😕Ontario RPN possibly being fired what should I expect?
I’m an RPN in Ontario and I made a serious lapse in judgment at work. I’m looking for advice from Ontario nurses or anyone who has dealt with CNO/privacy investigations.
A coworker became very unwell during our shift and eventually became unresponsive and was sent to the ED. I already knew that he was diabetic. His belongings were still on our unit, including possibly his health card, and the ED had contacted the unit looking for it.
After everything happened, I accessed his chart and looked at his labs because I was concerned about him and was wondering whether his blood sugar had contributed to what happened.
I want to be clear: I was not involved in his care and did not have authorization to access his chart. I understand now that being concerned about him did not give me the right to access his health information. I didn’t share, screenshot, print, or save any of the information. This was also a one-time incident and I have never previously accessed a chart that I wasn’t authorized to access.
Management discovered the access and I just had an investigation meeting. I was completely honest about what happened, took responsibility, expressed remorse, and told them that I’ve since gone back and reviewed both my hospital’s privacy policies and CNO privacy/confidentiality expectations. Management said they’re going to reconvene and get back to me.
Afterward, I spoke privately with my union rep**.** She told me I should prepare for the possibility of being fired and reported to CNO.
I think what surprised me most is how quickly this seems to be moving toward termination. I’ve seen coworkers make serious clinical and professional mistakes, sometimes repeatedly and after multiple reports, without being terminated. I’m not saying that to minimize what I did or suggest that I shouldn’t face consequences i completely understand that I made a serious mistake. I just genuinely wasn’t expecting there to be seemingly no consideration of the context, the fact that this was a single incident, or my previous record before going straight to termination.
What scares me even more is that I’m currently an RPN-to-RN bridging student and completing a clinical placement at another hospital. I’m worried about what a CNO investigation could mean for my registration, my current placement, and eventually becoming an RN.
I fully understand that what I did was wrong, and I’m not looking for a loophole or trying to justify accessing the chart. I’m mainly trying to understand what happens from here.
Has anyone dealt with something similar in Ontario? If an employer reported you to CNO for a single unauthorized chart access, what happened? Did it go to Discipline, or was it handled through remediation/education? Did anything become public on Find a Nurse? If you were terminated, did your union grieve it, and what was the outcome?
EDIT: Just to clarify, I fully understand where I went wrong. I accessed information I wasn’t authorized to access, I’ve taken responsibility for it, and I’m not portraying myself as a victim or trying to justify what I did. My coworker is also aware of what happened and personally does not have an issue with me, although I understand that doesn’t make the access authorized.
I’m not looking for moral judgments about whether I should be a nurse, quit, get sued, etc. I already know I made a serious mistake. I’m specifically looking to hear from people who have actually gone through a similar privacy/CNO situation about what the process and outcome looked like for them. If you have firsthand experience, I genuinely appreciate the insight.