Know Your Regulator: The Podcast that Inspires You to Engage

Texas Nurses Facing Operation Nightingale: The First 72 Hours

• Team Bertolino • Season 1 • Episode 66

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 24:12

A letter tied to Operation Nightingale can drop your stomach and derail your day. We cut through panic and speculation to map a steady path for Texas nurses: what to do in the first 72 hours, how to protect your license, and when silence is your strongest move. With senior associate attorney Kerry Bloodsaw and client success manager Jasen Dalus, we break down the stages of board action—confidential investigations, public formal charges, and the range of proposed orders, including non-disciplinary deactivation agreements born from the Nightingale surge.

We focus on practical steps that lower risk. Start with a tight communication plan: acknowledge receipt, then pause. Build a single, organized folder with a clean timeline, enrollment records, attendance proof, transcripts, clinical logs, receipts, and employer emails. Many Operation Nightingale matters hinge on dates and modality rather than emotion; mismatched affidavits and evidence of in-person coursework can shift a case. We explain the difference between employer inquiries and board processes, why credibility is the asset you must guard, and how social media posts and long narratives can backfire.

There’s a strategic advantage in pacing. The board’s volume is high, and premature disclosures often shorten your practice window and hand over unneeded evidence. We talk frankly about due process, visibility on license lookup, National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) implications, and the mistakes that are hardest to unwind. If your school appears on a list, your next steps—not the headline—determine your outcome. Keep your cards close, prepare your documents, and bring in counsel early to even the playing field.

If this conversation brings clarity, subscribe, share it with a colleague who needs it, and leave a review or comment to help other nurses find trusted, level-headed guidance. Stay tuned as we continue to shed light on Operation Nightingale in Texas throughout our mini-series.

Get more information, details and resources on Know Your Regulator - https://www.belolaw.com/know-your-regulator




SPEAKER_00:

If you're hearing Operation Nightingale and your stomach just dropped, whether you are a nurse, an employer, or connected to someone who is, this episode is for you. You may see a lot of internet speculation and a ton of panic, but we're going to talk about what matters right now in Texas, especially within the first 72 hours when it comes to Operation Nightingale. This is Know Your Regulator. I'm Simone Murfrey, your host, and this episode is part of a series we're doing focused on Operation Nightingale as we lean in specifically on what this means here in Texas. I'm joined by two people who see the human side of this every single day. Carrie Bloodsaw, a senior associate attorney at Bertolino Law Firm, who lives in the world of boards, investigations, and due process, and Jason DeLuce, a client success manager who works alongside Carrie and the Bertolino attorneys and sees what these individuals are dealing with the minute that this news hits their mailbox. Thank you, Jason and Carrie, for joining me today. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Well, let's start at the beginning here. So, Carrie, when someone calls and they say, I'm scared, my school is on a list. What does this really mean for them? What does this mean for their license? What's the first thing that you would want them to understand?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, probably the first thing would be, you know, try not to panic. People panic and they talk too much, they talk too fast. Um, I actually just had a client last week that told one of our paralegals before our attorney client she had gotten this notice. Obviously, she had hired us, um, but she was like right in the middle of going to resign because she thought like she couldn't work anymore. And I had to like scream at the paralegal to be like, make sure you tell her, like, please don't quit your job. You know, there's a whole process here. So I think probably the most important thing, you know, for everybody to remember is just like in general, you know, 99% of the time, nothing is gonna happen to your license without your knowledge and kind of without your like acceptance or approval of what that is. So, you know, just remember this is not like the end. This is just the beginning, and it's really just the start of, you know, the due process that you're entitled to.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, and I feel like panic is a natural response, right? But you have to make sure that that's not what dictates your um your next move, right? Exactly. Jason, what are you seeing this panic kind of look like in the first conversations that you're having with these people?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I mean, people are looking for reassurance. I mean, almost a guarantee sometimes. Um, but really what they need is a plan, right? And they need a plan of action. They're worried about a lot of things. There's a lot of uncertainties. You know, just like Carrie mentioned, their job is definitely at the top of their list. Um, this thing going public, uh, you know, their names on the news, their names online, uh, a timeline, how long this thing is gonna last, what does the future look like for them? So it it's a lot of uncertainty that, you know, sometimes they're really just looking for someone to to to give them some sort of a reassurance, but in reality, a plan is really what they need in this time of pandemic.

