How to Verify LVN Licenses in California

In California, in order to legally work as a licensed vocational nurse, or LVN, you must have a current and active license. Any LVN with an expired or inactive license can't practice nursing legally in the state. The state's 11-member Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians, which is under the California Department of Consumer Affairs, is the governmental body in charge of providing the public with an online mechanism for verifying LVN licenses.

Instructions

• 1

  Make sure that you have all the pertinent information of the LVN whose license you want to verify. This includes their first and last name and license number. Additional information, such as the person's middle name and city or county in California that the person is licensed in also helps. If you don't already have the information, find out as much of it as possible through the LVN or company he or she works for.

• 2

  Go to the website for the Board of Vocational Nursing & Psychiatric Technicians (bvnpt.ca.gov). Near the top of the home page, under the BVNPT logo, will be a row of buttons; click the one labeled "Licensing." Then, on the page that appears will be another row of links lining the far left column of the page; click the one labeled "Online License Verification."

• 3

  On the online license verification page, there will be detailed information about the online verification feature, including definitions of what various license descriptions mean. For example, "canceled" means the LVN license has been voluntarily canceled, retired or has been expired at least four years. Read all the information on the page, then click the link labeled "Vocational Nurses License Verification" at the top of the page. The license search page will then appear.

• 4

  Input all the information you have about the LVN in the appropriate search fields. Although not all fields need to be filled out, the more information you provide, the more accurate your search will be. For example, if you only include a surname and not a first, then every LVN with that surname will appear in the search results.

• 5

  Click the "Find" button at the bottom of the search page and a list of names will appear. Search through the list to find the correct name, then click the name's hyperlink. Clicking the link will lead you to a page with detailed information about the LVN, including the person's full name, the date that the license was issued and when it expires, and if any disciplinary action has even been taken against the LVN.