We’ve published a couple of recent stories in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about nurses. One of those stories, written by investigative reporter Chris Joyner, highlighted some disturbing information about how the Georgia Board of Nursing handles complaints about nurses in the state.

Joyner’s reporting showed:

• The board handles serious complaints, but takes an average of 15 months to act. Many of those complaints apparently involve major transgressions, and the nurses continue to work while the cases are resolved.

• Poor record-keeping makes it difficult to determine how many complaints there are, but there appear to be thousands of open cases.

The reporting around this issue also has an important back story.

According to Joyner, the initial tip for his reporting came from the president of Board of Nursing, which is not the usual way our investigations get started. Typically a member of the public or someone frustrated by the chain of command will suggest such a story.

But it shows how important appointments to state boards can be, even if they don’t get much attention at the time.

“The board president is a nurse and a private citizen who, as an appointee, has an independent voice in government,” Joyner said.

In this case, Barry Cranfill was frustrated by the lack of attention to what he sees as a big problem: license fees from about 150,000 nurses in Georgia generate $4.2 million annually, but the Legislature takes half that money to use elsewhere in the state budget. That means the nursing board lacks the funds and staff to handle complaints in a timely fashion.

Cranfill voiced his complaints internally and lobbied the Legislature, but with no success. He turned to the newspaper for the reason people so often do — to hold government accountable.

Joyner’s story also compared Georgia to North Carolina. In our neighboring state, the nursing board regulates a similar number of nurses and handles complaints against them in a fraction of the time.

Georgia’s decisions have sad consequences. In one instance a nurse who was accused of stealing drugs jumped from job to job for months before an arrest finally resulted in a license suspension. Neither the public nor the nurse are well-served by the board in such cases.

Joyner’s reporting was hindered by another problem common to Georgia: laws undermining the state’s Open Record Act.

The thousands of complaints against nurses aren’t available to the public. Our state code is riddled with such exemptions because the Legislature grants them as part of other bills, often adding them without any consideration on the effect on overall government transparency.

“Other states — California, for example — allow the public to more closely monitor the complaint process,” Joyner said.

As deep as Joyner dug, he could not determine the exact scope of the problem or what serious complaints against nurses might be languishing.

Joyner’s work on this story has led to Gov. Nathan Deal stepping in. He’s asked the nursing board to meet with him in an effort to resolve the funding issue.

That move is important, and it brings to mind another important initiative at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Each year, the newspaper honors outstanding nurses with a special section and event, "Celebrating Nurses — ajcjobs Nursing Excellence Awards" The effort is led by our advertising sales group, and you can find the special section at ajcjobs.com/celebratingnurses. I encourage you to read it.

At this year’s event, 10 nurses were honored, and the audience got to hear their stories, which are available in the special section. Just about every story brought tears to the eyes of those in attendance.

For example, there was the story of Gaby Sussman, a nurse at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She was nominated by Shea Geeslin, the mother of a former patient.

Sussman helped care for 14-year-old Frannie Geeslin, who had a massive brain tumor.

“Frannie had nine IVs and a drain line coming out of her brain,” her mother said, in nominating Sussman. “We did not know how long we would be in the hospital or if Frannie would even be saved.”

Frannie spent a month in the hospital recovering. Sussman once spent three hours after surgery washing the girl’s hair.

“She made the worst days of our lives bearable,” said Geeslin.

That’s just one of the remarkable stories recounted in the section and event honoring Georgia’s best nurses. And there are certainly many more.

The truth is, most nurses do outstanding work; only a small percentage finds themselves before the nursing board.

That’s why it’s so important for the board to be effective, so that poor nurses aren’t sullying the reputation of the profession.

As a newspaper, it’s been important for us to see and cast a spotlight on the best and worst stories about nurses in the state. It demonstrates a more complete picture.

And it shows why the state must give the nursing board the ability to monitor nurses. Georgia can and should do better by its nurses and citizens.