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Tennessee · Nursing

Tennessee Board of Nursing; Department of Health Office of Investigations

Complaint instructions checked against the linked sources, with limitations and known conflicts. Confirm that the authority covers your concern.

Authority and scope

Check the professional and concern

The Board oversees registered and practical nursing licenses and advanced practice registered nurse certificates. Its nursing page also describes registered nurse first assistant and medication aide certificates. The complaint route is for possible violations involving a regulated practitioner; confirm the credential rather than assuming every healthcare worker comes under this Board.

Supporting guidance: Board of Nursing

Submission

How the official source says to file

  • Use the healthcare-provider online complaint form linked by the Board and Department. The Department encourages an Allegations Report and signed Patient Release.
  • Prepare the practitioner's identity, profession and license number if known; explain events with dates and witness contacts and keep copies of supporting materials.
  • The Office of Investigations can discuss filing at 800-852-2187. Telephone complaints are accepted in some circumstances. Preserve your submission: the Department says submitted materials are not returned.

Supporting guidance: Board of NursingHealth professional licensing: complaint instructionsLinked PH-3466 complaint PDF

Limits

What this route may not provide

The Department says it cannot provide civil or criminal legal assistance, represent a complainant, or recover fees or damages. Its investigation addresses professional regulation.

Supporting guidance: Health professional licensing: complaint instructions

Anonymity

Do not guess about confidentiality

Anonymous complaints are accepted, but enough factual detail is necessary and the filer cannot receive status reports. The Department describes complainant identity as confidential while warning that a practitioner may infer it from requested medical records. Confidentiality is different from being unknown to the agency.

Supporting guidance: Health professional licensing: complaint instructions

Complaint timing

Ask promptly; an investigation may take months.

This guide does not establish a deadline for filing a nursing complaint. Ask the Board promptly about the rules that apply to your situation.

Supporting guidance: Health professional licensing: complaint instructions

Process

What may happen after filing

The Office initially reviews the complaint, with clinical and legal review to assess possible violations. A field investigation may follow. The Department describes written acknowledgment and written disposition for identified complainants; a complaint does not itself establish misconduct.

Supporting guidance: Health professional licensing: complaint instructions

Evidence

Prepare a reviewable submission

State the concern you want reviewed, then add a short chronology, best supporting records, factual consequences, and a specific request for review.

Read the linked authority and process information ↗

Sources and scope

Some agency-linked forms and destinations could not be read. Source-check dates apply to the material listed below; they do not establish that every linked portal was inspected or a complaint submitted.

Board of Nursing

Credentials, Board responsibilities and linked online complaint form.

Source checked: September 19, 2026

Source check: September 19, 2026. This records a review of the linked material, not a decision about your case. No clinical or legal reviewer is identified for this guide. Confirm current instructions with the receiving authority.

A state authority is one checkpoint—not the entire accountability system.

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