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A recent study from the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica found that dozens of staffing agencies are not performing background checks on nurses, while others are ignoring warnings from hospitals about insufficient nurses on their payroll.

The study - which examined disciplinary records, personnel files, court documents and interviews - found that some agencies hire nurses without even interviewing them. That can result in poor care, including workers falling asleep on the job, failing to perform critical tests or stealing drugs meant for patients.

Some agencies included in the study hired nurses who had criminal records or left states where their licenses had been restricted or revoked. In California alone, at least three firms employed a nurse whose license had been suspended in Minnesota for stealing drugs. One firm even hired that same worker after he was convicted of stealing drugs at a nursing home in Santa Rosa, Calif.

Even as hospitals complained about nurses, agencies continued to move them from one facility to another, the study found. For instance, one nurse had racked up more than 12 warnings after ignoring patients and sleeping on the job, but an agency continued to send her to various hospitals. It was found that nurse had previously been convicted of 12 crimes, including prostitution, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of cocaine.

Perhaps most surprisingly, workers who found themselves getting in trouble at one agency seemed to have no problem finding work at other agencies. One nurse from Oklahoma was employed by at least four agencies in Southern California during one year, even though she had been accused of stealing drugs at each firm. Before working at the last firm, that nurse was arrested in Oklahoma for posing as a doctor's office employee and calling in prescriptions.

The practice of making bad nurse hires seems to be more common in states like California, where there is a severe nursing shortage, causing almost every facility to rely on temp workers.

According to a 2008 survey from the State of California, about 6 percent of registered nurses are temp workers. Of those roughly 19,300 people, about half live in other states.

Part of the problem in California is that the state's Board of Registered Nursing does not require hospitals or agencies to report nurse misconduct. Further, a previous study from the same two agencies found that there is often a long delay in disciplining nurses accused of wrongdoing.

Instead of taking more serious action after a nurse has been accused of misconduct, several hospitals simply retrain or monitor those workers after the fact. Temp nurses in particular are often exchanged for replacements without receiving further reprimand or guidance.

Labels: Criminal background checks