A 25-year-old Nigerian-born nurse has had her professional registration cancelled after a tribunal found she repeatedly slept during night shifts at an aged care facility, endangering vulnerable elderly residents.
Chimzuruoke Okembunachi, who moved to Australia from Nigeria in 2018 and completed her Bachelor of Nursing Science in 2021, was the sole registered nurse on duty at Hardi Aged Care in Guildford, western Sydney, overseeing up to 100 residents with the help of three or four assistants-in-nursing.
Between March 13 and 27, 2024, she was caught sleeping on at least six night shifts, leading to serious lapses in care.
These included missed morphine doses for patients on three occasions and delegating medication administration (such as Panadol) to unauthorised staff.
On one instance, an assistant attempted to wake her by turning on lights, but she switched them off and continued sleeping.
Two colleagues reported her conduct on March 27, resulting in her immediate suspension the following day.
She later resigned but did not attend a follow-up meeting.On January 20, 2025, the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) ruled her actions constituted professional misconduct with the potential to endanger patient lives.
The tribunal revoked her nursing registration and barred her from applying for review for at least nine months, citing the need to protect public safety.
In her defence, Ms. Okembunachi admitted responsibility, attributing the incidents to significant stress from balancing night shifts with her medical studies at Western Sydney University.
She stated: “These events caused me significant stress… In hindsight, I should not have applied for, or accepted the position at Hardi. Working night shifts during the week was putting patients’ safety at risk.”
The tribunal described her conduct as unacceptable, noting she was “being paid to work” and that her absence from duty left residents unsupervised.
She has since stepped away from nursing but continues her medical studies, with family and Centrelink support.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com