Tribunal reprimands nurse, imposes conditions for professional misconduct

25 May 2018

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) referred Ms Karen Faulkner to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the tribunal) on 4 March 2015, alleging that throughout 2012 she:

• signed patient medication charts in advance of the medications being administered
• failed to administer the prescribed dose of medication to a patient, despite having signed the patient’s medication chart indicating she had administered the medication as ordered
• advised another nurse that medication had been administered to a patient in which it had not been administered, and
• took without lawful authority or permission the handbag of another nurse who was relieving her from the night shift.

In making its decision, the tribunal found all allegations proven, however found that Ms Faulkner had not intentionally provided false information to another nurse.

On 15 May 2017, the tribunal reprimanded Ms Faulkner and imposed conditions on her registration including that she:

• work only in an NMBA-approved position (no agency work)
• undertake mentoring for 12 months, and
• complete education on administration, documentation and management of medication.

The tribunal also ordered that Ms Faulkner pay the NMBA’s costs.

The tribunal did not suspend Ms Faulkner’s registration. The NMBA filed an appeal regarding this aspect of the tribunal’s decision, which was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on 25 May 2018.

The decision is published on the tribunal website.

Please note due to an administrative delay this summary was not published until June 2019.