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Background Checks

California Nurses Working Here While Sanctioned Elsewhere

In but one more case of things falling through the cracks, it has been discovered by the California Board of Registered Nursing  that some 3,500 of its nurses have been punished for misconduct by other states — hundreds even had their licenses revoked — while maintaining clean licenses in California.  So essentially what these means for sanctioned nurses, if you have trouble finding a job in other states,then come to California.   thirty-Five hundred nurses that have been disciplined in other states is no small number.

As the joint report from the Los Angeles Times and Pro Publica indicated, certain healthcare staffing agencies often conduct shoddy background checks, or they do not run background checks at all.  When the staffing agencies or responsible recruiting partners do actually run the background checks, then the responsible personnel does not thoroughly review the returned background searches.   In some cases,  databases and information provided by the sanctioning bodies has not been updated, and healthcare  workers who really shouldn’t be employed go on to find jobs.  In California.  And presumably elsewhere.   One has to believe that healthcare workers sanctioned in other states may find work in fresh states, meaning states where they haven’t worked previously.  An odd concept that nurses and healthcare workers say one step ahead of the disciplinary actions, but that is often how it works.

I have blogged about this issues a number of times.   One such article is entitled, Suspect Caregivers Missed on Healthcare Sanctions Background Checks.   According to the new article in the Los Angeles Times, the California Board of Registered Nursing has discovered these 3,500 odd nurses with prior disciplinary activity.   This activity can range from past criminal records to drug abuse issues or being on the sex offenders registry.     Past infractions can also refer to the nurses and healthcare workers abusing or robbing the elderly or abusing the young.   There are also the issues of professional neglect and general misconduct while on the job.

According to the Times article,California reviewed its list of 376,000 active and inactive nurses against a database maintained by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.  This list consists of disciplinary actions take by the different states.   All states report their disciplinary actions on a voluntary basis.   Some nurses matched up and had beendisciplined by multiple states, sometimes for the same incident.

According to the Times article,m California’s nursing board never bothered  checking to see if its nurses had been disciplined in other states. Until late 2008, the state did not require nurses, when renewing their licenses, to even make this disclosure. . The board checked their records against the national council’s database of disciplinary actions only when the nurses first applied for a California license. Board President Ann Boynton said the board now plans to pay the national council to run  background checks of California nurses on a quarterly basis.

You would think there would be a better background checking system for healthcare personnel.   These are people entrusted with caring for our ill, our frail, our young, and our elderly.  You cannot have them abusing drugs and alcohol or perceiving their patients as easy prey to rob and abuse.   such behavior not only speaks ill of the healthcare industry in general, but of our society as a whole.

Background checks need to be conducted on a periodic basis.  These background checks need to be thoroughly reviewed before healthcare workers can start at their new job.  Otherwise, we are flirting with potential disaster.

Categories
Background Checks

Corra Group Closed for Fourth of July Holiday

Corra Group will be closed Monday July, 5th for the Fourth of July Holiday.  We will return Tuesday, July 6th at our regular business hours.  Please contact us then for your background checking services.

Happy Independence Day to Everyone!

Categories
Background Checks

University of Tennessee to Do Added Background Checks for Presidential Candidate

Tennessee Governor, Phil Bredsen, is requesting that after two failed Presidencies, the University of Tennessee take extra measures in conducting background checks on its new Presidential candidates.  According to an article on Nashville Public Radio, Bredsen wisely cautioned against using search firms for recruiting candidates as they may have other agendas other than the best interest of the University.

In his effort to see the University of Tennessee become a top tier research University, the governor wants the school’s future presidents to come under greater scrutiny.  A college president is responsible for administrative duties but also for fund raising.  You can’t raise funds if you have a tainted president of a major institution of learning.    The governor spoke about the difficulty in obtaining decent reference checks on candidates.  He noted that in this day and age no one would reveal any negative qualities about an applicant.

The University of Tennessee is a fine school and deserves a president that can serve as an inspiring leader, one who can raise funding in help the University achieve its goals as it moves toward the middle of the twenty first century.

In general, after the Amy Bishop debacle, I can only stress that schools should issue a more comprehensive choice of background checks as part of their preemployment screening programs.  Thankfully, not every administrator will make the headlines of an Amy Bishop, but changing times demand greater scrutiny.

With respect to background checks, the governor has a point.  However, if the reference questions are phrased properly and the reference researcher is good at what he or she does, then it is possible to obtain a reference verification that will assist in ascertaining qualities and required skill sets.  As a background check, the professional reference verifiction check while lmited, largely due to the fact it is your candidate providing the reference names,  can still offer valuable insight into the character and capabilities of your job candidate.

I would suggest that the University also conduct both federal criminal searches as well as federal civil records searches and county civil court records searches, as these will address any issues of lawsuits or questionable behavior on  he part of the candidate that does not meet the threshold of criminal malfeasance.

UT has been had three presidents in the last ten years. The last two were confronted with ethical questions regarding their finances,.    The third quit in 2001 amid allegations of a relationship with a female administrator. Where have we seen this before?

Categories
Background Checks

Oklahoma DMV Raising MVR Driving Record Rates

Motor Vehicle Driving Records or MVRs are mandatory background checks for trucking and transportation concerns who wish to remain compliant with the Department of Transportation.  The DOT mandates that MVRs be conducted on commercial drivers at least once every twelve months.

Other employers conduct MVR’s on their sales people in addition to criminal records and other background checks.  So there is a great need for Motor Vehicle Driving Records.

That being said, States are in need of money.  States are broke.  The Department of Motor Vehicles in a good many states, in the past year or so, have raised the prices for driving records.   While these background checks can be costly in some states, let’s face it, you need them and the states know this.

Be aware that the Oklahoma DMV is raising it’s rates considerably.  The Hawaii DMV is also proving to be no slouch when it comes to price increases for MVRs.     So be aware, and put some pennies aside–

ADVISORY – Oklahoma MVR State Fee Change

Effective July 1, 2010, Oklahoma will increase the state fee for their Driver License Records from $12.50 to $27.50 per record.

ADVISORY – Hawaii MVR State Fee Change

Effective July 1, 2010, Hawaii increased the state fee for their Abstract Driving Records from $10.00 to $23.00 per record.