{"id":56997,"date":"2023-01-27T23:44:26","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T04:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=56997"},"modified":"2023-01-27T23:44:32","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T04:44:32","slug":"swfl-health-leaders-react-to-fake-nursing-degree-scandal-could-be-an-issue-for-lee-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2023\/01\/swfl-health-leaders-react-to-fake-nursing-degree-scandal-could-be-an-issue-for-lee-health\/","title":{"rendered":"SWFL health leaders react to fake nursing degree scandal \u2013 could be an issue for Lee Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Thursday, the Justice Department announced the arrests of leaders and recruiters tied to Siena College, Sacred Heart International Institute, and the Palm Beach School of Nursing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From the moment we\u2019re born to when we pass away, nurses are there every step of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of a shocking scandal, where more than two dozen people are charged in schemes to provide fake nursing degrees, local health leaders are working to assure the public that patients are safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, the Justice Department announced the arrests of leaders and recruiters tied to Siena College, Sacred Heart International Institute (both out of Broward County), and the Palm Beach School of Nursing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities say the schools sold nursing diplomas to more than 7,600 students for $15,000 apiece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students didn\u2019t spend a second in the classroom or in clinical training.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe last thing we want to learn is the nurses administering the medications, the ones charged with carrying out a doctor\u2019s order, took shortcuts on their clinical training. And used fake nursing diplomas to get their licenses and jobs,\u201d said Markenzy Lapointe, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Brenda Hage, the Director of FGCU\u2019s School of Nursing, told Fox 4 Investigates she was stunned when she heard of the scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Patients) need to know that nurse that\u2019s with them and their family is going to give them safe and ethical care,\u201d Hage said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t speculate as to how or why people would choose to do that instead of enrolling in a program, investing the time and energy to be successful, and knowing that you\u2019re competent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At FGCU, nursing students go through a four-year degree program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students spend hours in the classroom and in clinical training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school has the state\u2019s highest pass rate on the certification exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the students at the three nursing schools in Broward and Palm Beach Counties \u201cdidn\u2019t go through that,\u201d Lapointe said, \u201cthat part was completely skipped by getting the fake diplomas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State licensing boards in Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Texas are looking into their records to find any fraudulent nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DOJ says despite the fake nurses, their investigation hasn\u2019t found any harm done to patients.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Health told Lehigh Acres Gazette they are \u201cnot aware of any nurses at our health system that obtained fraudulent degrees from these institutions.\u201d But inside sources say there are over 40 nurses in Lee Health that are being questioned.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their statement continues to say \u201cwe have a thorough screening process for all new employees. The human resources department conducts primary source verification of licensure or certification based on the position for new hires. This primary source verification is done through the State of Florida Department of Health’s official health website and a national database for verification of nurse licensure, discipline, and practice privileges for nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, the Justice Department announced the arrests of leaders and recruiters tied to Siena College, Sacred Heart International Institute, and the Palm Beach School of Nursing. From the moment… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":56998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2109],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56997"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57000,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56997\/revisions\/57000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}