Nurse Struck Off For Errors On Clinical Trials

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 05 Nov 2008 - 9:00 PDT

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A Teeside nurse who failed to monitor and adequately inform patients in a clinical research study has been struck off the register.

At a hearing of the Nursing & Midwifery Council in London, evidence from nursing staff showed that Nicola Gibson, 37, from Cleveland, could have put patients at risk because of her mistakes during the Study of Heart and Renal Protection (SHARP) in James Cook University Hospital, South Teeside, one of the sites for an international clinical research study conducted by the University of Oxford.

The independent panel of the NMC's Conduct and Competence Committee heard how Gibson failed to document informed consent of patients to participate and contribute blood samples in the study, did not interview patients for as long as required and thus denied them full consultation in the study, failed to take and/or record blood tests, did not administer medication to groups of patients as allocated and then tried to cover her mistakes by recording the medication as provided.

A spokesperson for the NMC, Lesley Conway, said: "The matters found proved in this case were serious. They were repetitive in nature and occurred over a long period - between July 2004 and December 2006.

"Gibson breached the code of professional conduct on issues of patient consent, consulting with patients, not meeting appropriate clinical and record-keeping standards, recording medications, and dishonesty.

"On the face of it the acts of clinical misconduct could be remediable. There was however nothing to indicate that these matters were remedied. The panel concluded that failings with regard to blood testing of chronically ill patients particularly in respect of the "ck" (creatine and kinase) test could have put patients at risk of significant harm. Gibson would have been aware of this risk having gone through the training for the trial. Her mistakes with drug allocation and documentation could have affected the patients' clinical management during the trial.

"While the purpose of a striking order is not to be directly punitive the panel weighed the interests of the public against those of Gibson."

The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) is the UK regulator for two professions, nursing and midwifery. To be eligible to work as a nurse or midwife in the UK, they must be registered with the NMC. There are currently more than 674,000 nurses and midwives on the register. The primary purpose of the NMC is to safeguard the health and wellbeing of the public. It does this through maintaining a register of all nurses and midwives to practise within the UK and by setting standards for their education, training and conduct.

Nursing & Midwifery Council