Malpractice Issues in Nursing Practice
This article by Geraldine Brown, (2016), brought awareness of this new issue of raising cases for malpractice in the nursing field. In 2015, about 164,586 dollars were paid for settlement of claims. A few of the reasons for these claims were related to charting, medication errors, nursing fatigue, communication failure, and incident reports (Brown, 2016).
The research shows that communication plays a great role when it comes to client care but unfortunately, communication failure issue is one of reason for nurses to have malpractice. Nurses were found to have communication failure regarding client issues with charge nurses, doctors, and ancillary staff members. Nurses on their part feel that they do not
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Many times medication error or contraindications occurs that can lead to patient harm and becomes reason for many lawsuits. Nurses can also be sued by for practicing outside their license and may also end up having criminal charges. Nurses need to make sure that before giving any medication there is an order from the physician. Many facilities and hospitals have standing order which nurses can follow if there is a need for emergency purposes. If the nurses carry out standing order, then it may conflict with Nursing Practice Act, but these concerns should be brought to administrator’s attention (Brown, …show more content…
Nurses also need to be careful about look alike and sound alike drugs. Rash-Foanio et al. (2017), claimed that advanced technology can help nurses to identify those drugs but facility should have an algorithm/system in place which can provide valid drug indication and patient diagnoses lists to pharmacists upon admission (Rash-Foanio et al., (2017), p. 526). It is also important to provide proper education to patient and practice “six rights” every time when administering medications. Charting by exception does not provide complete picture of patient and can make nurses look negligent. Documentation should be done in a way that it provides a complete picture about client situation, interventions, and client outcomes. Charting by exception had raised some serious questions about incident reports in home care because it is not legible and does not paint a complete picture what was done during that situation (Brown, 2016). Working over time, too many days in a row, and especially 12-hour day and night
The two of the six rights of medication administration that were violated where the right medication, the right dosage, and the right client. The nurse failed to read the medication order three times before administering the medication, failed to scan for the right count of the medication, and as well failed to match the patient ID with the scanned
4). Examples of how nurses can integrate this competency include; using current practice guidelines and researching into hospital’s policies (Jurado, 2015). According to Sherwood & Zomorodi (2014) nurses should use current evidence based standards when providing care to patients. Nurse B violated one of the rights of medication administration. South Florida State Hospital does not use ID wristbands; instead they use a picture of the patient in the medication cup. Nurse B did not ask the patient to confirm his name in order to verify this information with the picture in the computer. By omitting this step in the process of medication administration, nurse B put the patient at risk of a medication error, which could have caused a negative patient
...estions if not 100% sure of something or use a double checking system. When a nurse is administrating medication, they should use the ten rights of medication administration (right patient, right drug, right route, right time, right dose, right documentation, right action, right form, right response, and right to refuse). Nurses should always keep good hand hygiene and always wear appropriate clothing to prevent from the spread of disease. Good communication with patients and healthcare team members is also key to success. Keeping on the eye on the patient within an appropriate time is important. If the patient ever seems to be looking different than their usual self vitals should be taken immediately. Encouraging patients to ask questions if they are unaware of something can prevent errors as well. Nurses should make sure the patient is on the same page as they are.
Some method such as audits, chart reviews, computer monitoring, incident report, bar codes and direct patient observation can improve and decrease medication errors. Regular audits can help patient’s care and reeducate nurses in the work field to new practices. Also reporting of medication errors can help with data comparison and is a learning experience for everyone. Other avenues that has been implemented are computerized physician order entry systems or electronic prescribing (a process of electronic entry of a doctor’s instructions for the treatment of patients under his/her care which communicates these orders over a computer network to other staff or departments) responsible for fulfilling the order, and ward pharmacists can be more diligence on the prescription stage of the medication pathway. A random survey was done in hospital pharmacies on medication error documentation and actions taken against pharmacists involved. A total of 500 hospital were selected in the United States. Data collected on the number of medication error reported, what types of errors were documented and the hospital demographics. The response rate was a total of 28%. Practically, all of the hospitals had policies and procedures in place for reporting medication errors.
This assignment will discuss the professional, legal and ethical issues related to the self-use of medication by nurses. It will also explore the importance of reporting this misconduct by both professionals in the scenario and how they might do so. The self-use of medication by nurses is not allowed or justifiable according to the guidance provided to nurses by An Bord Altranais (ABA 2007). It will also be evident throughout this assignment the need for Jack to report Linda’s self-use of the medication or urge Linda to do so regardless of the consequences it may present to both him and Linda as according to Nurses and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI 2013), nurses can now be held responsible for not taking action. This is because delivering the greatest level of care to a patient is an essential role of a nurse and the main focus of the nurse’s work should be on caring for that patient (ABA 2010). There is also an ethical duty upon both nurses to report the misconduct according to the four ethical principles; Beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy (Edwards 2009).
