Nursing home worker faces third round of disciplinary charges

An Iowa nursing home worker is facing a series of disciplinary charges alleging inadequate patient care.

Jill Noel Grinstead, a licensed practical nurse from Altoona, is charged by the Iowa Board of Nursing with committing an act that might adversely affect a patient’s welfare, failing to assess or accurately document the status of a patient, engaging in behavior that is contradictory to professional decorum, failing to properly safeguard or secure medications, and failing to respond to a board investigation or comply with a board subpoena.

The board has not publicly disclosed any of the allegations that gave rise to the charges.

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2026.

State records indicate that in 2005, the board fined Grinstead $100 for working with an inactive license.

In 2009, the board charged Grinstead with falsifying records related to nursing, committing an act that might adversely affect a patient’s welfare, and failing to assess or accurately document the status of a patient.

In that case, the board alleged that after Grinstead was hired at an Iowa nursing home in 2007, she was counseled for “numerous medication errors,” failing to provide physician-ordered treatments for residents and falsely documenting that she had provided such treatments. Grinstead was fired by the home in July 2009, the board alleged. The disciplinary case was settled with an agreement requiring Grinstead to complete 60 hours of educational training on ethics, medications and documentation.

In 2021, Grinstead sued Grinnell Health Care Center, alleging that while she worked for the home in 2019 and 2020, she was subjected to sexual harassment by the home’s then-administrator. Grinstead dropped the lawsuit in 2022. Court records give no indication as to whether there was a settlement in the case.

That same year, Grinstead was charged with burglary for allegedly entering the administrator’s office at Mitchellville Care Center, from which she had recently been fired, and removing paperwork. The burglary charge was later dropped by Polk County prosecutors who said there was insufficient evidence to pursue the case.

Court records indicate that in 2023, Grinstead was working in Iowa care facilities as an employee of the NursePro Staffing Agency. Iowa Capital Dispatch was unable to reach Grinstead for comment.