B.C. nurse who tried to use discarded COVID vaccine syringe on patient reprimanded

A B.C. nurse who fished out a COVID vaccine syringe from a used sharps container and told another nurse to give the vaccine to a patient has been barred from supervising for the next two years.

According to an Aug. 21 B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives decision, registered nurse Tammy Goodwin also injected herself with the COVID vaccine booster and didn't document it in her healthcare records.

The decision is very vague on details but says Goodwin is being reprimanded "related to retrieving a discarded COVID-19 vaccine syringe from a used sharps container and instructing an injector to administer the vaccine to a client."

The decision doesn't say whether the patient received the vaccine from the used syringe, but that doesn't appear to have been the case.

Goodwin signed a consent agreement with the College admitting the incident.

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The decision says Goodwin also self-administered her COVID-19 booster and then failed to document it within the correct healthcare records.

Goodwin practices in New Westminster and the incident took place Feb. 2.

The nurse has now been prohibited from working in a supervisory role for a period of two years and will have to take education in immunizations, infection control, ethics, documentation, and professional responsibility and accountability.

The registered nurse also agreed to a period of orientation and mentorship and took an undertaking not to repeat the conduct.

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Ben Bulmer


After a decade of globetrotting, U.K. native Ben Bulmer ended up settling in Canada in 2009. Calling Vancouver home he headed back to school and studied journalism at Langara College. From there he headed to Ottawa before winding up in a small anglophone village in Quebec, where he worked for three years at a feisty English language newspaper. Ben is always on the hunt for a good story, an interesting tale and to dig up what really matters to the community.