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NURS 427 > Exam #1: Chapter 5 - Legal And Legislative Issues > Flashcards

Exam #1: Chapter 5 - Legal And Legislative Issues Flashcards

1
Q

Statutes

A

Laws that are passed by the state or federal legislators and must be signed by the president or governor

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2
Q

Nurse Practice Acts are an examples of

A

Statutes

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3
Q

Criminal Law/Courts

A
  • Burden of Proof Required for Guilty Verdict: Beyond a reasonable doubt
  • Likely Consequences of Guilty Verdict: Incarceration, probation and fines
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4
Q

Civil Law/Courts

A
  • Burden of Proof Required for Guilty Verdict: Based on a preponderance of the evidence
  • Likely Consequences of a Guilty Verdict: Monetary Damages
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5
Q

Administrative Laws/Courts

A
  • Burden of Proof Required for Guilty Verdict: Clear and convincing standard
  • Likely Consequences of a Guilty Verdict: Suspension or loss of licensure
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6
Q

Stare Decisis

A

(Let the decision stand) uses precedents as a decision-making guide

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7
Q

Res judicata

A

(A thing or matter settled by judgement)

applies only when a competent court has decided a legal dispute and when no further appeals are possible

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8
Q

Respondeat Superior

A

(the master is responsible for the acts of his servants)
an employer should be held legally liable for the conduct of employees whose actions he or she has a right to direct or control

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9
Q

Two Types of Negligence

A
  • Ordinary Negligence

- Professional negligence (also called malpractice)

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10
Q

Nurses Are at Increased Legal Liability in the 21st Century Owing to the Following

A
  • They have more authority and independence in decision making.
  • They have increased legal accountability for decision making.
  • They are performing more actions that used to be in the realm of medical practice.
  • They are making more money.
  • More nurses are carrying malpractice insurance.
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11
Q

Negligence

A

the omission to do something that a reasonable person, guided by the considerations that ordinarily regulate human affairs, would do—or as doing something that a reasonable and prudent person would not do

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12
Q

Malpractice

A

the failure of a person with professional training to act in a reasonable and prudent manner—also called professional negligence

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13
Q

Five Components Necessary for Professional Negligence to Occur

A
  • A standard of care is in place (minimal level of expertise delivered to a patient).
  • There is a failure to meet the standard of care (breach of duty).
  • Foreseeability of harm must exist (ignorance is not an excuse).
  • There must be a provable correlation between care and harm.
  • Actual patient injury must occur
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14
Q

“Just following physician orders”

A

Is not a defense of malpractice

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15
Q

How to reduce the risk of malpractice claims?

A
  • Practice within the scope of the nurse practice act.
  • Observe agency policies and procedures.
  • Model practice after established standards by using evidence-based practice.
  • Always put patient’s rights and welfare first.
  • Be aware of relevant law and legal doctrines.
  • Practice within the area of individual competence and upgrade technical skills consistently.
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16
Q

Incident reports

A
  • Records of unusual or unexpected incidents that occur in the course of a client’s treatment (piece of paper)
  • Generally considered confidential communications and cannot be subpoenaed by clients or used as evidence in their lawsuits in most states
  • A copy of an incident report should not be left in the chart, and no entry should be made in the patient’s record about the existence of an incident report.
17
Q

Intentional Torts

A

Private, civil wrong or injury

18
Q

Torts include

A
  • Assault and battery
  • False imprisonment
  • Invasion of privacy
  • Defamation of character (i.e slander (spoken) or libel (written))
19
Q

Responsibilities of the Nurse Manager

A
  • Reporting dangerous understaffing
  • Checking staff credentials and qualifications
  • Carrying out appropriate discipline
20
Q

The person(s) giving consent must fully comprehend:

A
  1. The procedure to be performed
  2. The risks involved
  3. Expected or desired outcomes
  4. Expected complications or side effects that may occur as a result of treatment
  5. Alternative treatments that are available
21
Q

Consent may be given by:

A
  1. A competent adult
  2. A legal guardian or individual holding durable power of attorney
  3. An emancipated or married minor
  4. Mature minor (varies by state)
  5. Parent of a minor child
  6. Court order
22
Q

Patient Medical Records

A
  • Patient owns the information, but the record belongs to the facility that made it and is storing it.
  • Patients must have reasonable access to the record.
  • Collaboration between health-care providers and patients, and documentation thereof, is a good indication of well-provided clinical care
23
Q

Patient Self Determination Act (PSDA)

A

Required health-care organizations that received federal funding (Medicare and Medicaid) to provide education for staff and patients on issues concerning treatment and end-of-life issues

24
Q

Good Samaritan Laws

A

Suggest that health-care providers are typically protected from potential liability if they volunteer their nursing skills away from the workplace (generally limited to emergencies), provided that actions taken are not grossly negligent and if the health-care worker does not exceed his or her training or scope of practice in performing the emergency services

25
Q

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996

A
  • Protects the privacy of health information and to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage
  • Requires proper authorization to release personal health information
  • Requires security measures to protect information
26
Q

Common Causes of Professional Nursing License Suspension and Revocation

A
  • Professional negligence
  • Practicing medicine or nursing without a license
  • Obtaining a nursing license by fraud or allowing others to use your license
  • Felony conviction for any offense substantially related to the function or duties of an RN
  • Participating professionally in criminal abortions
  • Not reporting substandard medical or nursing care
  • Providing patient care while under the influence of drugs or alcohol
  • Giving narcotic drugs without an order
  • Falsely holding oneself out to the public or to any health-care practitioner as a “nurse practitioner”
27
Q

Patient Self Determination Act includes

A
  • Advance directives (ADs)
  • Living Will
  • Durable Power of Attorney
  • Health Care Proxy
28
Q

Things to remember with incident reports

A
  • Completed within 24 hours
  • NEVER chart that an incident report was filed
  • NEVER make a copy or staple together (copy makes it available to external people and discoverable in court of law; if staple holes are present, but not other paper, could assume you were hiding something)
29
Q

Informed consent

A

The right of a patient to receive al information about risks, benefits and alternatives to proposed treatments to enable the patient to voluntarily consent or refuse treatment.

30
Q

Goal of the Board of Nursing

A

Protecting the public

31
Q

Board of Nursing Responsibilities

A
  • Each state has its own board
  • Establishes educational and examination requirements
  • Responsible for licensure
  • Defines scope of practice -> every state has their own scope of practice/ Nurse Practice Act
  • Responsible for disciplinary action
32
Q

Nurse Practice Act

A
  • Series of statutes enacted by each state legislature to regulate the practice of nursing
  • Definition of the practice of nursing
33
Q

Nurse Practice Act includes

A
  • Requirements for licensure
  • Exceptions to the practice act
  • Actions or conditions that can result in loss or limitations of license
  • Actions that require a physician or advanced practice nurse order before completion
34
Q

Licensure

A
  • Authorizes qualified individuals to perform designated skills and services
  • Obtained through examination, endorsement and mutual recognition (nurse license compact)
  • NV is NOT compact (Compact states means that you can have a license within one state and it would qualify in other states within the compact as well. Only several states are within the compact.)
  • Must maintain educational requirements that vary from state to state (NV requires 30 hours, Bioterrorism course)
35
Q

Major Reasons for Malpractice: Failure to

A
  • Follow standards of care
  • Use equipment in a responsible manner
  • Communicate
  • Document
  • Assess and monitor
  • Act as a patient advocate
36
Q

5 elements of malpractice (these are what make malpractice different from negligence)

A
  1. Duty owed to patient
  2. Breach of duty
  3. Foreseeability of harm
  4. Causation (direct relationship between failure to meet standard of care and harm of the patient)
  5. Injury
    (Malpractice if all 5 of these elements were achieved; negligence if one of these elements is not achieved)

NURS 427 (11 decks)

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