SPEAKER_00:

I mean, I can imagine it's gotta be a super overwhelming, shocking feeling. There's so much happening at one time that to sit down and have someone be like, here's, you know, here's your next steps, uh could just really, really change things. Um, speaking of that, I really feel like there's three main kind of topics to focus on when we're talking about, you know, these investigations. Carrie, I want you to confirm this, but would you say that a license holder's focus should be on documentation, reputation, and communication within that first like 72 hours and and how to not damage those things?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I would say, you know, those are kind of the three critical items that you'd want to be looking at. You, you know, want to get your records together. Uh, you definitely want to limit your communication with the board as much as you can, you know, basically acknowledge that you got this notice and not much else. And then certainly understand that your credibility is, you know, at risk. That's certainly not something that I um kind of want to shy away from. You know, I want my clients to understand that. Like you're right, your credibility is at stake. But at this point, at you know, the very beginning of the process, um, it's still intact uh and your license is still active.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Really, really good, very important points that I feel like people who are panicking about this need to hear. Jason, if you had to say it in one sentence, what would you say that we're protecting in the first 72 hours?

SPEAKER_02:

I mean, definitely for me, just on my side of things, is it's it's yeah, I mean, it is like the credibility, right? I mean, obviously, you know, this is an investigation. And so you definitely want to make sure that just like what Carrie mentioned, is you know, you're you're limiting any communication. You know, if you don't need to, don't, you know, don't do it, right? But at the end of the day, it is your credibility. You know, you're a professional. Um, there's a license that's hanging in the balance of this thing, and and so you definitely want to make sure that you're protecting that as much as you can and and not just adding more fuel to the fire, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, and when you look at it, it c it really just makes sense because if you react too quickly and out of panic, then you're really kind of uh automatically putting options off the table, like kind of closing those doorways for yourself before you've even really fully entered into the full process. So it's super crucial. If someone is listening right now and is thinking, what do I do today? Carrie, what would be your first instruction?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, probably number one would be, you know, kind of like what we've been talking about. Don't don't freak out, don't panic, um, don't call a bunch of people, don't post about it, don't talk about it, don't respond to the board and like give them, you know, a 25-page narrative on what you think is important. You know, don't send them all these documents or all these records that you think might matter. Um, best thing to do is really just, you know, what we've sort of been saying, which is stay calm, uh, look at the allegations, right? I mean, we've had a lot of these cases, and just because you went to one of these schools does not mean that you actually fall into this bucket of like Operation Nightingale. Um, you know, what they're looking at is like when you went to the school. They're also looking at, you know, did you attend the school in person or not? So just because you did get a diploma from one of these uh institutions doesn't mean that you're like automatically gonna have a big deal. Um, the board of nursing, like, they have so many of these cases, right? Like you've seen it on the news, like you know if you've read anything about it, there's like thousands of these cases. And so the board is not, you know, love them to death, but the board of nursing is not equipped to handle this volume and they're aware of that. And so they are essentially just like sending out these notices because they're hoping that, you know, the the applicant is gonna essentially explain to them what happened and sort of fix it on the back end. And they're not doing a lot of the investigative work prior to sending this out. So, you know, we've had cases that I've gotten thrown out just because of the fact that, yeah, they went to the school, but they, you know, attended in person, or they went to the school, but their dates don't match, you know, the dates on the affidavit. Um, so it's honestly really important to specifically look at that and determine if this even applies to you. And then kind of like Jason has said, you know, get your records together, get your timeline together. Um, and then at that point, you do kind of want to reach out, you know, to counsel because anytime somebody, you know, like you sort of said, Simone tries to handle it on their own, 99% of the time, you know, if they finally do come to us or they talk to any other attorney, it's like, I really wish, you know, you had you had not done that. Uh, you can't erase those kind of things. So kind of getting everything together, getting organized, you know, my best clients are, you know, my organized kind of fact-finder clients that come to me with all their information and then let, you know, let the attorney do the legal side.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, it sounds like there's a couple key points that you made there that um at face value, this is really scary and and um, you know, can really be shocking and can really um, you know, can be put you in a state of fear, but there's a process, right? There's a process that the Board of Nursing um follows, and everyone is subject to that process. And, you know, furthermore, like you said, when you go and you try and um explain yourself or prove your innocence without counsel, sometimes you can find yourself um needing that counsel later on, and things are way harder to clean up, it's way more expensive, it's just a lot more complicated. So it sounds like really the game plan is to not try and jump the gun, right? You gotta stabilize things first and then um kind of really plan your next moves.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, exactly. 100%. Most people, you know, anytime you're in like a tough spot, right? People always wanna say stuff. Most of the time, people don't kind of just like calm down, you know, be quiet and think about what's happening, but that's what you, you know, want to do here.

