Board Of Nursing California

REGION: Anderson's nursing license review hearing under way

**This story has been modified from its original version

A four-day hearing has begun for a Tri-City Healthcare District director accused of failing to properly account for prescription medication while she worked at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas in 2006.

The California Board of Registered Nursing accused registered nurse Charlene Anderson, who was elected to the Tri-City board in 2008, of failing to properly chart the use of 33 pills removed from a hospital dispensing machine from May 4 to Aug. 29, 2006.

A formal complaint filed by the nursing board asks Administrative Law Judge Robert Walker to suspend or revoke Anderson's nursing license and for her to pay for the costs of the state's investigation, which got under way in October 2009.

Anderson insisted Tuesday, the second day of what was scheduled to be a four-day hearing, that all of the medications were delivered properly.

"Every single patient got their medication at the time they were supposed to get it," Anderson said.

Deputy Attorney General Karen Gordon said there is no evidence that Anderson took the missing medications --- 25 Percocet, five Vicodin, three Tylenol with codeine ---- herself. Nor is there evidence, she said, that they were given to someone else or sold.

"There is no record of what happened to them," Gordon said.

And that, according to the accusation against Anderson, is the problem. State law and hospital policy require bedside nurses to note in a patient's record the time and date that medications, especially powerful prescription painkillers, are given.

According to Anna Jackson, director of patient quality at Scripps Encinitas, there is a record of times and dates that Anderson, a registered nurse since 1991, removed the pills from an automated "Pixus" machine. But there are no notes in patient charts showing that the painkillers were actually delivered to patients.

Jackson testified that Anderson was fired by Scripps in 2006 after the medication charting issue surfaced. She also testified that she informed the board of nursing about the missing medications in 2006..

The administrative hearing is set to resume Wednesday and is scheduled to finish on Thursday.

Richard Layon, Anderson's attorney, said that he does not know why the patient records do not show proper documentation of each dose. He said the state and Scripps have not shared the full patient records with his office for review.

Board of Nursing California

BRN has been authorized to oversee the implementation of the Nursing Practice Act, regulations concerning nursing education, licensure and licensing procedures, licensee Practice and discipline.

Composition of the Board of Nursing California

CA Board of Registered Nursing constitutes 9 members as required by the Nursing Practice Act and these members also serve as the decision making body of the Board.

Out of nine members elected to the Board, four members represent the public and five members represent nursing professionals. 5 RNs board members comprises of, one advanced practice nurse, two direct-patient care nurses, a nurse administrator, and a nurse educator. The seven Board members are elected by the Governor and 2 Public members are appointed by the Legislature. Each Board member has the serving term of 4 years and no members are eligible to get re-appointed after 2 consecutive terms.

Mission

In order to protect the consumers the CA Board of Nursing has set up its mission, which include:

License Renewal

BRN require renewal of Licenses every 2 years by the applicant Licensee.

Certificates BRN also offers 24-Hour Toll-Free Licensing Verification System, and an Online License Verification System through Toll-Free1-800-838-6828 and Online at http://www.dca.ca.gov/proflic/rns.shtml.

CA Board of Registered Nursing regulates 300,000 registered nurses practicing in various health care settings throughout California and these Registered Nurses uses different titles including CRNA, CNM, CCRN, NP, CNS and PHN

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