Legal Aspects of Nursing Flashcards
Negligence is measured by reasonableness. What question might the nurse ask when determining such reasonableness?
Would a reasonable and prudent nurse act in the same manner under the same circumstances?
What types of procedures should be assigned to professional nurses?
Sterile or invasive procedures.
List the four elements that are necessary to prove negligence.
1) DUTY: Failure to protect client against unreasonable risk.
2) BREACH OF DUTY: Failure to preform according to established standards.
3) CAUSATION: A connection exists between conduct of the nurse and the resulting damage.
4) DAMAGES: Damage is done to the client, physical or mental.
Define an intentional tort, and give one example.
- Definition: Conduct causing damage to another person in a willful or intentional way without just cause.
- Example: Hitting a client out of anger, not in a manner of self-protection.
Differentiate between voluntary and involuntary admission.
VOLUNTARY: Client admits self to an institution for treatment and retains his or her civil rights; he or she may leave at any time.
INVOLUNTARY: Someone other than the client applies for the clients admission to an institution (a relative, a friend, or the state); requires certification by one or two health care providers that the person is a danger to self or others; the person has a right to a legal hearing (habeas corpus) to try to be released, and the court determines the justification for holding the person.
List five activities a person who is declared incompetent cannot perform.
1) Vote
2) Make contracts or wills
3) Drive a car
4) Sue or be sued
5) Hold a professional license
Name three legal requirements of a surgical permit.
1) Voluntary
2) Informed
3) Written
Who may give consent for medical treatment?
- Alert, coherent, or otherwise competent adults
- A parent or legal guardian
- A person in loco parentis of minors or incompetent adults
What law protects the nurse who provides care or gives aid in an emergency situation?
The Good Samaritan Act
What actions should the nurse take if he or she questions a health care providers prescription-that is, believes the prescription is wrong?
- Inform the health care provider
- Record that the health care provider was informed and the health care providers response to such information
- Inform the nursing supervisor
- Refuse to carry out the prescription
Describe the nurse’s legal responsibility when asked to perform a task for which he or she is unprepared.
- Inform the HCP or he person asking the nurse to perform the task that he or she is unprepared to carry out the task
- Refuse to perform the task
Describe nursing care of the restrained client.
- Apply restraints properly
- Check restraints frequently to see that they are not causing injury and record such monitoring
- Remove restraints as soon as possible
- Use restraints ONLY as a last resort
Describe six patient rights guaranteed under HIPPA regulations that nurses must be aware of in practice.
- A patient must give written consent before HCPs can use or disclose personal health information
- HCPs must give patients notice about providers’ responsibilities regarding patient confidentiality
- Patients must have access to their medical records
- Providers who restrict access must explain why and must offer patients a description of the complaint process
- Patients have the right to request that changes be made in their medical records to correct inaccuracies
- HCPs must follow specific tracking procedures for any disclosures made that ensure accountability for maintenance of patient confidentiality
- Patients have the right to request that HCPs restrict the use and disclosure of their personal health information, though the provider may decline to do so
