Information currently available to the State Education Department regarding the “Operation Nightingale” takedown of fraudulent Florida nursing schools includes the following details about the schools and timeframes involved and their nexus to New York applicants and licensees: 

In order to protect the public health, safety and welfare, the State Education Department has contacted the individuals who graduated from the above programs and received a license to practice nursing. Since the education submitted is not acceptable, the Department requested the individual to either 1) return the license parchment or 2) have a qualified nursing program submit verification of acceptable education. Applications from individuals who applied with education from one of the schools above but who have not been licensed, will be contacted in the coming weeks. Those applications will be held until the applicant demonstrates that they have met the requirements for acceptable education, examination, and moral character.

The New York State Education Department is actively pursuing additional information from the federal authorities and will take appropriate action regarding the licensure or application status of any individual who is confirmed to have been approved to sit for the examination or obtained their license based on false and misleading information provided by the above-named schools. By law, however, certain aspects of the criminal investigation must remain confidential for the time being and potential disciplinary action by the Department against any specific individual cannot be publicized until completed.

The nursing programs listed above were at one time approved by the Florida Commission for Independent Education and the Florida Board for Nursing. However, the schools have all since closed and Florida’s Department of Education has made an interim finding that the schools were operated in a manner contrary to the health, education, and welfare of the public.

Please note that the public information available at this time does not include where graduates of these schools are currently employed, and the Department does not maintain such records. Available public information also does not indicate whether or not all documents issued during the above timeframes are illegitimate. We expect that some licensees who attended these schools did, in fact, attend required hours and clinicals and are properly licensed.

If you have an employee who you believe may have been issued fraudulent credentials, please consult with your attorney(s) and human resources director for guidance and consider speaking with the employee directly.