I never just post a news item on this site, but this one is so fascinating to me, I thought it was worthy of space. In California this weekend, the Governor fired 2/3rds of the state Board of Nursing for failing to discipline nurses accused of serious misconduct. It all came out after a lengthy joint investigation between the LA Times and ProPublica.
“Reporters found nurses who continued to work unrestricted for years despite documented histories of incompetence, violence, criminal convictions and drug theft or abuse. In dozens of cases, nurses maintained clean records in California even though they had been suspended or fired by employers, disciplined by another California licensing board or restricted from practice by other states.”
The investigation journalists conducted was extensive and the site has some interesting stories to tell as a result. Besides the main article, there are multiple profiles of patients harmed as a result of nursing misconduct slow to be investigated; a multimedia tour of one nurse’s case; and a database they compiled of the sanctioned nurses.
It’s all some fascinating stuff. If you’d like to read the complete series, including lead up articles to yesterday’s big news, click here.
Not a bright and shining moment for nursing in California. Which is too bad, because I know some bright and shining nurses in California.
[Schwarzenegger Replaces Most of State Nursing Board by Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, ProPublica]