Judges: MARY CLARK
Agency: Department of Health
Latest Update: May 14, 1986
Summary: The issue in this proceeding was whether Respondent violated the Nurse Practice Act, Subsections 464.018(d) and (f), Florida Statutes, by making a false record and by abandoning the care of her patient and thereby departing from minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing nursing practice.Nurse abandoned shift and falsified patient records as to the time she took vital signs. Probation with conditions was recommended.
85-4146.PDFSTATE OF FLORIDA
DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT ) OF PROFESSIONAL REGULATION, ) BOARD OF NURSING, )
)
Petitioner, )
)
vs. ) Case No. 85-4146
)
SHERI DENISE WARD, P. N., )
)
Respondent. )
)
RECOMMENDED ORDER
Final hearing in the above-styled action was held before Mary Clark, Hearing Officer of the Division of Administrative Hearings, on April 9, 1986, in Miami, Florida.
The parties were represented as follows: For Petitioner: Cecilia Bradley, Esquire
130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301
For Respondent: Sheri Denise Ward, P.N.
1470 Northwest 55th Street Miami, Florida 33142
(Representing herself) ISSUE
The issue in this proceeding was whether Respondent violated the Nurse Practice Act, Subsections 464.018(d) and (f), Florida Statutes, by making a false record and by abandoning the care of her patient and thereby departing from minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing nursing practice.
BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL MATTERS
Petitioner's Administrative Complaint is dated October 25, 1985. This proceeding commenced with Respondent's timely request for a Section 120.57(1), Florida Statutes hearing.
At the final hearing, Petitioner presented evidence through two witnesses and three exhibits. Respondent testified in her own behalf and presented no other evidence.
Petitioner filed a Proposed Recommended Order with Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. These have been considered in the preparation of this Recommended Order and have been adopted, in substance, in their entirety.
FINDINGS OF FACT
At all times relevant, Respondent was licensed as a practical nurse with license number 0797251. (Petitioner's Exhibit #1, T-22).
Respondent, Sheri Ward, was employed by Bayshore Registry, a private-duty nursing service. (Petitioner's Exhibit #3).
On August 3, 1985, Ms. Ward was assigned to Villa Maria Nursing Center, Bon Secours Hospital in Miami, to fill in for the regular LPN who was on leave. (T-26) Her only assigned patient was Estelle Crocoll. (T-10) The patient needed continual care because she remained either comatose or semi-conscious and had to be fed by a tube.
She had to be watched to ensure that she didn't regurgitate the feeding. She also had bed sores and muscle contractures and had to be turned every couple of hours.
(T-11, 26-28)
When she checked in for her shift around 7:00 a.m., Ms. Ward learned that Cleo Bell, the nurse in charge of the unit, was the one who would sign her time sheet. She asked Ms. Bell if she could get off a little early, like around 2:00 p.m. Ms. Bell said okay and asked that
she be notified when she (Ms. Ward) left. Ms. Ward's shift was supposed to end at 3:00 p.m. that day. (T-10, 42)
Ms. Bell checked on the patient at 11:00 a.m. and around 12 noon but did not see Ms. Ward. (T-l1)
Helen Bushey, R.N. is the head nurse on the wing where Ms. Ward was working on August 3, 1985. (T-23) She has thirty years of nursing experience and at the hearing was qualified as an expert to testify regarding nursing standards. (T-24, 26) Among her other duties, Ms. Bushey makes the rounds to check on the patients and to introduce herself to any new private duty nurse assigned to a patient. (T-29) On August 3, 1985, Ms. Bushey checked Estelle Crocoll's room at 8:30 a.m., between 11:00 and 11:30 a.m., and again around 12 noon, but at no time saw Sheri Ward. (T-29, 30) Ms. Ward failed to answer a page and members of the staff told Ms. Bushey they could not recall seeing her after 11:00 a.m. (T-31, 33)
Ms. Bushey reviewed the notes on the patient's chart around 1:45 p.m., and found that notations for 3:00
p.m. had been written up already. (Petitioner's Exhibit #3, T-31) She notified Ms. Ward's employer and Ms. Ward was barred from practicing at Villa Marie. (Petitioner's Exhibit #3, T-32)
Ms. Ward claimed that she left the patient's room only to help another nurse ("Virginia") move a patient and to get the nurse to come help her move Estelle Crocoll.