SPEAKER_00:

It's hard. It's it goes against human nature, but yeah, no, it's important that you really um you play the long game here. Jason, when you see that someone's been notified um that they're under investigation or they think that that's headed down the pipeline, what are they panicking about potentially missing? Or you Carrie mentioned, you know, kind of really getting getting some documents together and things like that. What do nurses need to know to pull together so they can kind of create that game plan?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, Carrie said it beautifully, right? And then and and and that just goes to show you the benefits of having somebody in your corner that can speak on your behalf. I mean, in in in a general sense, right, when we're speaking to these uh potential new clients and they're in a panic mode, it's the first 72 hours, they don't really know what to do, they're they're they're you know, all these ideas and things are going through their mind. I mean, the b the biggest thing is if you were going to go up against the board, wouldn't you want it to even out the playing field, right? And so essentially speaking, if somebody was going to speak on your behalf, they're going to defend you, wouldn't you want to give them every single thing that they can take get their hands on to defend you appropriately? And that's really the conversations that we're having with these potential new clients is anything that you feel could could clear your name, right? Because these are allegations at the end of the day, and initially. So anything you feel could clear your name, anything you feel could could put you in a better light, you want to give that to the person that's gonna defend you. Once you meet with an attorney, that's where the beautiful thing is, is that now you have somebody that knows what they're doing that's has that can defend you into this, you know. I like to call it when it comes to this battle between you and the board, you're gonna give that person every single tool that they need to be able to defend you. So whatever that may mean for that particular person, it may be different for one than it is from a different nurse, but whatever information, documentations, communication, whatever it is you have tangible that you can give to somebody to defend you, I would say prepare that. Start putting that in the file, put that into a folder, have that ready. So when it's time for you and that person to meet, or you and that attorney to meet, you have everything ready for them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, absolutely. Well said. I mean, and you could put it in one folder, please. One, just one, you know, maybe it's a big folder, but just one. You know, you got your timeline, you got your documents, everything that you may need to submit, anything your attorney asks of you or asks you to pull together, and you don't send it anywhere until you're clear on what it is and what it implies for your case, you know. Um, so Carrie, I know something that our listeners are probably curious about. What actually counts as board action? Can you take us through the like this initial process um of investigation?

