(a) The board shall establish criteria for the acceptance, denial, or termination of registered nurses in the intervention program. Only those registered nurses who have voluntarily requested to participate in the intervention program shall participate in the program.

(b) A registered nurse under current investigation by the board may request entry into the intervention program by contacting the board. Prior to authorizing a registered nurse to enter into the intervention program, the board may require the registered nurse under current investigation for any violations of this chapter or any other provision of this code to execute a statement of understanding that states that the registered nurse understands that his or her violations that would otherwise be the basis for discipline may still be investigated and may be the subject of disciplinary action in accordance with this section.

(c) (1) Neither acceptance nor participation in the intervention program shall preclude the board from investigating or continuing to investigate, or, except as provided in this subdivision, taking disciplinary action or continuing to take disciplinary action against, any registered nurse for any unprofessional conduct committed before, during, or after participation in the intervention program.

(2) The board may investigate at its discretion complaints against registered nurses participating in the intervention program.

(3) Disciplinary action with regard to acts committed before or during participation in the intervention program shall not take place unless the registered nurse withdraws or is terminated from the program.

(d) All registered nurses shall sign an agreement of understanding that the withdrawal or termination from the intervention program at a time when the program manager or intervention evaluation committee determines the licentiate presents a threat to the public’s health and safety shall result in the utilization by the board of intervention program treatment records in disciplinary or criminal proceedings.

(e) Any registered nurse terminated from the intervention program for failure to comply with program requirements is subject to disciplinary action by the board for acts committed before, during, and after participation in the intervention program. A registered nurse who has been under investigation by the board and has been terminated from the intervention program by an intervention evaluation committee shall be reported by the intervention evaluation committee to the board.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 520, Sec. 6. (SB 799) Effective January 1, 2018.)