The inquest heard the nurse realised her mistake much later in bed A community nurse accused of giving a diabetic pensioner 10 times too much insulin is expected to find out on Thursday if she will be struck off.
Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust worker Joanne Elizabeth Evans faces two misconduct charges over the death of Margaret Thomas, 85, from Pontypool.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel in Cardiff heard she died six hours after the insulin was given.
Two years ago, an inquest ruled that she had been unlawfully killed.
The hearing was told Mrs Evans went to see Mrs Thomas on 2 June, 2007, after the pensioner had collapsed on the doorstep of her home in Pontnewydd, Pontypool, following a shopping trip.
Mrs Evans tried to inject her patient with two insulin pens, but they both jammed, the committee was told.
‘Well-respected’
She then fetched a regular syringe from her car instead of one usually used for insulin – a substance measured in units, as opposed to millilitres.
Mrs Evans then was said to have wrongly converted the amount “in her head” and injected Mrs Thomas with 3.6ml – approximately 360 units – instead of the 36 units she should have given.
Her colleagues described Mrs Evans as being “well respected” and “very caring”, but also that she had begun to struggle with her workload as she was the only nurse on her patch, due to staff shortages, the panel was told.
It heard Mrs Evans had become stressed because she was not sleeping well following an argument with a neighbours and she also had concerns for her daughter, who had suspected appendicitis.
But Alex Mills, representing the NMC, said Mrs Evans had “made very significant errors that had a very significant impact”.
Mrs Evans is accused of administering “3.6ml of Lantus insulin (approximately 360 units) to Patient A” when the prescribed dose was 36 units, as well as failing to report the incident to a GP or senior nurse.
The hearing continues.
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