The main quality initiative affected by this workaround is patient safety. The hospital switched to computer medication administration as opposed to paper medication administration documentation because it is supposed to be safer. So, when the nurse gets the “wrong medication” message the computer thinks something is wrong, this is a safety net that is built into the computer system. If the nurse were just to administer the medication without any further checks, he or she would be putting patient safety on the line. The policy involved that pertains to this workaround is the “8 rights of medication administration”, which are: right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, right time, right documentation, right reason, and right response (LippincottNursingCenter®, 2011). Each nurse it taught these eight rights of medication administration in nursing school, therefore it is a nursing policy. When this workaround occurs the nurse should use his/her judgment before “scan overriding” and ensure these eight checks before administering the
The topic of this article is medication error related to chemotherapy drugs. Forty percent of medication errors have been related to chemotherapy drugs. It is imperative that the nurses are properly trained on these medications and fully understand what is being administered before giving it to the patient as well as know what the proper dose is before administering anything to the patient. More importantly the nurse must pay close attention to their patient’s response to the chemotherapy given to the patient or it could lead to a serious injury or death.
In this essay the author will rationalize the relevance of professional, ethical and legal regulations in the practice of nursing. The author will discuss and analyze the chosen scenario and critically review the action taken in the expense of the patient and the care workers. In addition, the author will also evaluates the strength and limitations of the scenario in a broader issue with reasonable judgement supported by theories and principles of ethical and legal standards.
Ethical dilemmas are the issues that nurses have to encounter everyday regardless of where their workplaces are. These problems significantly impact both health care providers and patients. Patient safety is the most priority in nursing and it can be jeopardized by a slight mistake. Medication errors and reporting medication errors have been major problems in health care. Errors with medications have been found to be the most common cause of adverse drug effects (Brady, Malone, Fleming, 2009). Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago conducted a research in 2012 that approximately forty percent of the hospitalized clients have encountered a medication error (Lahue et al., 2012). A nurse’s role is to identify and report these medication errors immediately in order to stop or minimize any possible harm to the patients. Ethical moral dilemmas arise when reporting the mistakes that have been made by one’s own colleagues, acquaintances, peers, or physicians.
Klein, C. A. (2002). Surveying the malpractice terrain. Nurse Practitioner, 27(11), 62. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Not only is professional communication important in the portrayal of a good nursing image and behaviour, it also plays a vital role in patient care and health outcomes. The ANMC standards serve as a good guidance on the need to establish therapeutic relationship through effective communication. As nurses spend relatively more time with patients, they play a significant role in bridging a patient and doctor. Hence, it is would help for nurses to constantly hone their communication skills through experience over time.
Drug administration forms a major part of the clinical nurse’s role. Medicines are prescribed by the doctor and dispensed by the pharmacist but responsibility for correct administration rests with the registered nurse (O'Shea 1999). So as a student nurse this has become my duty and something that I need to practice and become competent in carrying it out. Each registered nurse is accountable for his/her practice. This practice includes preparing, checking and administering medications, updating knowledge of medications, monitoring the effectiveness of treatment, reporting adverse drug reactions and teaching patients about the drugs that they receive (NMC 2008). Accountability also goes for students, if at any point I felt I was not competent enough to dispensing a certain drug it would be my responsibility in speaking up and let the registered nurses know, so that I could shadow them and have the opportunity to learn help me in future practice and administration.
Omission of medications is a common issue in the field of nursing. When patients miss their scheduled dosage of medication, it can cause harm. Nurses take an oath to do no harm to their patients. When a nurse purposely omits a medication, they are not properly acting within their nurse’s scope of practice. A nurse cannot make the decision to hold a medication based on ones believes, because they were interrupted, or because of time constraints. “The administration of medications is a major part of the role of the clinical nurse and is an activity prone to error” (Johnson, Tran, & Young, 2011 p. 553).
Each day, people are admitted into hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare settings in hope for a cure or treatment for their illness. During these times, patients are usually at their most vulnerable state and need the best care possible from healthcare providers. Some patients end up recovering after several dreadful days or even months in hospital care, while others do not get another chance at life and take their last breath on a hospital bed. What is shocking here is that patients are not only losing their lives because of their bodies not having the strength to combat illnesses, but also because of mistakes made on behalf of medical staff members. Medical errors in places like hospitals, dental offices, and even doctors offices account
Improving patient safety at the bedside has become a priority concern in many healthcare delivery system today. A major component of quality in healthcare now places emphasis on reducing error at every stage of patient care. It has been estimated that 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year due to medical errors that could have been prevented. Medication errors have been recognized as a major cause of patient harm in healthcare services. Despite significant progress in health care systems, nursing errors in medication administrations have a huge responsibility for mortality and morbidity of thousands of people each year and an increase the healthcare related cost. Safe and accurate medication administration is therefore an important and potentially