Legal Issues in community health nursing Prepared by

Legal Issues in community health nursing Prepared by Suhail Al Humoud Legal Issues in community health nursing

Legal Issues in community health nursing : Objectives Prepared by Suhail Al Humoud After completion the lecture the students enable to:

Legal Issues in community health nursing In a civilized society, a system of laws promotes order, protects the rights of citizens and provides the framework for a wide variety of relationships. Laws help establish order within a society for the common good of all. In today’s complex world, with advancing technologies and array of societal problems, legal issues are an important aspect of life. For nurses in practice within the current health system, knowledge of basic legal concepts is vital. (Deloughery, 1998).

Legal Issues in community health nursing Nurses have been legally accountable for their actions for many years, and current trends regarding the legal ramifications of nursing practice compel nurses to learn the legal aspects of their field. Many nurses are functioning in more autonomous roles in which liability exposure increases in proportion to their level of independence. In addition to that the increasing demands in healthcare for quality in patient care services and increasing patient awareness of health care issues directly increase the number of complaints and litigation. So nurses must be aware of legal implications of nursing practice because present day society is litigious, and an increasing number of nurses have been named as defendants in malpractice lawsuits. (Deloughery, 1998, and Elnitsky, Nichols, and Palmer, 1999, and Showers, 1999).

Legal Issues in community health nursing Definition of negligence and malpractice Negligence: “the omission to do something that a reasonable person, guided by those ordinary considerations, which ordinarily regulate human affairs, would to do, or doing something, which a reasonable and prudent person would not to do” Or “failure to exercise the degree of care that a reasonable nurse would exercise under the same or similar circumstances”

Legal Issues in community health nursing Malpractice “that part of law of negligence applied to the professional person: It is, in effect, any professional misconduct or unreasonable lack of professional skill”. A nurse could be guilty if she or he injured a client while performing a procedure differently from the way other nurses would have done it. Negligence applies to any person who, for example, drove a car too quickly in snowy weather and injured a pedestrian.

Legal Issues in community health nursing Types of malpractice situation: Medication errors Falls Failure to observe and take appropriate action Burns Mistaken identity Sponge counts

Legal Issues in community health nursing Elements of Malpractice: there are essentially four elements that must be presented in a successful malpractice suit; all of these factors must be proven before the court will find liability against the nurse and/or institution. This includes the following: (1) The nurse’s had a duty to provide care to the patient and to follow an acceptable standard of care. (2) The nurse’s failure to adhere to standard of care. (3) The nurse’s failure to adhere to standard of care caused the patient’s injuries. (4) The plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the nurse’s negligent actions.

Legal Issues in community health nursing Elements of Malpractice: Elements Duty owed the patient Nature of the duty Existence of the duty Breach of the duty owed Foreseeability Causation Injury Damages Example Failure to monitor a patient’s response to treatment Failure to communicate change in status to the primary health care provider Failure to ensure minimum standards are met Failure to provide patient education Patient falls

Legal Issues in community health nursing Nurses should be take the following steps to safeguard themselves against a professional negligence action: • Keep Current with your job requirements, including any policies that ascribes additional responsibilities to your position. • Hold regular staff meeting with mandatory attendance. • Encourage the free flow of communication among staff. • View incidents without implication or blame emphasize the opportunity to improve the patient care process. • Ensure that routinely needed reference materials, such as hospital policies, procedures, guidelines and reference books, are readily accessible for all nurses.

Legal Issues in community health nursing • Maintain a system to give all nurses the opportunity to review amended policies as they are revised. • Encourage continuing education and probe nurses for insight into improving patient care. • Stress communication about a patient’s status and ensure that staff adheres to documentation guidelines. • Have a system for filing and tracking patient care incidents to identify areas where the staff needs education. • Properly train staff to use new patient care quipment • Advice staff when the hospital creates, revises, or retires policies or implements a new method of providing patient care.