Patient given meds against her consent
A hospital patient suffered a hypoglycemic attack after being given medication that she did not consent to.
Now an agency nurse at Ayrshire and Arran NHS Trust has been suspended by the industry regulator for six months.
Mangayarkarasi Krishnaswamy has been found guilty of four charges relating to misconduct by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
Although the incident dates back to March 28 2018, the findings have only just come to light.
The charges arose whilst Ms Krishnaswamy worked the nightshift as an agency nurse at an Ayrshire and Arran NHS hospital. It is not clear which hospital the offences took place.
It’s understood that the patient, known only as Resident A, was admitted after having a fall at home and for “poor management” of her diabetes. The charges against Krishnaswamy relate to a pre- bed administration of Novorapid ( a drug used to treat diabetes.) It was alleged Krishnaswamy told the women that she was due to be administered with an “additional two units of Novorapid.”
However, the patient in question refused the medication, warning that it could “bring on a hypoglycaemic attack.”
Krishnaswamy, it was alleged, “insisted” that she take it.
The hearing was told how nearly an hour after the drug was administered the patient did suffer a Hypoglycaemic Attack.
Krishnaswamy claimed she “adjusted” an insulin pen to the prescribed unit and handed the pen to Resident A for “self- administration” but the Fitness to Practise Committee deemed that the provision of a “primed” insulin pen was analogous to presenting a patient with a medication pot and that this to itself amounted to “administration of Novorapid.”
The Panel also rejected Krishnaswamy’s explanation that she had obtained “fully informed consent.” They also said the patient “suffered harm” .
The regulator deemed that the nurse administered Novorapid to Resident A “against their wishes,” she “failed to record” that Resident A did not consent to the administration of Novorapid, she “did not observe” Resident A’s blood glucose levels before administering Novorapid or observed her blood glucose levels- but did not record it appropriately- and that her actions were “dishonest”, in that she “sought to give the impression” the patient had consented to the administration of the drug- when she had not.
The NMC said: “Nurses occupy a position of privilege and trust in society and are expected at all times to be professional and to maintain professional boundaries. Patients and their families must be able to trust nurses with their lives and the lives of their loved ones. To justify that trust, nurses must be honest and open and act with integrity. They must make sure that their conduct at all times justifies both their patients’ and the public’s trust in the profession.
“The panel has considered this case very carefully and has decided to make a suspension order for a period of six months.”
Hazel Borland, Nurse Director at NHS Ayrshire & Arran, said: “We are committed to delivering safe, high quality patient care, and we have robust systems in place to ensure this is achieved. Following concerns about an agency nurse, a referral was made to the Nursing and Midwifery Council ( NMC) by a patient’s family in 2018.
“We can confirm that as soon as we were notified of the referral by the NMC we advised the agency in April 2018 that we would not accept this nurse working in our hospitals.”