A young nurse has had her registration cancelled and struck off the register after ‘improper conduct’ during night shifts at a nursing home, including falling asleep on the job up to six times
Chimzuruoke Okembunachi, 25, started work as a registered nurse at Hardi Aged Care (HAC) in Guildford in western Sydney in February 2024.
But after a month on the job, she was suspended and resigned from her position.
The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday found Ms Okembunachi guilty of professional misconduct and ordered the cancellation of her nurse registration.
The tribunal panel heard that Ms Okembunachi had been rostered for night shifts from 13 to 27 March 2024.
On each shift, the panel noted that Ms Okembunachi was the only registered nurse supervising three or four assistants-in-nursing (AIN) and 100 elderly residents.
But, on six of these nights, she failed to discharge her duties and responsibilities as she slept while on duty.
The tribunal heard that on three occasions, the nurse failed to give a patient her regular dose of morphine because she was asleep.
During her fifth night shift from March 21 to 22, Ms Okembunachi was awoken by an AIN who turned on the light in the nurses’ station, the tribunal heard.
But, a minute later, the nurse turned the light back off.
The tribunal also heard that the nurse told an AIN to give a male patient Panadol on March 15 to help get rid of his foot pain, despite the assistant not being authorised to administer the medication.
The assistant reportedly asked Ms Okembunachi: ‘Are you sure? We are not allowed to provide medication directly.’
The nurse’s reply, the tribunal noted, was ‘It’s okay sister, just give it to him.’
Ms Okembunachi was then reported to her bosses by two nurses on March 27, and was informed via email the next day that her employment had been suspended and requested a meeting.
Twenty minutes after she received the email, Ms Okembunachi tendered her resignation and declined to attend the meeting.
After a complaint to the Health Care Complaints Commission, which brought the tribunal case against the nurse, her nursing registration was suspended.
Born in Nigeria, Ms Okembunachi moved to Australia in 2018 and graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing Science at University of the Sunshine Coast in 2021.
She then embarked on a graduate degree in medicine at Western Sydney University, (WSU) which she balanced with her work at HAC while suffering from migraines.
During her second degree, Ms Okembunachi had to take a leave of absence after failing the mid-year anatomy exam. She then returned to her studies in 2024.
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I this racism is part of it
NOt fair