one day, while i was taking my lunch break, i got into an internet and looked up my license from the state website and to my relief found nothing. for some reason i looked up my nurse supervisor's name and she had lots of disciplines. it took her 7 years to reinstate her license. what does being reinstating her license mean? can she still practice nursing without being reinstated?
i look up my license once in a while because i know anybody can complain to the bon about my nursing practice and i also know my employer can complain and my license can be investigated.
so, do you check your license for any disciplines or complains?
I've got way to many important things to do than check out my coworks. I'd be the first to scream privacy issues if they were looking me up.
I dont think it is a privacy thing---as technically you can look up a Dr to see if there are any marks against them. Same would go with nursing. It is public record. Is it nice?? No. But it is not like HIPPA.
I do this all the time. It's actually a good way to find out if a nurse is practicing without a license, which happened to me when I was DON at a LTC facility. I made it a practice, BY LAW, to check on the licenses of all licensed personnel. I had a licensed practical nurse working on an expired license in the facility. She hadn't bothered to get it renewed and didn't bother to tell anyone.
It's not a privacy thing. It's on the internet. In my state you can look up anyone in the state who has a license, be it MD, RN, LPN, Massage Therapist, all the way down to your hair dresser.
It's something to be wise about. Would anyone here want to be working along side a nurse who has let their license expire? Or a nurse who doesn't even have a license? I think not
As far as having marks against you, wouldnt you be sent a letter 1st? I cant imagine they would put a mark against your lic with out informing you??
I think you always get notified of disciplinary actions, but the process isn't not about us, it's about public safety. If you get disciplined by the BoN, it's serious (I don't see any fluff on my BoN's site). If there's a conflice, public safety takes precedence over personal pride.
Complaints and allegations don't get listed on a state's website -- only any actual disciplinary findings/procedures after the BON has done a full investigation, issued a (negative) finding, and the accused has had an opportunity to appeal the initial decision. In other words, only after it's a "done deal." The accused would be fully aware that this process was underway -- you could never be "surprised" by a finding against your license on the website. :)
I dont think it is a privacy thing---as technically you can look up a Dr to see if there are any marks against them. Same would go with nursing. It is public record. Is it nice?? No. But it is not like HIPPA.
It's public information, but if I were doing it....
1. I wouldn't be using the hospital's computer to do it. Because they can see screen-shot by screen-shot who pulled up what. You don't want to get busted looking up info on your co-workers or especially your boss.
2. If you have that kind of time, don't tell anyone else at work you are doing it.
Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
It's public information, but if I were doing it....
1. I wouldn't be using the hospital's computer to do it. Because they can see screen-shot by screen-shot who pulled up what. You don't want to get busted looking up info on your co-workers or especially your boss.
2. If you have that kind of time, don't tell anyone else at work you are doing it.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.
:up:I can agree with that one. You can look them up at home with no repercussions.
Where I work, an ICU nurse was caught stealing Ativan out of the omnicell, went into the bathroom and injected it into her veins, came out and stole a percocet and took it. She was so out of it, she was sent home. She also came into work on her offday in her bathrobe firing orders at everyone and wrote orders in patients charts. Her husband was a patient on my floor, she went to his room and reaked havoc and almost broke the door down. I looked her name up and found NOTHING against her license. Apparently the hospital did not report her to the BON. She still works there. I had never looked anyone up, but reading this thread made me go look. Arent facilities required to report such behavior to the BON?
I look at it this way....it's the responsibility on the hospital to check licenses and "police" the other nurses. Human Resources is responsible for it upon hiring and when expirations are coming up.
Checking on the licenses of co-workers/boss is nothing more than the start of a gossip-fest.
So what if the nurse's license is expired? Eventually notices will be sent and it will be corrected....does the nurses knowledge suddenly fly out the door because she forgot to file a paper and pay a fee?
Of course it doesn't.
If a hospital chooses to not file a complaint, obviously you cannot file one for them...so then you are stuck again...what is the point for even having the information to start with? Why does someone need to know that so badly?
Hospitals do have a right to handle some situations internally. A nurse that has been "busted" taking drugs on site...you never know what she is having to go through. Maybe the hospital allowed her to keep her job if she does weekly drug tests...maybe another nurse has to give narcotics, etc instead of her.
Just because you don't SEE what the reprocussions are, doesn't mean that there weren't any.
That is just how I see it.
Also, you can't ever assume that someone is an addict. I have known people in my younger years who did some CRAZY things while taking their drug-of-choice, but an addict, they weren't.
I looked her name up and found NOTHING against her license. Apparently the hospital did not report her to the BON. She still works there. I had never looked anyone up, but reading this thread made me go look. Arent facilities required to report such behavior to the BON?
In CA a chemically dependent nurse who completes the Diversion program successfully has no record of a complaint against the license. Your state could have the same type of program.
racing-mom4, BSN, RN
1,446 Posts
I dont think it is a privacy thing---as technically you can look up a Dr to see if there are any marks against them. Same would go with nursing. It is public record. Is it nice?? No. But it is not like HIPPA.