(T-44) She claimed that the chair in which she sat was obscured from view by a person entering the room. (T-44) She admitted that she left the job no later than 1:25 p.m., and since she could not find Ms. Bell she told "Virginia" to tell Ms. Bell she was leaving. (T-51, 52) Sheri Ward also admitted that she pre-entered notes for 3:00 p.m., having learned that "little bad habit" (her characterization) from working and training in a county hospital where ". . . you are really pressed for time."
(T-46, 53) The reason she left early was to go to a wedding. (T-13, 48)
It is unnecessary to determine Ms. Ward's whereabouts during the day or the exact time she left her duty; clearly, by her own admissions, Sheri Ward falsified her patient's record and abandoned the care of that patient without proper notification. Ordinary common sense would conclude that, given the uncontroverted circumstances, these actions constitute extremely bad judgement.
Competent expert opinion concluded that these actions constitute a departure from minimal standards of acceptable nursing practice. (T-36)
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction of the subject matter and parties in this proceeding, pursuant to Subsections 120.57(1), Florida Statutes and 455.225(4), Florida Statutes.
The provisions of law which Respondent is charged with violating are Subsections 464.018(1)(d) and (f), Florida Statutes:
464,018 Disciplinary Actions.
The following acts shall be grounds for disciplinary action set forth in this section:
. . .
(d) Making or filing a false report or record, which the licensee knows to be false, . . .
. . .
(f) Unprofessional conduct, which shall include, but not be limited to, any departure from, or the failure to conform to, the minimal standards of acceptable and prevailing nursing practice, in which case actual injury need not be established.
A nurse's failure to exercise professional judgement and skill can be so obvious as to be recognized by anyone of ordinary intelligence without special knowledge or skill in medicine. City of Miami v. Oates, 10 So.2d 721 (Fla 1942). The City of Miami case involved a tort action and in a disciplinary case such as this, "ordinary intelligence" may not suffice to define a professional standard. Purvis v. Department of Professional Regulation, 461 So.2d 134 (Fla. App. 1st 1984). Even so, competent expert opinion confirmed that Ms. Ward's actions were a departure from acceptable nursing standards. Actual injury to the patient is not a required element of proof.
Sheri Ward admitted to actions constituting violations of the above provisions of the Nurse Practice Act.
Based upon the foregoing, it is hereby RECOMMENDED:
That a Final Order be entered suspending Respondent's license for ninety (90) days and placing Respondent on probation for a period of three years, subject to the condition that she work under the supervision of another nurse for the period of her probation.
DONE and ORDERED this 14th day of May, 1986, in Tallahassee, Florida.
MARY W. CLARK, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings The Oakland Building
2009 Apalachee Parkway
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
(904) 488-9675
Filed with the Clerk of the Division of Administrative Hearings this 14th day of May, 1986.
COPIES FURNISHED:
Judie Ritter, Executive Director Board of Nursing
Room 504, 111 East Coastline Drive
Jacksonville, Florida 32202
Fred Roche, Secretary Department of Professional
Regulation
130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Salvatore A. Carpino, Esquire Department of Professional
Regulation
130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301
William M. Furlow, Esquire Cecilia Bradley, Esquire Department of Professional
Regulation
130 North Monroe Street Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Ms. Sheri Denise Ward 1470 N. W. 55th Street Miami, Florida 33142
Docket for Case No: 85-004146
Orders for Case No: 85-004146
| Issue Date |
Document |
Summary |
|
May 14, 1986 |
Recommended Order
|
Nurse abandoned shift and falsified patient records as to the time she took vital signs. Probation with conditions was recommended.
|
