NEW: From Striking a Patient to Medication Errors, 3 RI Nursing Assistants Sanctioned
IMAGE: RIDOH
Three Rhode Island nursing assistants have been reprimanded – and a fourth was placed on probation – by the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) over the past month, according to a review of state documents.
RIDOH says that it investigated complaints “alleging unprofessional conduct” by licensed nursing assistants Morena Mayorga, Sarah King, Odithe Rudio, and Sharease Smith, before taking action.
Reprimands
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Mayorga was employed as a nursing assistant at an assisted living facility when, on October 1, 2025, Mayorga “struck a resident of the facility,” according to RIDOH.
Court records do not show that Mayorga was arrested for the incident.
RIDOH says King was employed as a nursing assistant at a facility when on January 26, 2025, King “spoke to a patient in a disrespectful manner.”
Rudio was employed as a medication aide at an assisted living facility when on October 10, 2025, Rudio misidentified a resident and made a medication error, according to RIDOH.
All three nursing assistants’ behavior “constitutes unprofessional conduct pursuant to [Rhode Island] General Laws,” says RIDOH, in issuing the reprimands, which are signed by the health professionals in addition to RIDOH.
Probation
According to RIDOH, Smith was employed as a nursing assistant by a staffing agency “assigned to provide care to patients at a nursing facility.”
“On July 27, 2025, [Smith] was observed utilizing improper feeding techniques while feeding a patient,” wrote RIDOH. “On several occasions, [Smith] spoon fed the patient, turned her back to the patient to continue speaking on her personal cell phone, and ignored the patient when the patient began coughing after being fed.”
RIDOH said it “constitutes conduct subject to disciplinary proceedings” pursuant to Rhode Island General Law – and placed Smith on “active probation.”
Among the requirements of the probation, Smith must provide all “hospitals and nursing facilities where she is employed as a nursing assistant with a copy of [the consent order] and a “job performance progress report form” provided by RIDOH. Smith can apply to have her license status changed to “active” after a year. She was placed on probation on February 27, 2026.
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