.

I don't know how these people passed the licensing exam.
Maybe they cheated somehow.

[Ilsa]

9. It is possible they take an online exam, and I'm not certain how

they could cheat on that at a testing center.

My exam in the mid-1990s in Texas was at a testing center, and the questions were randomized. Each question afterwards became more difficult with every question answered correctly. The questions get easier if you miss questions. The programmed tests measured knowledge in all areas of nursing, but especially in critical thinking. I was required to answer only the minimum number of questions. If a candidate was getting wrong answers, their testing continued for a more precise measurement. Occasionally, a candidate had to answer all 300+ questions to establish testing baselines.

[Irish_Dem]

10. The nursing exam is the NCLEX and is COMPUTERIZED ADAPTIVE TESTING (CAT).

As the candidate answers each question, the computer selects the next question to better measure
performance. High and low performers answer fewer questions than middle range performers.

Yes I am not sure how they could cheat at a testing center. There are lie/cheat scales on the exams themselves
as well as cameras and proctors.

[Ilsa]

11. Yes, that's what I took. Maybe some paid a "look-alike"

to test for them ? Even that seems unlikely. Nurse IDs were very strictly controlled in Texas, as was testing.

A friend took her nclex in the 1970s. Lasted days.

[Irish_Dem]

12. Yes back in the day it was a three day test I think.

Now you can be in and out in under a half hour!

And it is more valid and reliable than the longer tests.

Yes I think that is a real possibility that there were ringers who took the tests.
With false IDs.

Or the licensing boards, proctors are incompetent or corrupt.
Something is not right that these fraudulent candidates got though the system.

I know there was a scandal in one state about college entrance exams as I recall?
Some students asked for special accommodations for various reasons.
That particular site was monitored by a corrupt proctor.
Let ringers in to take the test.

[SYFROYH]

13. Yes, but you don't have to go to school to pass them.

Everything you need is in a few textbooks or online.

[Irish_Dem]

6. The real scandal is the failure of the licensing board to do its job.

In most states the licensing board carefully reviews transcripts and source of training.

[appalachiablue]

7. Good points about this rotten racket, thanks.

[Irish_Dem]

8. It was so obvious it had to be known by the licensing board.

No way to keep this secret in the nursing community.

People who sit on these boards are college professors and high ranking
professionals in hospitals and clinics. They knew what was going on.

Their students in reputable training programs would know and squeal to
the professors who go talk to the board.