On August 7, 2018 a panel of the Inquiry Committee approved a Consent Agreement between CRNBC and Terry Thomson of West Kelowna, British Columbia, to remediate practice issues related to the following conduct:
In August 2015, the Registrant, while working in the psychiatric ICU, engaged an acutely psychotic patient in an inappropriate verbal exchange which the patient found antagonistic. The agitated patient invited the Registrant to step outside the secure nursing station. The Registrant did so. In doing so, he left the door to the nursing station open, leaving his colleagues inside vulnerable. The patient became physically aggressive. He and the Registrant engaged in a physical struggle, culminating in the Registrant using force to contain the patient in his room for the safety of all involved. Other staff called a Code White. The Registrant’s account of the event to the Code White team, supervisors, and in later charting failed to include his role in engaging the patient in an inappropriate conversation and then stepping out of the locked nursing station to confront the patient.
To remediate his practice, the Registrant has voluntarily agreed to terms equivalent to a four-month suspension of practice followed by a (minimum) four-month limit on practice, specifically a prohibition of employment on an inpatient psychiatric unit. Further terms include remedial education, a series of CRNBC regulatory nursing practice consultation sessions and counseling. The term of the suspension may be reduced from four to two months should the Registrant complete certain remediation terms in a timely manner.
The Inquiry Committee is satisfied that the terms will protect the public.