Nurse suspended for failing to keep notes

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A nurse been suspended and fined after compromising the safety of nearly 80 patients by failing to take notes of her consultations with them over a two-year period.

The nurse, who has name suppression, pleaded guilty to the charges when she appeared before a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in Wellington today.

She also admitted failing to relaying to a doctor symptoms of a rheumatology patient on medication that could cause serious side effects.

The nurse has since resigned from her position as a specialty clinical nurse.

The offending happened between April 6, 2010 and February 15 last year, a summary of facts presented at the tribunal said.

In January last year a patient had told the nurse she was experiencing a "funny feeling" in her chest and her hand was painful and swollen.

The patient had been prescribed medication that could cause infections, multiple sclerosis, seizures, heart failure, immune reactions and cancer.

The nurse told the patient the resident rheumatologist was away and she would discuss the symptoms with him when he returned in two weeks. She told the patient to see her GP if she became concerned in the meantime.

The nurse failed to speak to the doctor and did not get in touch with the patient.

When the patient called the district health board two months later, an investigation was launched into the nurse's working practices.

That inquiry found the nurse had not documented clinical record consultations with 79 patients, some of whom she had seen numerous times.

The nurse told the tribunal she had kept written records of patient appointments in her "Red Book" or on the back of the patient list for the day's clinic but accepted those records did not form part of the clinical file and others did not have access to them.

The nurse acknowledged there had been a "deficit in documentation" that she had been unable to identify due to "professional pride" and that workplace culture had contributed to that reluctance.

The tribunal said her actions amounted to professional misconduct.

The nurse was suspended for nine months and ordered to pay $6000 costs. Her interim name suppression lapses on September 4.

If she returns to nursing she must fulfil a series of orders imposed by the tribunal, including completing a course on ethics and professional obligations around record keeping and having professional supervision for three years.