Nurses sacked for school mistake | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Three Whangarei public health nurses have been sacked for breaching Ministry of Health rules while vaccinating high school students, but their union is challenging the dismissals as "extreme".

The three Northland District Health Board (NDHB) nurses were sacked after giving a third booster vaccination to up to a dozen students at Tikipunga High School on August 24.

Under Ministry of Health rules, a "crash kit" which contains medical items such as oxygen and adrenalin in case of an emergency reaction to the vaccine has to be on hand.

But a New Zealand Nurses Organisation delegate said the crash kit the nurses took did not have adrenalin and they made the decision to go ahead after deciding there was "minimal risk" to the students.

The union says despite it being a "serious breach" of rules, there were circumstances that should have been taken into consideration.

The delegate said all three nurses had been in a vaccination co-ordinator's role previously and the co-ordinator who packed the crash kit that day had left out the adrenalin.

He said the nurses were under a lot of stress and pressure that day because of their timeframe and workload, they had two trainees with them and their risk analysis showed there was minimal risk. It was their third shot so any adverse reaction should already have shown up, the adrenalin was on its way, the school had its own adrenalin supply and there was also one at the nearby Tikipunga Medical Centre. Students were observed for 20 minutes after a jab and the nurses felt their contingency plan was adequate, given the minimal risk, he said.

A more senior nurse had arrived and told the vaccinators that while it was a breach and not something that would be done in a rural area, because of the nearby adrenalin, it would probably be all right to continue. By the time they had done six of the children, the adrenalin had arrived and all six were still being observed.

"We feel dismissal is too extreme," the delegate said. "There have been other cases where nurses have made mistakes, and in some cases bigger mistakes, and we feel these nurses are being treated differently from those. They are being treated more harshly.

"There are reasons people make stupid mistakes in their job and they don't always follow the exact law and that's often because they are under pressure. We feel this is one of those cases."

The union was going through mediation with the NDHB over the sackings and they would likely go before the Nursing Council, which would decide if their actions were serious enough for them to lose their registration.

NDHB will not comment on the sackings, saying in a statement: "We can confirm an incident occurred involving former district health board staff. The matter was investigated and steps taken by management. Although the NZNO may wish to make public comment on behalf of its members, NDHB will not be commenting on what is an employment matter."