Nurse suspended for six months for cheating in university dissertation
A nurse who plagiarised more than a third of his dissertation and tried to pass it off as his own research has been suspended from his profession for six months.
Akrum E-Azum Allymood, 34, lifted whole pages from other academic articles and pretended they were his own work, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) heard.
Allymood, who lives in Hastings, has admitted dishonestly submitting the dissertation while studying for an MSc in Community Health Care Nursing at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College.
Salim Hafferjee, for the NMC, said: "He was enrolled on the course in 2005 and as part of it, he had to submit a 15,000 word dissertation.
"He was granted a number of extensions after moving between hospitals for his job, but he did eventually submit the work, entitled 'To what extent is pain an issue in patients with venous leg ulcers?' and it was assessed by two people, David Gay and Angela Fanning.
"Their view was that a significant amount of the dissertation had been plagiarised."
Mr Hafferjee told the panel that 22 pages of the 61-page dissertation included plagiarised passages.
He said: "The passages from academic sources and articles were used to shore up his own dissertation.
"At least a third of his dissertation appears to have been plagiarised, and from pages 49 to 55 in particular, whole pages have been lifted from academic articles and placed in his own work.
"In one example, eight complete pages from one article have been used, with some of those pages even used more than once."
Angela Fanning, course leader for the MSC in Community Health Care Nursing, told the panel: "His dissertation project was initially agreed by Slough Primary Care Trust and patients had to fill out questionnaires.
"But then he moved to Hastings, and the project had to then be agreed by Hastings Primary Care Trust (PCT), which it was.
"Because of the move, he was granted an extension of the submission date, and he handed it in in September 2006.
"The dissertation was marked by myself and large sections of it were found to be plagiarised."
Mrs Fanning told the panel that Allymood's cheating was reported to university management, who recommended that he be expelled.
His dissertation was later disqualified.
Allymood did not attending the London hearing but has admitted dishonestly submitting a dissertation which included plagiarised passages.
He has also admitted his fitness to practice as a nurse is impaired by reason of his misconduct.
In a letter to the NMC, he claimed in his defence that he had found it difficult to travel from Hastings to the university campus and had suffered from ill health.
He also claimed that his course had 'not been properly managed'.
Panel chair Jillian Alderwick said: "We had found that the registrant's fitness to practice is impaired by reason of dishonest misconduct.
"Though an isolated incident of dishonesty, it was calculated and motivated by self-interest.
"This was a serious and substantial act of dishonesty and the sanction should reflect this in the public's mind.
"But, this case of misconduct had not direct consequence for the safety of patient and there is no cause for concern about the registrant's clinical competence."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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