On August 18, 2021, a panel of the Inquiry Committee approved a Consent Agreement between BCCNM and the Registrant wherein the Registrant agreed to a suspension of practising registration and conditions and limits on their nursing practice to ensure their fitness to practice.
This Agreement is to address the Registrant's significant narcotics diversion and impairment in the workplace over a period of roughly 2 years. Patient care records were tampered with to obscure diversion and impairment. The Registrant also diverted medications directly from a patient on at least two occasions.
The Registrant was diagnosed with and admitted to a disability with a causal relationship to the misconduct. They completed treatment. A physician specializing in addiction medicine provided recommendations for a safe return to nursing practise.
The terms of the Consent Agreement include, but are not limited to: a suspension of registration for nine weeks; a restriction from working overtime and a restriction from working nights for a term; a limit on practice preventing the Registrant from acting in a supervisory capacity, a limit on practice preventing the Registrant from being the sole regulated nurse on duty on the ward; a limit precluding access to narcotics, benzodiazepines, controlled substances and atypical sedatives (also known as the “zed" class of drugs) for a lengthy term; regular reports from a medical monitoring agency regarding compliance with treatment recommendations; remedial course work in medication administration, documentation, and ethics; a regulatory practice consultation; and disclosure to the employer.
The Agreement will remain in place for a minimum of four years of nursing practice.
The name of the Registrant has been withheld in accordance with section 39.3 (4) (a) of the Health Professions Act for the purposes of not identifying the personal health information of the Registrant respecting the condition.
The Inquiry Committee is satisfied that the undertakings will protect the public.