Tribunal suspends nurse for three months for professional misconduct

16 Jan 2018

A tribunal has reprimanded a nurse and suspended her registration for three months for professional misconduct concerning medication administration.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) referred Ms Jodi Laughlan to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal) alleging that while she was employed as a registered nurse at an aged care facility she:

• had misappropriated or failed to account for 7mL of morphine which she took without lawful authority
• had self-administered the morphine and replaced the morphine she took with water
• had thrown away a post-it-note which noted the medication discrepancy and influenced, or attempted to influence, another registered nurse not to report the discrepancy, and
• did not act in accordance with the NMBA’s professional standards.

In making its decision, the tribunal found all allegations proven, except the allegation that Ms Laughlan took the morphine and self-administered it.

The tribunal found that Ms Laughlan had behaved in a way that constitutes professional misconduct. The tribunal suspended her registration for three months (to begin on 4 December 2017), reprimanded her and placed conditions on her registration, requiring education on schedule 8 medications.

The decision is published on the tribunal website.