Enrolled nurse suspended by tribunal for viewing patient records without authorisation

12 Mar 2021

An enrolled nurse who viewed patient records without any clinical justification or authorisation has had her registration suspended by a tribunal.

Cody Schlink inappropriately viewed patient records 232 times between December 2016 and August 2018. The records viewed included those of her colleagues and her partner at the time, as well as records of patients who had declined to discuss their presenting complaint with her.

An agreement between Ms Schlink and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia was reached at mediation in October 2020 and final orders were made by the State Administrative Tribunal of Western Australia (the tribunal) on 3 December 2020.

Ms Schlink was found by the tribunal to have behaved in a way that constituted professional misconduct.

The tribunal ordered that:

• Ms Schlink be reprimanded
• her registration be suspended for four months from 3 December 2020
• conditions requiring her to be supervised and carry out education on ethics and confidentiality be imposed on her registration at the end of the suspension period
• she pay a contribution of $1,800 towards the Board’s costs.

The tribunal’s decision is published on the eCourts website.