act requiring hospitals to obtain criminal history info. from prospective employees; provide grounds for denying employment; prescribe penalties; provide provisional employees; impose employee requirements; & provide for civil immunity.

remarks:creates two separate and distinct categories of crimes for which convictions would preclude an individual from being employed in a hospital.

a person would be banned for life from working in a hospital if he or she committed any offense that constitutes serious physical harm, a threat of serious physical harm or conduct that shows a reckless disregard for the vulnerability of care-dependent populations.

a person would be banned for 10 years from working at a hospital if he or she committed an offense related to misappropriation or misuse of property or convictions involving inappropriate or irresponsible behavior. time spent in prison does not count toward the 10 years. those who fall under this 10-year ban can appeal the ban if the conviction occurred at least five years prior, not including time spend incarcerated. these criminal conviction provisions apply to all employees who have direct contact with patients.

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note:

following bills were not passed in 2003-2004 legislative session but will be reintroduced in 2005.

update from psna:

nov 04 legislative alert:

hb 2371 whistleblower protection (hb 2371) is being held-up in the senate public health and welfare committee, where senator mowrey is the chair (contact scott johnson, his chief of staff at 717-787-8524) and senator jane orie is the vice chair or contact the senator that represents your respective senatorial districts to have the bills moved out of committee. when the senate returns the week of november 7th, we have to push to get this bill out of committee and moving forward or we may loose this opportunity for progress!

send an email: hb2371 support whistle blower protections for you and your peers

hb1721 -- support cns title recognition!

cns title recognition (hb 1721) will be on the house professional licensure committee calendar november 9th,2004. 43 other states recognize the cns in statute or regulation. support the practice of clinical nurse specialists by granting them title recognition.

nurses need to contact their respective house members and then follow-up with a call to their respective senator with particular attention to the members of the senate consumer protection and professional licensure committee.

send an email:

hb2371 support whistle blower protections for you and your peers

introduction of [color=#336699]hb 2718

house bill 2718 will grant monetary incentives for students enrolling in nursing education programs leading to a diploma, associates or baccalaureate degree in nursing. the purpose of this act is to provide an incentive to pennsylvania students to pursue higher education and training in nursing which is essential to the delivery of quality health care services in this commonwealth.

through psna's legislative alert center

[color=#003399]you can make a big difference in just 5 minutes. that's all it will take to learn the issues and send a letter to legislators. the actions of our government have an enormous impact so please educate yourself and take action. personalizing the template letter will make an even greater impact. add a paragraph about how the bill effects you personally.

through this website you can click on individual bills afecting nursing and healthcare legislation, send an email, fax or letter to your state house or sentate repersentative (take action now) or even a letter to your local newspaper (letters to the editor)

go to: legislative alerts and updates

current legislation

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Guardian Angels

62 Posts

Jan 24, 2005

Please answer me on this one. Yes the whistleblowers act is a wonderful act. However, do you realize that if someone makes a complaint against you or anyone in PA malicious in nature, the board will not punish the nurse for the malicious complaint, even if it is proven it was done under EVIDENCE of malice? What about the months of torture of the individual who was accused? I was just through that process and there needs to be a provision for punishment of professionals who report out of malice. Right now, anyone who has a grudge against you can issue a complaint, your life is turned upside down and that person "gets away with it with a smile." :angryfire

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