Nurses who hold multiple licenses in various states, or who have both LVN and RN licenses, often assume that if the license is inactive they don’t have to report convictions, worry about investigations or be concerned about license discipline. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
Any nursing license, active or not, can be investigated and disciplined. If you were a former travel nurse and have licenses in 10 states, have never even set foot in 3 of those states, and those licenses have been inactive for 15 years, all 10 licenses still can be investigated and disciplined.
Let’s say you started your career as a LVN but you’ve been a RN for 9 years and your LVN license has been inactive since. If you get arrested for a DUI, you must disclose it to both the BRN and the BVNPT. If you are being investigated for charting errors by the BRN and they eventually discipline your RN license, the BVNPT can also investigate and discipline your inactive license.
Finally, let’s say you have completely changed careers and you have been a successful realtor for 23 years and haven’t worked as a nurse or even reactivated your license during that time. Your inactive license can still be investigated or disciplined and you are still required to abide by disclosure requirements.
If you need to disclose an arrest or conviction, or if your California nursing licenses are under investigation, please make sure to tell us if you hold licenses in other states or other professional licenses in California, active or not. We can represent you with all California matters and we have a self-help option for disclosing convictions or disciplinary action to your other states. We are here for you, contact us today.