HJBR Jul/Aug 2021

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JUL / AUG 2021 37 Karen C. Lyon, PhD, MBA, APRN-CNS, NEA Chief Executive Officer Louisiana State Board of Nursing and under extenuating circumstances. The Compliance Division and Legal Division participated in a cross-division- al training related to hearing testimony and case review reports on March 15-16, 2021. The two divisions’ work is closely intertwined, and staff are committed to cross-divisional improvements to better serve the profession and public. Special thanks go to Lauren Byrd Papillion, LSBN prosecuting attorney, Robin Huet, RN compliance officer, and Miranda Christo- pher, compliance investigator, for assisting in facilitating the training. The Administrative Division is head- ed by Chief Administrative Officer Isonel Brown. The division has had a full plate dealing with an increase in the number of licensees reporting various phishing scams stating that their licenses have been suspended, that their license will be sus- pended or that they have been placed un- der investigation. These scammers are im- personating LSBN staff and attempting to trick APRNS into providing their personal information such as passwords, credit card numbers or bank account information. Re- cent reports indicate that these scammers are using fraudulent letters or phone calls to steal this information from APRNs. The fraudulent letters may look authentic, and the caller IDmaymake a phone call appear to be coming from the LSBN, but they are not. Knowing the information below can help you avoid most types of spoofing and phishing scams. 1. The LSBN does not take payments over the phone nor demand immedi- ate payment using specific payment methods (especially not prepaid debit cards, gift cards or wire transfers). 2. LSBN staff will NEVER ask you for financial information, such as your bank account number. 3. You can sign up to Nursys in order to be alerted to any official licensure sta- tus changes concerning your license. This is a free notification service for nurses and institutions/employers that provides automated license sta- tus updates and expiration reminders. How/Where to report a scam: If you or someone you know has been a victim of a spoofing or phishing scam, here’s who you can contact: • Make a complaint to your local police or law enforcement agency, as well as the Attorney General’s Office. • Report the fraud or scam to the Fed- eral Trade Commission. The Nurse Practice Division is under the direction of Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Wright, DNP, FNP-BC. There were several advocacy initiatives accomplished in the first half of 2021. The first had to do with alerting nurses to the Louisiana Nurse Honor Guard, a group of volunteer nurses who pay special tribute to fellow nurses by performing a ceremony at the nurse’s fu- neral, gravesite or memorial service. For further information, contact Clelie Dugan at lanursehonorguard@outlook.com or Martha McMillan at lanhgofcenla@gmail. com. Additionally, the division has been making nurses and the public aware of a beautiful music video tribute by country stars Brown & Gray on YouTube at You Didn’t Have To (Song for NursesEvery- where) - YouTube. Additionally, the division implemented collection of the continuing education re- quired by Senate Bill 55 (Act 76). This bill mandates that prescribers of controlled substances in Louisiana obtain three cred- it hours of continuing education (CE) as a one-time prerequisite of license renewal. LSBN has an approved list of courses that can be referenced at the following link: http://www.lsbn.state.la.us/Portals/1/ Documents/Audit/CDSCEApproved CourseList.pdf. Finally, with the retirement of Cynthia Bienemy, PhD, on January 9, 2021, the Lou- isiana Center for Nursing (LCN) has moved to the Executive Division and is now under the supervision and direction of Chief Ex- ecutive Officer Karen Lyon, DNP. On Feb- ruary 23, 2021, Lyon met with Bronwyn Doyle, PhD, RN, CNE, and Wendy Bailes, PhD, RN, from Nurse Supply and Demand Council (NSDC) to discuss the future of LCN and to assure them of the continu- ation of all workforce data management surveys and reports. Additionally, meet- ings were held with the Louisiana Action Coalition (LAC) Core Leadership Team to update them on changes to LSBN’s partici- pation in the coalition. Although LSBN will no longer be the co-lead for the LAC, the agency will continue to participate on the Core Leadership Team and will support all workforce initiatives. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” At LSBN, we hope that the citizens of Louisiana will find that our staff is always in service to them. n