Background checks- what we all need to know:

[DavidKarl]

(Posted earlier, there was a formatting problem, was advised to repost in black font only, and it was in black, now I'm trying notepad instead of Word. It's way too long to retype in by hand).

Let me clarify that this post is not specific to nurses with actions or complaints against their licenses. This is relevant to anyone, any nurse, anywhere. In the digital world, we all need to know who is watching us, what information is being stored and spread and sold, and etc. I crafted this list, however- based upon reading so much flawed thinking in blogs, where nurses wonder 'should I report my arrest, 'will they find my background', and the like. If you have ever been arrested, it will be found out- no point in even considering otherwise. Likewise, if you have ever been arrested, you have to disclose it to ANY BON, unless you are told, specifically, not to report dismissed charges, or the like. You have simply got to be direct and forthright, totall, and always. Again: Your past will be found out. The following should be perused by every nurse, periodically, to be sure your name isn't logged onto one of these sites in error, also- to be proactive in safeguarding your career, much like you are advised to check your credit reports for erros every year? So, here goes nothing..."Oh, what a tangled web we weave"???

-MVD.

-State boards of law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, finance, banking, security, and many other career fields.

-Military files.

-IRS.

-Insurance companies in which you have made a claim or have a policy, or have applied for any policy. For example- if you have ever made a claim against your home insurer, both YOU and the PROPERTY you filed a claim for will always be on a list for scrutiny, and higher premiums.

-FBI. Compiles a RAP sheet on you based on information submitted from state and local law enforcement.

-City, County and State police.

-City, County and State courts.They all have websites in which you can check on any person's history of court proceedings, usually free.

-defaulteddocs.dhhs.gov. HEAL (Health Education Assistance Loans)- data base of students who have defaulted on student loans and are subject to revocation of their professional license.

-MIB.com, health insurance industry data base of everyone who has applied for individual health insurance, to track whether the information they provide on their applications matches the information stored in the data base from previous applications, and from information provided by doctors, pharmacies, etc.

-exclusions.oig.hhs.gov. Federal site that lists health care license holders that have any complaints lodged against their license (that you may or may NOT even be aware of, since in many states you can be reported anonymously!). Point to ponder for those of you that feel so free to pass judgment against those of us unfortunate enough to have been arrested: Between ¼ and ½ of all complaints filed against nurses end up with disciplinary action being doled out. Considering that anyone can file a complaint for any reason- and that a nursing career is ever more precarious? Consider yourself lucky if you've never made a mistake, and use your effort to protect your own license, rather than attacking us. It can happen to you in the blink of an eye, despite you're possibly believing that you are infallible.

-npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov The Data Bank, another healthcare licensee registry that tracks discipline actions against health care practitioners.

-dol.gov Department of Labor. May have records of any unemployment claims you have filed, complaints you have lodged against unfair pay practices, etc.

-Your state welfare or unemployment or food stamp or Medicaid offices.

-osha.gov. Allegedly created to protect workers from unsafe working conditions and hazards. If you've filed a complaint against an employer, this agency has a file on you, which will include your employment information submitted by your employer. For example, if they see your history of back trouble, you may not get a job, and won't know the reason why not.

-fas.org. NCIC- National Crime Information Center. Used by police to check your history when you are questioned or arrested, to see if you have warrants.

-uscis.gov. Immigration.

-annualcreditreport.com Credit reporting agencies: Contain credit, public records, various other information. You are entitled to a copy from each of these agencies once a year, and after any negative action you receive (such as being refused a loan) based on the information these agencies have provided to the potential creditor. TIP: Spread out your requests for your 3 free reports over the year, that way you'll see a running history, rather than all three reports at the same time.

-Employers. They have almost unlimited personal information on you including background checks that may have been conducted using a variety of sources. There are laws restricting what type of information they can provide as a reference to a future employer, but what information are they really providing?

-lexisnexis.com A legal data base that collects court information and sells it to insurance companies, such as auto insurers, much like a credit reporting agency. For example- I did not report my DUI to my auto insurer, they do checks at random on people to see if they can catch violators and raise premiums. However, this site informed them FOR me.

-nhtsa.gov. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration keeps a National Driver Registry (NDR) (another database) of drivers with DUI and other driver license issues, such as suspensions, reported to them by state MVD offices.

-GOOGLE, naturally. If you have yet to GOOGLE your own name, you might be suprised what comes up...

This list is not comprehensive, but it will give us all pause to reflect, again, how precarious our licenses can be. And how far-reaching the digital age has already become.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

How far back to they usually go? I know our HR dept only goes back 7 yrs...... what about if you have misdemeanor from a military court but still had an honorable discharge? This question came up for someone I was writing a reference for and could not find an answer if a standard bacckgroun check would have this info. The incident occurred 23 yrs ago and is still on the military record somewhere I am sure.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

how far back depends on the type of discretion that is important to the person doing the search. May also depend on how much time and money they are willing to spend to get the data.

Remember the joke "if you cannot recall the name of your high school boyfriend, run for office"? Same with other data. It never seems to go away. My former daughter in law is from another country and has not lived in the USA for 16 years. She has never lived with me. But when I googled my own name hers came up as someone living with me. Never was true and certainly not true now. You gotta love technology.

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

A possible upside is that there is such a vast amount of data that many employers will find they get no real value in searching for it. They will instead do reasonable criminal and employment history background checks and leave it at that.

The ones who do waste their time scouring every database in existence to find a "data-mined pure" candidate are going to find they actually hired a human being with all the same HR challenges as any other company not doing ridiculously extensive checks.

[elprup, BSN, RN]

Awesome list. Some of these, I had no idea!