Oops-eration Nightingale: Tracking 7,000 fake nursing degrees

An ongoing investigation has finally made a break, resulting in the arrest of 25 individuals for forging over 7,000 fake nursing degrees. Dubbed Operation Nightingale, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services investigation has spanned across 5 states: DE, NY, NJ, TX, FL.

This will undoubtedly have an untold impact across the health care community. Moreover, the ramifications in regards to such matters as medical licenses, the hospital’s insurance and public trust cannot be measured with any degree of accuracy yet.

Buying a fake nursing degree and actually working is crazyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

— Elizabeth (@doitmuvaaa) January 28, 2023

The scandal unfolds

For years, Palm Beach School of Nursing had built a reputation of being fast and effective with aiding students in getting their nursing license. Varying from technician licenses, to LPN and RN diplomas, those enrolled in the school have taken to Google reviews to encourage others to follow in their footsteps.

Such claims name many of the same individuals who have been arrested in the pursuit of the fraudulent crime as mentors and great communicators. These reviews tell viewers that the school is of high quality, value, and is professional. Yet there are significantly fewer reviews of those warning potential clients that the school is not to be trusted.

In light of the recent investigation, sources have revealed that the school has only been coaching students to take their final exams, boards, and certification tests, rather than actually prepare them for the health care field. With passing scores but a lack of fundamental understanding of the healthcare aspect of the job, new “nurses” are coming into hospitals with an extreme lack of understanding that puts themselves, the patients, and other nurses at great risk.

You may ask, if they can pass their exams, why shouldn’t they be able to work at full capacity as other nurses? Without the intense schooling that all other nurses go through, and clinicals to help teach the physical process of basic procedures nurses are assigned to do, the faux nurses are at an extreme disadvantage. This may be viewed as akin to memorizing answers for a test, but lacking the reps and understanding to apply it in stressful situations in the course of your duties over a period of time.

Once passing their exams, the faux nurses are hired by hospitals that trust- based off the fact that they passed their exam- that they can do everything expected of them. It is lying on their resume to the most extreme degree.

This still may not sound as bad as it could be to someone not in the healthcare field. One may even think that they can just learn as they go. However, that just simply is not how the job works.

In case you missed it: A quick guide to VA dental and vision insurance

It is expected that a nurse can function on their own, and be able to do simple procedures such as identifying medications, giving an IV and handling a medical emergency with little to no help once they enter the field. That is the entire point of school clinicals, so the learning curve is out of the way when they start their career.

A tip in 2019 sent the ball rolling in the investigation efforts of operation nightingale. Not to be confused for the war efforts of Vietnam to recruit more nurses, this modern mission is to preserve the trust and safety of our healthcare workers.

Update: 2/3/2023 11:00pm EST: The investigation is still ongoing, but 26 nurses in various states have had their licenses annulled in connection to the arrests.

Health care workers from other countries

Standards of medicine are different across the globe. As a result, many people who come to the U.S. with certifications and degrees from other countries, find themselves jumping through seemingly unnecessary hoops. These can be both costly, and time consuming, but are required under U.S. law.

It is believed that a fair amount of those who took advantage of the seemingly “convenient” opportunity of advancing their career quickly were already LPNs of various immigrant communities in Florida. From that perspective, it can be assumed that their previous medical experience may have been a factor. As they were coming into a new standard of practice, perhaps they thought the school was made to help people in the position that they were in. Though that would be greatly beneficial to those coming to America to advance their medical careers, that is not the case here.

Overall, the entire situation has been considered upsetting on numerous scales. Nurses of social media have begun to talk about their experiences with the fake nurses of the Florida scheme. Nurses describing interactions that mimic a fever dream, where audacity and ignorance bring a John Mulaney skit into reality. Though these situations are laughed at while on screen, in the real world, it is extremely dangerous and damaging to the reputation of front-line workers of the healthcare system.