As we have stated before in our blog, you cannot please everyone all the time. Someone can file a complaint against you for even the most minor perceived offense, putting your hard-won nursing license at risk. It is always important to keep nursing license defense in mind if a person complains, but it is also important to understand what kind of complaints fall within the California Board of Registered Nursing’s (BRN) jurisdiction.
We want nursing professionals to know that not all filed complaints are handled by the BRN. While any complaint needs your immediate attention, only the most serious ones make it to the BRN. The sections below contain a brief description of three types of nursing complaints that the BRN addresses.
- Complaints regarding criminal behaviors such as fraud, theft or violent crimes fall within the BRN’s jurisdiction. As you might imagine, any complaints or allegations of this nature require you to take nursing license defense actions right away.
- The BRN also handles any complaint alleging incompetence, patient neglect or abuse and other behaviors that might endanger patients. These complaints are just as serious as criminal complaints in that they could endanger your license and lead to criminal charges.
- Substance abuse allegations as well as complaints about your mental capacity also require the attention of the BRN. Since these allegations could indicate the possibility of patient harm, the board takes such complaints quite seriously.
Even if you are completely innocent of the complaints made against you, you will benefit from legal assistance when nursing license defense is your top priority. We urge registered nurses in need of more detailed information to explore our online resources.
