Feb 26 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A national database which was designed to inform hospitals, doctor’s and dentist’s offices, and other medical facilities of the background of nurses, pharmacists, and other medical professionals is apparently missing very important information. Created in 1996, this database is set to launch on March 1, 2010, but federal officials are calling for much more thorough reports from Ohio, as well as other states.

There are many gaps in the reports which come from over a dozen regulatory boards in Ohio, which are responsible for hundreds of thousands of records. Because of these gaps, it is increasingly difficult for a person who is searching the database to find and past disciplinary actions that may have been taken against the professional they are investigating.

Although the general public is not allowed access to the database, it is supposed to contain any disciplinary action taken against every medical professional available. Although many of the state boards say that they are trying to comply, they say that the database is “cumbersome” and often their reports don’t show up after they are submitted.

There also seems to be much confusion as to what they are required to report, and about whom. The Illinois Dep of Public Health, for example, was not reporting disciplinary actions against ambulance drivers. When asked about the gaps in data, “We unfortunately were not aware of this,” spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said. “If this is a requirement that this be reported to the feds, we’re definitely going to make sure that we comply.”

What all of this means is that until the databases are completed, and the disciplinary actions of all of these medical professionals is made available to these offices, there is a great possibility that they may continue to hire nurses, pharmacists, and such who have lost their license or harmed patients in the past.