The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 2

THE OKLAHOMAN NEWS0K.COM 2A SUNDAY, JULY 6, 2014 FROM PAGE 1A Oklahoma has nearly 75,000 licensed nurses after 'panic' When the economy turns down, a lot of nurses who had stayed home for whatever reason usually enter back into the profession during that period of time. This number (74,656 registered nurses), I anticipate, will start to go down now that the economy has leveled off." cause of those individuals who entered back into the profession when things were down will probably leave." Regardless, Glazier said the nursing ranks will likely remain high for the foreseeable future. She said retention programs, as well as all the work that was done to draw attention to the shortage back in 2004 and 2005, should keep those numbers high. "A lot of work was done by a lot of entities to increase enrollment and increase people coming into nursing," Glazier said. "So, I don't think that (the number of nurses) will ever go back down because of all of the recruitment because of all the work that has been done." out there about the shortage of nurses at the time," Glazier said during a recent interview with The Oklahoman.

"Now, I've been a nurse long enough to know that a lot of the shortages are cyclic. But this time, when they looked at it, it was going to be at a critical level." Shortage prompts growth Glazier said the shortage identified a decade ago grew to a mini panic because of the large number of Baby Boomers who might have been affected had such a shortage persisted. "There was not going to be enough health care professionals to care for these Baby Boomers," Glazier said. "The highest area where there was going to be a shortage was nursing." But it wasn't simply the Baby Boomers who caused the huge increase in nurses over the past decade. The other big jump came in late 2008, when the worldwide economy contracted, sending the United States and the rest of the world into a deep recession.

"When the economy turns down, a lot of nurses who had stayed home for whatever reason usually enter back into the profession during that period of time," Glazier said. "This number (74,656 registered nurses), I anticipate, will start to go down now that the economy has leveled off, be BY ANDREW KNITTLE Staff Writer aknittleopubco.com There are more licensed nurses in Oklahoma right now than there has been at any point in the state's history. A recent open records request made by The Oklahoman to the Oklahoma Board of Nursing reveals there are 74,656 licensees in the state, an increase of more than 22,000 in the past decade. Kim Glazier, executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Nursing, said she traces the rise in the nurse population back to a panic, of sorts, that started "around 2004 or 2005." "There was a lot of literature KIM I EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE OKLAHOMA BOARD OF NURSING Nurses: Fines increase for abuse of prescription drugs BY THE NUMBERS $657,250 Amount in fines handed out in 2012 by the Oklahoma Nursing Board to nurses who had violated the laws of their profession. 700 Number of disciplinary hearings held by the nursing board for the third year in a row.

$373,100 Amount collected in fines from the disciplinary hearings. 10.5 PERCENT Percentage of revenue received by the Oklahoma Nursing Board through the payment of fines. It was the largest such percentage in the past 10 years, records show. she "withdrew and charged patients for (controlled dangerous substances) after clocking out from her assigned shift andor on days she was not assigned to work," a consent order filed against the nurse states. Herrera was fined $10,500 by the nursing board on Jan.

15, 2007, and also was charged in Cleveland County District Court with three counts of obtaining controlled dangerous substances by fraud. She would later plead guilty to all three counts, receiving a three -year probation term. Herrera is no longer a practicing nurse, records show. Fines growing With the nursing ranks swollen to nearly 75,000 licensees, record fines are being assessed and collected by the Oklahoma Nursing Board. Last year, the board handed out $657,250 in fines to Oklahoma nurses who had violated the laws of their profession.

The board also conducted more than 700 disciplinary hearings for the third year in a row and collected $373,100 in fines, the most ever. In 2013, the board received 10.5 percent of its revenue through the payment of fines, the largest such percentage in the past 10 years, according to records provided through an open records request. PHOTO BY DOUG HOKE, THE OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE the nurse "diverted Lortab and morphine tablets and carisoprodol by substituting these controlled dangerous substances with Tylenol tablets," according to a board order filed against Baquera. "(Baquera) diverted fen -tanyl patches for her personal use," the order states. "There were a total of 304 pills andor patches diverted." Baquera was fined $157,000 by the nursing board for her conduct and her license is still listed as revoked.

stole two syringes loaded with hydromorphone from the "Oncology Unit" and another 10 tablets of Nor-co, ahighly addictive painkiller, from the "Med- Surg Unit." The nurse's license was revoked and she was fined $10,000 by the board. Tiffany Herrera, a registered nurse who worked at Renaissance Women's Center in Midwest City during the summer of 2006, also was disciplined by the nursing board after Position of trust Some nurses use their position of trust to feed their addictions even when they aren't on the clock. One nurse who died at the age of 30 in April 2013 came to her job at an Oklahoma City hospital, just days before Christmas 2007, dressed in "nurse attire" for the purpose of stealing drugs. An order filed against the nurse shows that she FROM PAGE 1A theft of them that looms the largest. "When you have an addict, you have a person who is going to manipulate systems and people," Jones said.

