California: Nursing Board Tracker

This page has information and updates on nursing boards and regulation specific to California. Read our recipe for investigating nursing boards' oversight.

Contact Info

California Board of Registered Nursing

1625 North Market Boulevard, Suite N-217
Sacramento, CA 95834-1924

Phone: 916.322.3350
Fax: 916.574.8637
Online: http://www.rn.ca.gov/
Contact Person: Louise Bailey, MEd, RN, Interim Executive Director

California Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians

2535 Capitol Oaks Drive, Suite 205
Sacramento, CA 95833

Phone: 916.263.7800
Fax: 916.263.7859
Online: http://www.bvnpt.ca.gov/
Contact Person: Teresa Bello-Jones, JD, MSN, RN, Executive Officer

ProPublica Analysis: Access to License Info

Does this state allow users to look up nurses licenses for free online? Yes
Does this state provide free disciplinary documents online? Yes
In publicly available national database? No

Serious Disciplinary Actions

States are required to report sanctions against health providers to the federal government. Below are the number of serious actions against registered nurses that California reported in recent years, based on a ProPublica analysis of data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (see caveats).

Actions, Cumulative by Year

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
223 139 250 141 255 408 282 407 354 343
See the numbers for every state's serious disciplinary actions

Actions, by Year and Type

Year Revocations Probation Suspension Voluntary
Surrender
Renewal
Denial
1999 106 104 4 9 N/A
2000 44 72 2 21 N/A
2001 115 93 2 40 N/A
2002 57 57 1 26 N/A
2003 91 123 3 38 N/A
2004 112 243 3 50 N/A
2005 65 176 4 37 N/A
2006 115 225 5 62 N/A
2007 112 183 7 52 N/A
2008 107 149 6 81 N/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.

Contact Us

We want this page to have the latest information about California's nursing boards, and we want your help. Contact us with questions or updates.

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Quick Links

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

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

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

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Chart: Serious Actions Reported Nationwide

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

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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.

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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