Washington Department of Health Disciplinary Statistics

Washington’s Department of Health, Health Systems Quality Assurance Division issues Uniform Disciplinary Act Biennial Reports to assist in its regulation and oversight of healthcare providers in the state. The most recent publication, for 2015-2017, can be found online here: https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/2000/UDAReport2015-2017.pdfWithin the report, one can compare how much discipline of licensed Registered Nurses resolve in informal disposition as compared to Physicians [Table 11]. This data is not specific as to what allegations make up the discipline, whether one profession is more likely to draw complaints, and it is not clear whether more egregious acts are alleged as to Physicians versus Registered Nurses.However, just by these numbers, when a physician was disciplined in 2015-2017, the discipline resolved with informal disposition roughly 54.2% whereas it resolved similarly only about 27% of the time for Registered Nurses. A similar trend applied to Pharmacists and Chiropractors versus Licensed Practical Nurses.The Nurses were also more likely to have some discipline result from hearing, through a final order [roughly 4.5%], more so that Physicians, Pharmacists, and Chiropractors [roughly .8% combined].Whether there is disparity in treatment of nurses by the Department of Health, or other issues at play, the takeaway is, Nurses beware in Washington when dealing with disciplinary matters.