Agency nurse pleads guilty to working in ICU without training, credentials

A Manitoba nurse has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct after she worked shifts at an Intensive Care Unit in the province without the proper training and misrepresented her credentials at her business.

Eleonor Mascardo, who has been registered as a nurse in Manitoba since October 2022, was fined $8,000, had to pay $5,000 in costs and was suspended from practice for two weeks, amongst other disciplinary actions following the admission, said a June 24 decision recently posted on the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba’s website.

In it, Mascardo admitted she took a Jan. 11, 2024, shift at the Brandon Regional Health Centre’s ICU through a nursing agency, even though she lacked the proper skills, said the decision, noting she had no certificate of practice from Dec. 31, 2023, until April 4, 2024.

This included failing to start a blood transfusion and not alerting other staff, misleading others about starting an IV and failing on at least two occasions to administer total parenteral nutrition after being ordered to do so.

The decision noted an inquiry committee for the college “was concerned by the Registrant’s cavalier acceptance of the shift, particularly with no certificate of practice and no relevant experience. This endangered the public and is unacceptable.”

She also failed to disclose the names and contacts of all employers to the College and failed to disclose that she was self-employed prior to providing RN services.

Mascardo, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon, also pleaded guilty to misrepresenting her qualifications at her own business, Happy Skin Laser + Aesthetic Clinic which was opened in Brandon in 2023.

The decision said she claimed in advertising associated with the clinic she had a “Master in Nursing” despite having no such credential, and was advertising herself as a “Registered Nurse” and “RN” when in fact her business was “deemed not to be providing registered nursing practice.”

Under the Registered Health Professions Act, as detailed in the decision, “no member or health profession corporation shall engage in advertising that is untruthful, inaccurate or otherwise capable of misleading or misinforming the public.”

The fact Mascardo has “taken little interest understanding her regulatory obligations” and “did not appear to have sufficiently considered patient safety in accepting RN work for which she was manifestly unqualified” were some of the main aggravating factors in the decision.

However, the decision did note the fact Mascardo had no previous discipline incidents, pleaded guilty — avoiding a costly disciplinary hearing — and “accepted responsibility for her actions and apologized for her conduct,” was considered.

Alongside the fine, payment and suspension, other disciplinary actions include having to complete a minimum of 2,015 verified independent RN practice hours in a Canadian jurisdiction, during which time she’s restricted from working in several roles including critical care, emergency care or supervisory roles.

morgan.modjeski@freepress.mb.ca