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Sharon O’Connor, IB11665
Facts
The Member admitted that she engaged in professional misconduct. The Member responded to a prescription clarification request and signed off with a physician’s initials without the physician’s permission or authorization. The same day, the Member provided wound care orders in response to a request for physician wound care orders, which was outside of her scope of practice. She also used the physician’s signature stamp to sign off without the physician’s permission or authorization, and did not appropriately maintain documentation of her response in the patient’s file.
Discipline Committee’s Findings
Based on the Member’s admissions, a panel of the Discipline Committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario (the “Panel”) found that the Member:
- contravened a standard of practice of the profession or failed to meet the standards of practice of the profession;
- failed to advise a patient to obtain services from another health professional where the member knew or ought to have known that the patient had a condition which was outside the member’s scope of practice or within the member’s scope of practice but outside the member’s competency to treat;
- failed to keep records as required;
- falsified a record relating to the member’s practice;
- signed or issued, in the member’s professional capacity, a document that the member knew, or ought to have known contained a false or misleading statement;
- engaged in conduct, relevant to the practice of nursing, that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as dishonourable and unprofessional.
Discipline Committee’s Order
The College of Nurses of Ontario (“CNO”) and the Member presented the Panel with a Joint Submission on Order requesting that the Panel make an order that included the following:
- an oral reprimand;
- a 2-month suspension; and
- terms, conditions and limitations including:
- attending at least 2 meetings with a Regulatory Expert; and
- employer notification for 12 months.
The Panel accepted the Joint Submission on Order, concluding that the proposed order was reasonable and in the public interest. The Panel noted that the Member cooperated with the CNO and accepted responsibility by agreeing to the facts and the proposed order.