SPEAKER_01:

Um, yeah, so there's a couple of different things. I mean, in terms of board action, you know, they have a lot of options. Um, you certainly want to make sure you understand the difference between a board action and just employer, you know, inquiry, right? Like your employer might start asking questions. They might know things about, you know, Operation Nightingale and they might start to be concerned. Um, and although, you know, their action is gonna be a whole lot different than the board, you can essentially take everything that we're talking about today and still apply it to, you know, any questions that are coming from your employer. Um, but in terms of board action, you know, they are gonna have a couple of things. They're gonna have notices of investigation, um, they're gonna have formal charges, and then they're gonna have, you know, a proposed order or basically like a proposed resolution. Uh, and all three of those are are pretty distinct. And so you need to understand the difference and you know, you need to treat them differently.

SPEAKER_00:

It sounds like it's pretty easy to like figure out which stage you're in when it comes to board action. Does that stage of board action change how you should respond?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, definitely. Um, so like I was saying, you know, with investigations, formal charges, and proposed, you know, orders, proposed resolutions, however you want to call it, um, they're gonna impact you differently. So you got to treat them differently. For instance, initial investigations are confidential. So you're not required to report them to anyone. No one would know if you were under investigation with the board. But in contrast to that, formal charges, once those are filed, then that does become public. And anybody that goes to look up your license with the Board of Nursing is going to see formal charges, you know, have been filed. With proposed orders, uh, these can differ, you know, depending on what the details in the order actually say. So they can be public disciplinary action, uh, or they can be what we're starting to see a little bit more of, which are called deactivation agreements, which is essentially something that the Board of Nursing basically made up because of this catastrophe that is, you know, nightingale. Uh, and essentially that is not going to be disciplinary action. Um, and more importantly, it's also not going to be public. It's not going to go on your license verification. Um, it's not going to be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank. Uh, but these are two very different things, right? Like something that's uh not discipline versus something that's discipline. You wanna know the difference between that because you don't want to get something like this and say, okay, let me sign this, let me agree to this, thinking it's one thing, and then realizing later that it's not, and you can't go back after that.

SPEAKER_00:

And it sounds like there's so many options of how things could go. And again, that it just kind of speaks to really the importance of finding some specialized legal help who can help you navigate that. Um, we mentioned earlier that people try and explain themselves and really prove their innocence and they can actually say something that's really damaging. What are some examples of phrases that people should maybe avoid?

SPEAKER_01:

So, to be honest, I mean, this, you know, Operation Nightingale situation is very nuanced. It's um very much based in law and based in the statutory authority that the board has created in terms of what is required of an applicant uh within like their educational background, what you know, courses and classes do you have to have? That's statutory in the code. Um, the board doesn't have any discretion about that. So to be honest, saying anything is probably not going to be helpful because the arguments are really gonna be based in what the code is saying and what the individual applicant or you know, the individual license holder's background actually is. The other reason that I would say, you know, saying nothing is probably best is because there's no real reason to like rush this process. Like generally, if people get, you know, a complaint or they get a notice or just they get bad news in general, right? Like their immediate in, you know, instinct is to like act. Um, but to be honest, that is not really gonna help a majority of the nurses that are impacted by this because the longer the investigation takes is the longer that you get to continue practicing just like you are, just like you did before you got a notice. Um, so kind of rushing it or trying to say a bunch of stuff or giving the board all this information that they did not need to know, um, is really only gonna like hurt you. And so taking kind of that step back and realizing, you know, let me not say anything, uh, let me wait on the board, uh, is really kind of gonna be the best spot that some of these nurses are gonna want to sit in.

SPEAKER_00:

