By Chad Van Alstin 

After recent news that a woman in Florida was arrested for allegedly impersonating a nurse—holding a position meant for an RN at AdventHealth Palm Coast for 18 months without a license—a new report raises concerns that it could be part of a larger national trend.

Examples were found from all over the country, including one where a woman in Pennsylvania was found to have the identities of 20 people in her vehicle, including Social Security numbers, that she used to allegedly gain employment as a nurse in multiple states.

The woman charged in that instance, Shannon Nicole Womack, notably also did not have a license. Yet, using a fake identity, she seemingly worked regularly in nursing roles until the scheme was discovered by accident during a routine traffic stop.

While the two cases are unrelated, investigators said arrest records in other states point to a larger trend of “impostor nurses” occurring nationwide—with regulators building databases in hopes of stopping them from being rehired.

Arizona lists more than 130 people who have applied or held positions as nurses between 2000 and 2024, despite not having a license. Similar databases in Georgia and Texas have 40 and 140 names, respectively. Many are said to have worked for years before getting caught.

Without a national repository, the scope of the problem remains unclear. The reasons why it’s happening can be tied to nursing shortages, which have left facilities desperate to fill roles. Further, licensing restrictions have relaxed since the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing individuals to travel more easily to other states to gain employment.

Another piece of the puzzle is diploma fraud. As the outlet notes, Operation Nightingale unveiled a scheme involving gray market “schools” that sold degrees, which were then used by individuals to secure licenses to practice nursing. Most of those institutions were shut down in 2023 after prosecutors took action. However, it isn’t hard to imagine that similar schemes are still occurring, even with new laws in place to increase oversight.