B.C.'s College of Nurse and Midwives has disciplined a Victoria nurse for failing to properly treat elderly patients in her care.
On May 20, a college panel of inquiry approved an agreement with Melanie Piscia in which she voluntarily agreed to limits on her practice.
A public notice said the discipline is for "inappropriate physical measures on vulnerable elderly patients to gain their compliance, and issues related to safe medication administration practices."
The panel said nurses are accountable for their nursing decisions, actions, and professional conduct.
"Nurses must ensure they meet BCCNM practice standards for providing safe nursing care to clients. Nurses are expected to care for all patients ethically and to respect and protect patients' worth and dignity," the panel said.
The notice said Piscia is currently non-practicing, and that the limits of her practice would be in effect should she successfully reinstate her practicing registration.
Those include:
• a reprimand and a suspension of her registration for using inappropriate physical measures with vulnerable elderly residents to gain their compliance;
• limits on her nursing registration to support her while she remediates her practice, including working under supervision for a period of time, not being the sole nurse on the unit, not supervising other regulated health professionals, or not providing orientation to new staff; and,
• remedial education targeted to address knowledge gaps in the domains of ethics and professionalism, geriatric care, gentle persuasive approaches, medication administration, and documentation.
"The inquiry committee is satisfied that the terms will address the professional and practice concerns that arose and will protect the public," the panel said.
