Track Your State Nursing Board

Look for Yourself: Is Your State Reporting Dangerous Nurses?

States are required to report disciplinary actions they take against health professionals to a massive federal database that hospitals can now search. But we found that many states are doing so inconsistently. The chart below shows how many serious disciplinary actions against registered nurses each state reported to the database over the past ten years.

The pattern in several states raises questions about the completeness of the reporting. Indiana, for instance, reported almost no discipline against nurses in the early and mid 2000s, with a sharp increase beginning in 2007. When we asked officials about it, they acknowledged that hundreds of sanctioned nurses had never been entered into the federal database. Years in which the number of actions reported fall below the average are potential red flags worth investigating further.

Important: these numbers are from September 2009. Some states may have updated since then. These numbers are only the beginning of a line of inquiry and not themselves news.

Serious Disciplinary Actions, as Reported By States to Federal Database, 1999-2008

Name 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Alabama 107 142 126 147 184 203 228 191 228 201
Alaska 5 16 15 14 9 15 23 19 13 20
Arizona 70 73 111 172 179 220 197 201 172 178
Arkansas 135 97 79 99 87 182 181 119 103 156
California 223 139 250 141 255 408 282 407 354 343
Colorado 101 74 72 81 52 71 68 69 111 90
Connecticut 60 76 66 53 52 63 56 63 49 50
Delaware 21 5 5 5 7 23 18 18 4 8
District of Columbia 0 0 0 9 0 1 2 4 2 2
Florida 102 45 31 201 177 140 275 239 313 226
Georgia 103 16 22 49 93 108 55 59 57 74
Hawaii 1 1 5 1 5 5 7 4 1 4
Idaho 20 9 21 7 17 24 10 21 27 9
Illinois 97 218 92 112 141 83 122 61 63 180
Indiana 11 19 15 12 17 6 7 45 120 78
Iowa 108 83 74 80 97 103 86 60 67 59
Kansas 43 18 25 9 17 42 17 9 16 46
Kentucky 120 109 47 74 44 95 109 83 79 57
Louisiana 215 194 158 194 236 300 337 286 180 114
Maine 35 29 18 26 33 47 33 44 41 31
Maryland 46 32 22 19 14 32 24 39 60 37
Massachusetts 80 69 59 75 97 103 115 99 73 98
Michigan 225 141 113 86 144 158 130 191 162 170
Minnesota 157 70 87 120 104 99 112 108 138 76
Mississippi 120 122 172 108 85 64 83 108 47 93
Missouri 119 160 139 134 118 112 124 209 206 151
Montana 24 20 25 23 29 19 33 22 28 37
Nebraska 49 31 35 45 34 64 78 61 50 53
Nevada 56 35 45 41 49 57 41 60 40 66
New Hampshire 17 17 16 29 39 62 27 29 25 18
New Jersey 125 85 44 71 82 78 46 79 43 24
New Mexico 76 30 49 54 47 57 55 50 84 50
New York 132 82 108 79 88 81 92 134 132 88
North Carolina 152 135 135 157 153 163 152 174 188 202
North Dakota 13 12 10 14 12 17 18 15 18 12
Ohio 54 19 62 134 172 225 218 236 184 420
Oklahoma 67 65 64 53 85 102 90 120 68 102
Oregon 43 35 27 28 33 27 27 55 71 116
Pennsylvania 88 116 61 134 124 135 134 220 180 264
Rhode Island 41 33 32 29 21 26 25 22 24 25
South Carolina 119 85 119 63 126 111 105 109 95 111
South Dakota 31 18 12 19 11 19 24 14 15 17
Tennessee 24 25 22 8 25 48 76 86 88 90
Texas 352 536 478 382 286 275 428 467 607 367
Utah 84 37 45 44 58 57 39 41 36 46
Vermont 0 6 8 13 13 19 14 16 12 17
Virginia 67 72 63 50 67 76 80 72 68 120
Washington 54 57 33 37 84 85 56 64 40 59
West Virginia 26 0 2 1 3 64 61 44 76 60
Wisconsin 24 1 4 22 28 29 59 58 69 67
Wyoming 7 8 9 5 4 4 7 7 3 0

A Note on the Data

This data should not be used to compare one state against another, because it may not be accurate and it is not adjusted for the number of nurses in each state. Another caution: Since September 2009, some states may have gone back and entered old actions they took against nurses. Check with each state before using these figures in a story.


The types of disciplinary actions include: revocations, probations, suspensions, voluntary surrender of licenses, and denials of license renewals.

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Quick Links

Charlie-tracy-100px Podcast: Reporters Charlie Ornstein and Tracy Weber discuss their reporting on delinquent nurses.

• • •

Our Recipe: Investigate Your State's Oversight of Health Care Professionals

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Editor's Note: Why We're Sharing Our Recipe

• • •

Chart: Serious Actions Reported Nationwide

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When Caregivers Harm - Our complete coverage of flawed regulation of healthcare workers California and nationwide

• • •

National Database Flawed - A long-awaited federal database of disciplined healthcare workers had significant gaps in records. Following our investigation found, the database's management team was replaced.

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Tracking Nurses Nationwide - This interactive map and chart shows the state of nursing records access nationwide.

• • •

California Discipline Delayed - Our analysis found that California took three years, on average, to discipline errant nurses. After our report, most of the board and its executive officer either resigned or were removed.

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Database of Sanctioned California Nurses - We assembled a database of nearly 2,400 California registered nurses facing discipline between 2002 and Sept. 2009. We also analyzed the gap in time between the board's public accusation and disciplinary decision.

Credits

Lead Reporters: Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber


Lead Developer: Dan Nguyen

State Nursing Board Tracker

Information by State