How to validate fired RN status?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hello,

Long story short, my wife started as an RN in July and after a week on the job, she got fired. Essentially it came down to two things: 1) the day she got fired she had about 10 patients and two of them had the same last name and she mixed up their medications. Luckily the result was only an allergic reaction by the patients, and the patients liked my wife and decided not to press charges, and 2) after the incident, the staff reviewed her charting and found she wasn't doing a good job charting. I don't know the exact details of what that means, but apparently she wasn't documenting things correctly since she started as RN (which was only one week).

So they told us the Hospital won't press charges, but they did have to fire her and they reported the incident to the State Board of CA and within 2 hours the Hospital got the response saying that they have stripped her of her RN license.

One thing I can tell you, the staffing supervisor that was in charge is kind of shady so myself, I personally believe they just fired her and didn't do anything to her RN license but my wife says she was there when they called the State Board. But I don't think the State Board can make that kind of a decision within 2 hours, right? Because once she got called into the office and they reviewed her files, within 2 hours she was fired and lost her license. They told her she is not eligible to get her RN license back for 18 months.

Another twist is that my wife actually got her RN license from Florida, and then moved out to CA a year later. She had to take some extra classes to transfer FL RN license to CA RN license.

We never got an official termination letter from the hospital. Actually, she never got her final (actually first) paycheck either as the staffing supervisor said they aren't going to pay her because she could have gotten the hospital sued and the hospital still has the right to sue her so basically the staffing supervisor is saying we should be lucky the Hospital is not suing us, so forget about the paycheck. That's another story for another day as I'll deal with the labor laws and things like that to get paid because I know she has the right to get paid for hours worked. But right now I'm trying to see what her RN status in CA is because I think she could work as a RN now (right now she's working as a CNA/caregiver). Or at the very least work in FL as an RN. My wife tells me they told her that she isn't an RN in FL anymore since she transferred it to CA and now that she lost her RN in CA, she can't be an RN anywhere for 18 months.

I don't know who or what to believe but I am coming on here and hoping to find out:

  • Who/where to contact to see what her RN license status is in CA?
  • Who/where to contact to see what her RN license status is in FL?
  • Is it really possible for the State Board to review a file in 2 hours and make the determination to strip someone of their RN license?
  • If she really has lost her RN license, what options are there for her to get her RN license back faster?

Thanks in advance.

all you have to do is go to your state bon and do a license search.

it will tell you if her license is current, inactive, suspended, etc.

good luck.

leslie

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

You'll need to get a lawyer to deal with most of those issues. They are legal issues, not nursing ones.

The only people who can tell you about the status of her license is the State Board of Nursing for whatever state you are talking about. But once again, I would recommend you get a lawyer to represent you there, too.

Specializes in Peds stepdown ICU.

Like the other poster said, all you need to do is go to the california board of registered nurse web site and do a license search. I do not think they can just take her FL license without notifying her...she should have the chance to respond. You can also go to the Florida board of nursing and do a search. I believe, according to labor laws here in California, they must pay you and they must give a check upon termination--regardless of potential suits--geez potential suits are limitless...people are suit happy--but healthcare goes on! Also isn't there a limit to patients? I live in California and we have limits to the amount of patients e have in acute care. If she is a new nurse, shouldn't she have had a preceptor with her? Most places give new nurses preceptors for 6 weeks to sometimes 6 months (depending on the speciality.) Even if she had experience in another state, they usually give a preceptor for a few weeks. Most places usually counsel you on these mistakes and work out an improvement plan--especially being new--not strip your license...... This all seems a little strange to me...is there more to it????

Specializes in Tele,CCU,ER.

I agree with pedinurse05. First of all, go to rn.ca.gov to check the status of her license. It seems strange to me...though. Did she have a preceptor? Even if she was experienced they should have given her a preceptor for six weeks to acquiant her to the environment. If there were no adverse rxns to the med error, they should have counseled her and put her on probation. Many RNs make med errors and don't get fired. They get counseled and get help. It is normal to mke mistakes and one should learn from them to NOT make them again...Regarding her pay, they should have paid her REGARDLESS of her termination--- get a lawyer!!! Hospitals get lawsuits and this is not an excuse to not get paid!! What hospital is this? I never want to apply there :( GOOD luck and keep us posted...!! :)

Specializes in Emergency, Trauma.

There has to be more to the story than this....your license just doesn't get taken away over one med error.

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Unfortunately a lot of these questions can only be answered by the BON/BRN. I am sorry that your wife is going through this. Usually BON/BRN will investigate before any action is taken

California BRN

Florida BON

hello, this thread is about my wife, who was an rn. i started a thread here when she was "fired" but i didnt have enough info on it and so the thread got locked

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/how-validate-fired-rn-status-326679.html

now, i think i figured out what was going on and so i need some new help. originally wife got fired as an rn after 10 days on the job and the hospital gave this whole speil about how they reviewed her record and they called the state board and the state board reviewed her file and stripped her of her license and said she can't re-apply for 18 months. so i came on here trying to figure out what happened. since then, spent a lot of time researching and think i know what happened.

as a refresher- wife "passed" fl rn board test in 2005. wife moved from fl to ca and needed to take some new classes to convert her fl rn to a ca rn, which she took. started working as an rn, got fired ten days on the job due to mixing up meds. what we've found out since then is that apparently wife was never an rn in the first place which is why the hospital "fired" her- in reality they were saving their behinds from hiring an employee and letting her work as an unlicensed rn. i went to the websites for the florida rn and ca rn and neither have her listed as an rn (searches result in "no records found"; i searched for other people i know are rns in those states and i found them listed). i would have expected the ca rn to say "fired for x reason" or something. but nothing was found at all.

wife said she took the rn test in 2005 and got a letter in the mail shortly thereafter saying she passed. she didn't do anything after that. she lost the letter. so not sure how the state board normally notifies you but i guess sending a letter to you is normal? but not sure if after you get that letter you are supposed to do anything (like confirm your information with the state board, etc). its possible she really did pass and really got a passing letter but took no action and her passing "expired" or something. or she never passed the fl test but misread another letter.

either way, i just want to have her take an rn test in ca now and pass it, hopefully. if she fails, then sign her up for a online refresher course or something and take the rn test again later. i'm sure she would fail the test now since she took the test back in 2005 and that was in fl. she had been working as a cna in fl before she took the test and when she passed, she told her supervisor and her supervisor just accepted that and started her as an rn from that point. she worked as an rn at the florida hospital for about a year. then when she moved to ca she took the ca classes and worked as a cna until she started as a rn. after completion of those ca classes, she was allowed to start work as an rn. then got "fired" after 10 days on the job and has been working as a caregiver/cna for the past year. money has been tight recently and best scenario is for her to get her ca rn and work as an rn and not a caregiver.

so with all that said, what to do?

1. just go to www.rn.ca.gov and fill out an application that way?

2. how often are the tests?

3. is it conceivable for her to fill out an application and be taking the rn test within a month?

thanks

these are questions that you need to be addressing the state BON

if she was working w/o a license there may be a lot more to it than simply passsing a test.

we cannot give legal advise here..and i believe that is what you need at this point

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Threads merged.

Your wife should have received an RN license from the state of Florida once she passed boards. This has to be renewed every two years. Hers would probably have been due in '07 for renewal. So, if she never renewed (if she did pass NCLEX), she was working unlawfully in the state of Florida.

State Board reviewed her file and stripped her of her license and said she can't re-apply for 18 months.
If CA BON stated the above, she'll have to wait the year and a half. She can petition the BON, but be prepared for the year and a half wait.
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