"If you have an addict as a practicing nurse, they're going to manipulate whoever they can." Nurses work throughout Oklahoma, in a variety of settings. Some of them work in sprawling campuses in Oklahoma City or Tulsa. Others work in small clinics in small towns, or for doctors in private practices in the suburbs. Many go to work every day in a patient's home. Regardless of where they are, nurses have access to medications, many of them narcotics.

An open records request made by The Oklahoman to the Oklahoma Nursing board, which covered a 10 -year period ending on March 31, reveals that some nurses paid a hefty price for stealing drugs or using their position as a nurse to get them. A little more than a year ago, Kawinta Biagas -Robinson was cited on a violation of the Oklahoma Nursing Practice Act by diverting morphine and other drugs meant for "at least two patients" while she worked a staff nurse at Community Hospital in Oklahoma City. Just a few weeks before she was fired by Community Hospital, Biagas -Robinson was fired from Midwest Regional Medical Center in Midwest City, accused of stealing highly addictive painkillers meant for "at least seven patients." Biagas-Robinson also was fired from Norman Regional Hospital in August 2008 after she refused to provide a sample for a drug test. Board records show that the nurse was accused of stealing "a large amount of morphine for administration to several patients without documentation of pain." Records show that Biagas -Robinson drew a $10,000 fine from the nursing board. Her license is revoked, meaning she no longer is licensed to practice nursing in Oklahoma.

Other nurses use outright fraud to get drugs. In September 2007, a woman working as a field nurse for Gentiva Health Services in Stroud used her position as a nurse to secure more than 3,000 tablets of Lortab, a highly addictive painkiller, records show. A board order filed against Jeanne Loree McGinnis, who also acquired Xanax in her scheme, shows that the nurse simply called a pharmacy and told them she was calling from the office of a local doctor and that the medication was for a OUR PURPOSE STATEMENT Amid an ever changing world, one uplifted by achievement yet rife with disappointment, we create a brand new suite of products every day with an overriding principle in mind: We are Oklahomans. Our goal is to help make our state a better place to live, work and raise a family. We strive to create real value for our customers and advertisers by: 1.

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McGinnis' ruse lasted for four months before she was caught and charged with a list of felonies in March 2008. The woman's nursing license was surrendered after she failed to complete a substance abuse treatment program. She would also plead guilty to drug charges, drawing a five-year probation term. McGinnis was fined $9,000 by the Oklahoma Nursing Board, one of the largest fines handed down by the board in the past 10 years. She is no longer a licensed nurse in Oklahoma, board records show.

Six-figure fines Some nurses were fined far more because of their drug abuse. The largest fine handed down in the past decade was issued to Martin Lee Keasler, who was licensed as a registered nurse and licensed practical nurse before he stood in front of the nursing board on July 8, 2008. Keasler, who worked for Solara Hospital in Shawnee in 2007 and parts of 2008, was disciplined by the nursing board after he was caught diverting more than 500 vials of medical-grade cocaine, which is still used today by some doctors and dentists because of its anesthetic properties. Keasler was fined a record $250,000 by the Oklahoma Nursing Board. A check of the board's licensee verification database shows that Keasler has yet to pay the fine.

His nursing license is still listed as revoked. The second-largest fine and the only one in the six-figure neighborhood as Keasler's was issued to Kirsten Turci Baquera in October 2004. Baquera worked at the Alterra Sterling House nursing home in Oklahoma City from June 2004 to August 2004, board records show. While there, CUSTOMER SERVICE For delivery concerns: 478-7171 Toll free: (877) 987-2737 Email: For same day redelivery of missed copies in Metro Oklahoma City, call by noon. Missed deliveries must be reported within 2 days to receive adjustments to your account.

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