Stealing drugs, inadequate patient care and privacy violations were among the top reasons for B.C.’s College of Nurses and Midwives disciplining licensed practitioners in 2024.
The biggest case of the year was that of a Port Alberni nurse being banned from practicing for five years after being convicted of sexual assault charges.
On Feb. 20, a college inquiry panel approved an agreement between the college and licensed practical nurse Colin R. Hall to address conduct issues underlying the sexual offences, and for engaging in workplace harassment of colleagues.
“The inquiry committee found that the most severe outcome was necessary to ensure that public safety was not compromised and to maintain confidence in the regulator's mandate of protecting the public,” the panel’s public notice said.
Patient care concerns
In January, the college reprimanded a Nanaimo nurse for "using unreasonable force" in dealing with a patient and found professional misconduct.
In a Jan. 18 decision, a college inquiry committee said the nurse was working in triage at Nanaimo General Hospital’s emergency department on Sept. 25, 2022, when she acted “contrary to expected standards of care in the assessment of a patient's level of consciousness.”
“The conduct described above did not foster an environment that respects patient dignity,” the decision said.
In March, a Surrey nurse was suspended for five weeks for dishonesty and ignoring patients between November 2021 and July 2022. A college March 8 disciplinary decision said the nurse made misrepresentations in her documentation and wasn’t honest with the employer. In one case, the nurse sat alone in a resident's room for more than three hours, leaving all residents under her care unattended, stated the public notice.
In February, the college suspended a registered nurse for nine weeks for insensitive patient interactions and inappropriate workplace communications. On Feb. 22, a college inquiry committee panel approved a consent agreement to address issues that happened between 2018 and 2022. The panel said the insensitive interactions were with and around vulnerable patients from marginalized communities.
In March, a Nanaimo nurse was disciplined for inappropriate behaviour involving patients in her care. Those issues included slamming a door in a patient’s face, raising her voice to two people in her care, not completing wound care for one resident, not following appropriate practice standards in administering oral medication to two residents and not communicating with subordinate staff in a professional or respectful manner.
In April, the college disciplined a Kamloops nurse for giving a synthetic opioid to the wrong patient. A college panel of inquiry said it had reached a consent agreement with the nurse to address practice deficits that occurred on March 5, 2023, related to administering "hydromorphone 24 mg SR" to the wrong patient.
In June, the college disciplined a nurse for not helping colleagues with a fallen patient. The panel said the issues also included not adhering to established medication administration protocols, inadequate assessments, and documentation deficiencies.
In July, the college suspended a Chilliwack nurse for patient medication practice problems, including not adhering to medication administration practices, not ensuring their documentation was accurate, or not documenting at all.
The college also suspended a Nanaimo nurse for six weeks after finding problems with her medication practice standards. On Oct. 7, a college inquiry committee panel approved an agreement to address practice issues that occurred between May 4 and Oct. 9, 2022.
Drug thefts
Early in the year, a nurse was reprimanded for their year-long stealing of narcotics for their own use, using patients’ names to get drugs.
In a Jan. 16 disciplinary decision, the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives said the nurse diverted narcotics from the workplace for a period of 12 months for personal use, under the names of patients who were no longer admitted and/or with no record of administration.
The college said the nurse also took the drugs by entering the work premises when not scheduled to work or prior to or after scheduled shifts.
The events took place between September 2020 and September 2021.
A B.C. nurse falsifying records to cover theft of narcotics for their own use could have harmed patients, the college said in a Nov. 5 disciplinary notice.
A college panel of inquiry said falsification of patients’ medical records left the impression patients were requiring more narcotic medication than what was actually administered.
The college said the falsification in incidents between December 2022 and February 2023 was “a practice that potentially could have resulted in patient harm.”
Privacy issues
A Duncan nurse was suspended eight months after a finding she illegally accessed patient information and shared it.
Meanwhile, a Nanaimo nurse was suspended for one week as discipline for accessing patient records when unauthorized to do so.
“Nurses are only permitted to access personal and health information for purposes that are consistent with their professional responsibilities and are not permitted to access the health records of patients that are not in their care,” the college said in a public notice released Nov. 13.
Unlicenced midwives
In November, the college had to issue warnings about unlicensed people acting as midwives. Four individuals had presented themselves as "birth attendants" without being registered with the regulator.
“Nurse and midwife registration verification ensures that only those qualified with the requisite skills and education to be nurses and midwives are employed or practicing in nursing and midwifery positions in British Columbia,” the warnings said.
The notices said Michelle Short and Berkley McNamara of the Fraser Valley and Leila Naderi of Kelowna have held themselves out as birth attendants.
Another notice said Holly Malashewsky of Salmon Arm has held herself out as a "traditional birth keeper."
The college said Short, McNamara and Naderi have never been and are not college registrants and are not entitled to practice as a midwife in B.C.
The college issued similar warnings in 2023.
