Integrative Review of Studies about Nurses Who Have Been Disciplined by Their Professional Regulatory Bodies
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AIM: To synthesize knowledge in studies about nurses who had been disciplined by their professional regulatory bodies. BACKGROUND: Unprofessional conduct that violates patient safety, nursing standards or legislation can result in disciplinary action that affects nurse's professional rights to practice. However, research on disciplinary procedures in nursing is fragmented. METHODS: An integrative review was carried out with systematic searches between January 2006 and November 2018, using the CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases and manual searches. The quality of the 17 included studies was evaluated with the Mixed Method Appraisal Tool. RESULTS: The evidence in the included studies focused on various databases. Disciplined nurses were described in relation to their characteristics and disciplined because of numerous patients, practice and behaviour related violations. Similar disciplinary actions against nurses were reported. CONCLUSION: This review provides knowledge on contributory risk factors that can be used to develop professional standards and early interventions in nursing management. More systematic research is needed, together with clear definitions of disciplinary procedures. IMPLICATION FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: This knowledge could strengthen the abilities of nurse managers to recognize and prevent events that seldom occur but seriously threaten the safety of patients and nurses when they do.
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Common consequences for diagnostic errors are error and warning records in the clinicians' personnel files, revocation or restriction of license, probation, and suspension.
“Common consequences for diagnostic errors are error and warning records in the clinicians’ personnel files [141], revocation or restriction of license [259], probation, and suspension [260].”
From Toward Safer Diagnoses: A SEIPS-Based Narrative Review of Diagnostic Errors (2026) · cites this paper as [260]
The “Reasons for disciplinary action” section includes diagnosis-related errors, and “Disciplinary action” lists probation and suspension among sanctions for nurses. The copy does not establish that either is a common consequence specifically of diagnostic errors; the Discussion says serious licence sanctions such as suspension were infrequent. This citation is attached to probation and suspension, not to the earlier claims about personnel records or licence revocation. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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- Authors
- Papinaho, O., Häggman‐Laitila, A., Liedenpohja, A., & Kangasniemi, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Turku (FI)
- University of Eastern Finland (FI)
- The National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (Valvira) Helsinki Finland
- Corresponding author
- Papinaho, Oili
- Venue
- Journal of Nursing Management
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-10-28
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1588-1603
- ISSN
- 0966-0429 (ISSN-L)
- 1365-2834
- OpenAlex
- W2975481539
- Cited by
- 20
- References
- 56
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1
- FWCI
- 0.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.utupub.fi
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Nursing Management (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UTUPub (University of Turku) (submittedVersion)
- UEF eRepo (University of Eastern Finland) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Healthcare Regulation
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Research and Theory › Nursing education and management
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Ethics in medical practice
- Keywords
- professional regulatory bodies, nurses, unprofessional behavior, patient safety, nursing standards, disciplinary proceedings, risk factors, early intervention, nurse managers
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Female, Humans, Licensure, Nursing, Male, Middle Aged, Nurses, Nursing Process, Judicial Role
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