Is the multistate nursing compact putting our Virginia elders at risk?

Did you know that Virginia is part of a multi-state compact created about ten years ago to allow states to share much needed nurses?  Virginia and 23 other states participate in this compact, which allows nurses licensed in one state to practice in the other 23 states with a multistate license.

Sounds great for nurses and states with a nursing shortage, right?  Not so fast.  A study by the non-profit organization ProPublica discovered that nurses with criminal records or found guilty of misconduct in one state were still able to practice in other multi-compact states.

Since there is no central licensing for the multi-state licenses, there is no centralized data collection or license administration that keeps “bad” nurses from getting jobs elsewhere.  Even if a nurse is accused by a nursing home in one state of misconduct, their multi-state license still stays active and there is no way for nursing homes in other states to know that individual had a problem elsewhere.

Not only that, but some states in the multi-state compact required criminal background checks before nurse can receive a license, and others do not.  If states in the compact that do not do background checks license a nurse, that nurse can then go work at another state in the compact that does require background checks – even though they never had one.

Since no statistics are maintained on the number of nurses disciplined in one state who travel to another to work, there is no way to tell how big this problem really is – which is a shame for our Virginia nursing home residents who deserve better.