The Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing administers the state’s Board of Nursing and Board of Behavioral Health Professionals as well as other licensing boards. (Main photo by Getty Images; logo courtesy State of Iowa)
An Iowa-licensed nurse has agreed to surrender his license after being accused of defying a previous board order aimed at restricting his practice.
Iowa Board of Nursing records indicate that in July 2021, the board charged registered nurse and advanced registered nurse practitioner James “Davin” Dickerson with practicing outside his scope of authorized practice by treating patients with complex mental health issues despite his lack of certification in psychiatric mental health.
In January 2022, the case was settled with Dickerson agreeing to pay a $1,000 fine and to immediately stop treating patients with complex mental health issues. The agreement stipulated that Dickerson could continue to work as a generalist ARNP.
In July 2022, Dickerson’s case manager at the Board of Nursing reported Dickerson had successfully complied with all of the board’s directives.
In October 2024, however, the board alleged Dickerson had continued to see psychiatric patients at a mental health clinic in Omaha while also providing mental health services to Iowa patients while working from his home through telehealth technology. Those patients had complex mental health conditions, the board alleged.
At the time, the board charged Dickerson with professional incompetency related to a willful or repeated failure to practice within his scope of licensure; professional incompetency for failure to meet telehealth standards; unethical conduct related to a failure to comply with an order of the board; and unethical conduct for distributing drugs to patients or who are outside his area of specialty.
In order to settle the allegations, Dickerson recently agreed to surrender his RN and ARNP licenses with the state of Iowa. He can apply for reinstatement in one year.
The decision has no direct impact on Dickerson’s license to practice in Nebraska, where records indicate his RN license remains unencumbered.
The website of Omaha’s Counseling Connections & Associates currently indicates Dickerson works there as an “independent contractor” and that he “has experience working with numerous psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and attention deficit disorder.”