Applicants Who Are Guilty Of Crime Or Have Discipline In Another

STATE. (1) The Board is concerned about individuals with criminal histories who apply for licensure as nurses. The Board’s concern stems from the fact that nurses care for patients in a variety of settings, including patients’ homes, where there may be no other health care providers and no other person to witness what nurses are doing. Patients are often vulnerable, both physically and emotionally. Nurses have access to personal information about patients and/or the patients’ families. Nurses have access to patients’ property and provide intimate care to patients. The Board believes that persons who receive nursing care and their families should be able to have confidence that an individual licensed by the Board does not have a history of mistreatment, neglect, violence, cheating, defrauding the public, or otherwise taking advantage of another person. In making decisions on applicants with criminal histories the Board will follow the applicable provisions of the “Fresh Start Act” found at T.C.A. § 63-1-130. (2) Any individual who applies for any license and supplies false or incomplete information to the Board on an application for licensure regarding the individual’s criminal record or record of discipline in another state will be denied said license.