SEBALEKE: BLUNDERING NURSE MIXED DRUGS IN PATIENT’S DRIP WITHOUT CHECKING IT WAS SAFE
A nurse failed to check the ‘potentially disastrous’ consequences of mixing two drugs in the same drip, a hearing was told today (Mon).
Denis Sebaleke, 38, mixed antibiotics with fast-acting insulin in a patient’s IV line without checking the combination was safe.
It was one of a series of blunder made by the Ugandan staff nurse while working on the high dependency unit at Lewisham Hospital, se London.
He also failed to hand over the care of two other patients to night shift nurses at the end of his duties on March 29, 2007.
A year later, he used ‘excessive force’ while pumping X-ray contrast fluid into a patient’s nasal tube and told him he would ‘become addicted’ to morphine while treating him on March 7, 2008.
His ‘inappropriate’ comments caused the patient and his family ‘significant distress’, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.
He then lied on an application form for a staff nurse post at the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Trust, in Chertsey Surrey and Ashford, Middlesex, in 2009.
Sebaleke said one of his referees was a charge nurse, when he was in fact only a staff nurse.
He then provided a written reference falsely purporting to be written by a genuine charge nurse at Lewisham Hospital.
Sebaleke admitted five charges against him at an NMC hearing in central London today.
The panel found him guilty of misconduct and will now consider what sanction to impose.
This could include striking his name off the nursing register.
Panel chair Paul Hindley, said Sebaleke’s failure to check the compatibility of the drugs, which occurred on December 16, 2007, was a serious matter.
‘The panel is concerned that this was very dangerous,’ he said.
‘Presuming compatibility has potentially disastrous effects.’
He added: ‘The registrant’s misconduct in this case covers a number of different incidents on different occasions.
‘It demonstrates a pattern of behaviour falling well short of acceptable standards of conduct.
‘He has admitted dishonesty and this calls into question his integrity and trustworthiness.
‘In our judgement there is a risk of repetition and he therefore continues to present a risk to the public.’
Sebaleke, who is representing himself at the hearing, urged the panel not to strike him off.
‘I’m sorry for for what happened,’ he said.
‘There were issues beyond my control which affected my practice.
‘Yes, I have done wrong.
‘But if someone makes a mistake it does not mean they cannot improve.’
The hearing continues.
ends
