B.C.’s College of Nurses and Midwives has suspended a registered nurse for nine weeks for insensitive patient interactions and inappropriate workplace communications.
On Feb. 22, a college inquiry committee panel approved a consent agreement with Kelsey Santos of Vancouver to address issues that happened between 2018 and 2022.
The panel said the insensitive interactions were with and around vulnerable patients from marginalized communities.
Santos has agreed to a limit or conditions on their practice including:
• the nine-week suspension;
• taking remedial education and coaching in Indigenous cultural safety, workplace harassment, and appropriate workplace communication; and,
• developing a learning plan to be shared with their employer and with the college.
The college is one of 18 regulatory bodies empowered under the Health Professions Act to regulate health professions in B.C. It regulates the practice of four distinct professions: nursing, practical nursing, psychiatric nursing and midwifery.
Similar legislation in other self-regulated areas such as the legal and notary public professions also allows citizens to know about discipline issues in the public interest.
“The inquiry committee is satisfied that the terms will protect the public,” the college said.
