When you make your living as a nurse in Pennsylvania, you need to be careful how you behave. Certain types of legal trouble have the potential to threaten your nursing license. If you receive a charge for driving under the influence of alcohol in Pennsylvania, you may wonder whether it might impact your professional license if that charge leads to a conviction.
Per RegisteredNursing.org, if you receive a conviction for DUI in Pennsylvania while you hold an active nursing license, it may result in you losing that license. However, this is not definite, and there are certain variables that determine whether you have to surrender your nursing license.
Determining factors
Some of the factors that help determine whether you might lose your nursing license after a DUI include your disciplinary history and your criminal history. Your chances of losing your license are often higher if you have similar or multiple other violations or infractions in your past.
Members of Pennsylvania’s nursing board may also consider whether your DUI indicates that you might be a threat to others, or to public safety, in general, before deciding whether to revoke your nursing license.
Possible alternatives
Not every nursing board disciplinary hearing leads to a loss of your nursing license. Depending on circumstances, the board may decide to place you on probation. The board may also decide that you may continue to make your living as a nurse, but that you need supervision while you do so.
Keep in mind that even if the state does not take your nursing license, individual employers may have policies in place regarding what happens when an employee gets a DUI.
