![\"otilia1\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/otilia11.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Natasha Partos, for the NMC, said on February 8, 2014 two of Choga\u2019s colleagues at the nurses\u2019 station noticed the patient\u2019s stats were dropping.<\/p>\nMs Partos said: \u201cThey attended Patient A who they described as being blue in colour and required medical intervention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe registrant in fact was present in the patient\u2019s room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe patient\u2019s alarm had been turned off and it is the NMC\u2019s case that the registrant failed to acknowledge the other members of staff in the room, failed to assist and failed to recognise that Patient A\u2019s condition was deteriorating and thereafter take appropriate action.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choga had left the unit without informing colleagues when she was the nurse in charge on December 17, 2013.<\/p>\n
Ms Partos said: \u201cAt the commencement of the registrant\u2019s shift she was the runner on duty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a high dependency ward where many of the patient\u2019s relied on one to one care.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn that particular morning shift there was a patient who required an urgent MRI scan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Partos informed the panel the staff member in charge left the unit with this patient and asked Choga to act in charge in his place.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was to take charge of the unit and should remain until he returned,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Later, a matron on the unit was unable to locate Choga on the ward.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe found the nurses were distressed and that there was no senior member of staff present,\u201d Ms Partos said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe registrant was found by the matron in the canteen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe matron was informed that she had left the unit because she was hungry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe registrant had left the unit without informing anyone or ensuring that anyone else was left in charge in her absence.\u201d<\/p>\n
One nurse had been found crying on the unit upon Choga\u2019s return as she had been unable to get assistance when required.<\/p>\n
Choga also left a patient, who was ventilated and intubated, unattended on May 1, 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe left a patient who was on one to one care unattended which was at odds with the procedures and policy in place,\u201d said Ms Partos.<\/p>\n
Another staff member reported his concerns for the patient to the matron in charge.<\/p>\n
James Churchill, chair of the NMC panel, said: \u201cThere remains a risk of repetition of errors of judgement, particularly if you were to return to work in a similar environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe panel concluded that your fitness to practice is impaired on the grounds of public protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choga, who was present and represented at the hearing, admitted silencing the alarm, leaving the unit without informing others and ensuring someone else was put in charge and leaving an intubation patient unobserved.<\/p>\n
It was found proved she failed to recognise the patient\u2019s deteriorating condition and failed to take appropriate action and she had been instructed to stay on the unit by a colleague.<\/p>\n
The NMC panel also found Choga guilty of misconduct on all charges and that her fitness to practice is impaired.<\/p>\n
They will now decide what the appropriate sanction for Choga\u2019s actions will be.<\/p>\n
Daily Mirror<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UK News : A Zimbabwean nurse Otilia Choga switched off the alarm on a child\u2019s monitor weeks after she abandoned her post to get a snack in the canteen, a tribunal has found. A Zimbabwean nurse in the UK switched off the alarm on a child\u2019s monitor weeks after she abandoned her post to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[449],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/otilia-you-tube.png?fit=868%2C528&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3948"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3956,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3948\/revisions\/3956"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musvozimbabwenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}