Nigerian Nurse Loses Licence For Sleeping On Duty
A Nigerian-born nurse, Chimzuruoke Okembunachi, has been deregistered in Australia after a tribunal found that she repeatedly slept while on duty during night shifts at an aged care facility in Sydney.
The 25-year-old had her nursing registration cancelled and her name removed from the register following a ruling by the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT), which held that her conduct amounted to professional misconduct.
Okembunachi began working as a registered nurse at Hardi Aged Care (HAC) in Guildford, western Sydney, in February 2024. About a month later, she was suspended from duty and subsequently resigned.
In a decision delivered on Tuesday, the tribunal found that between March 13 and March 27, 2024, Okembunachi was rostered for night shifts during which she was the only registered nurse supervising between three and four assistants-in-nursing (AINs) and approximately 100 elderly residents.
The panel found that on six separate occasions, Okembunachi failed to adequately perform her duties because she fell asleep while on duty. On three of those nights, residents reportedly missed their prescribed doses of morphine as a result.
Evidence before the tribunal showed that during a shift on the night of March 21 to 22, an AIN turned on the light at the nurses’ station to wake Okembunachi. Shortly after, she reportedly switched the light off and returned to sleep.
The tribunal also heard that on March 15, Okembunachi instructed an AIN to administer Panadol to a male resident suffering from foot pain, despite the assistant not being authorised to give medication. When questioned, she allegedly told the AIN: “It’s okay sister, just give it to him.”
Concerns about her conduct were raised by two nurses on March 27. The following day, Okembunachi received an email informing her of her suspension and inviting her to attend a meeting. About 20 minutes later, she resigned and declined to attend the meeting.
A complaint was later filed with the Health Care Complaints Commission, prompting tribunal proceedings. Her registration was suspended during the investigation.
The tribunal heard that Okembunachi, who relocated from Nigeria to Australia in 2018, earned a Bachelor of Nursing Science from the University of the Sunshine Coast in 2021 and later enrolled in a graduate medicine programme at Western Sydney University.
While working at HAC, she was reportedly juggling her studies, suffering from migraines, and dealing with significant personal and family stress. The tribunal was told that her younger sister required expensive scoliosis surgery, which cost their father about $60,000.
Explaining her situation, Okembunachi told the tribunal that these circumstances caused her significant stress and influenced her decision to seek permanent employment. She admitted that accepting night shifts while dealing with multiple pressures put patient safety at risk.
“I should have recognised that I had a lot of stress going on in my life, family, health and school,” she said. “When I slept on night shift, I failed in supervising those staff members and the residents.”
Although the tribunal acknowledged that Okembunachi was remorseful, honest, and accepted responsibility for her actions, it ruled that deregistration was the appropriate sanction.
“The acts of the practitioner had the potential to endanger the lives of patients under her care,” the panel stated, adding that any lesser penalty would be inadequate given the seriousness of the misconduct.
Okembunachi has not worked as a nurse since her suspension but continues to study medicine. She will be unable to apply for a review of the cancellation order for at least nine months.