No, that absolutely makes sense. It sounds like whether it's the board or your employer that really kind of playing your hand close is keep keeping your hearts cards close. Keep exactly keep your cards close, keep it to yourself is what I say. Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. Um, Jason, anything that you you want to add to that?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I mean, you know, you want definitely want to stay professional at all times, right? Um, and and but speak to an expert, you know, before you do anything. I mean, that I think that's the the the running theme here in G even in our conversation is speak to a professional beforehand. A lot of things you think is the right thing to do. The profession, you know, the expert might tell you that's not the right thing to do. A lot of things you didn't think was was important or so minuscule and small that was it seemed insignificant actually was you know, the smoking gun per se. So definitely speak to an expert before you do anything, before you do any action on your part. Talk to somebody, someone that knows, not just everybody. Talk to someone that knows, someone that may potentially defend you against the board, an attorney that knows what they're doing. You want to talk to somebody.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, as as the expert on this podcast, I would say I agree with that, Jason, a hundred percent. There's so many times that you know, we talk to clients and they'll say something and they're like, that was the right thing, right? And almost all the time it's a big no. That was not what I wanted to hear. That was not what they needed to know. Um, so you're exactly right. Like, don't just talk to anybody, right? Don't say, oh, I listened to this podcast, and they said this. They said no, talk to somebody that's actually going to be able to help you. Um 100%.

SPEAKER_00:

While we can educate you and give you all the knowledge, um, everyone's situation is different. It's unique to you. And you need to find someone who can um advise and uh analyze your specific situation. So that being said, we can end it here with a simple summary that our listeners can use in the first 72 hours. Don't panic, communicate, don't post, don't send out long emails, and don't make up a bunch of different versions of what happened. Build your timeline folder, dates, documents, receipts, charts, all in one place. Clarify what contact occurred, employer questions, board investigations, board proposals, they all require you to respond differently. Get help early if you're facing board contact, because the early mistakes are the hardest ones to undo. It becomes much more stressful, much more expensive, and you may be calling that attorney who you thought you didn't need in the first place. Carrie, Jason, is there anything that you guys want to add as like your single most important point you want to make in this podcast?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that's so much pressure. I don't know if this is the single most important thing, but I certainly kind of like what we've been talking about. I uh we understand, you know, this is stressful. You want to panic, you want to freak out. Um, but this is just not a fast process. So although you do, you know, want to reach out to, you know, hopefully an attorney that would be able to help you, um, just know that there's no need to try to rush this process. And you are entitled to due process and the board of nursing uh for, you know, any issues that they might be having with just the volume of these cases. They are doing the right thing. They can't just come over, you know, and take your license. They have to give you this due process. They have to give you these steps that we've been talking about. So just kind of taking a breath and realizing that you are a part of this process too, um, would probably be, you know, what I would just tell people and what I do tell, you know, any nurse that we have that I talk to take a breath and understand that there's a process and you will follow it and you will get, you know, the same rights that everybody. Else has had. So try to try to remember that and hopefully that brings people just a little bit more calm. Kind of like Jason said right at the beginning, you know, you want to plan. Uh and so just understanding what your next step is, what your plan is, I think can sometimes be, you know, the biggest takeaway from, you know, a bad situation like this.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I mean, Carrie's right. If I was gonna sum it up in a sentence, talk to an expert, then talk to an expert. They know what they're doing, even out the playing field. You don't have to go through this fight alone. The experts are gonna help you. That's who that I mean, that'd be my number one takeaway from this is talk to the experts. Yes, it's a scary time. Yes, the word investigation is scary. Yes, having your name on an investigation letter is even more scarier. Um, but you talk to the experts, right? Somebody has gone through this before, someone has won with this before. You find that person, you speak to them, you let them handle things. Talk to the experts. That's my takeaway.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And again, just remember, like Carrie said, that there's a process that that everyone um has got to follow. So absolutely. Well, thank you guys so much for joining me and really shedding light. I know that we're gonna have a few more episodes on this from different perspectives, but um, really hearing it from people who talk to um these nurses day in and day out is uh is awesome. Thank you guys for joining me.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_00:

And thank you to our listeners for tuning in to know your regulator. If you found this helpful, share it with a colleague, especially an employer or a nurse who is having trouble trying to make sense of this responsibly. Stay tuned as we continue our series focused on Operation Nightingale, and we dive into how this is being investigated, prosecuted, and how something like this unfolds. Until next time, stay inspired and continue engaging with your regulatory agency.