Legal Considerations Flashcards
Define fiduciary relationships*
The recipient of the care has to trust in the professional’s competency and integrity, because of the nature of the services provided
What six things are regulatory bodies responsible for?*
- Ensuring safe, competent, and ethical nursing care (through standards of practice)
- Granting registration and licensing
- Ensuring continuing competency
- Investigating complaints against members conduct
- Disciplining members when necessary
- Approving nursing education programs
What is a duty of care?*
The duty of care is owed to those who retain our services or are placed under our care
Expected to act in a competent manner to ensure care meets reasonable standards and expectations
Define professional misconduct & provide examples*
Behaviour that fails to meet the ethical and legal rules and standards of the profession - doing what you are not supposed to be doing
Acts or omissions that breach or abuse the nurse-client relationship
Ex. Failure to uphold the code of ethics, abuse, misappropriating personal property/medications, abandoning a client, neglecting to provide care
Define professional malpractice & provide examples*
Nursing acts that are performed in a sub-standard or careless manner that does not conform to the generally recognized practice standard - doing what you are supposed to be, but doing it badly
Does not necessarily involve misconduct
Ex. Doing or saying nothing when action is required, injuring a patient with equipment, improper administration of medication, inappropriate/inadequate documentation
What is the difference between statute and case law?*
Statute law is created by elected legislative bodies and case law is built on the precedent of decisions set by other similar cases
What is a tort?*
A civil wrong committed by one person against another causing injury or damage, either to person or property
Classified as intentional or unintentional
Define assault*
Conduct that creates the apprehension or fear of imminent harmful or offensive contact
No actual contact is required to be charged with assault
Define battery*
The intentional physical contact with a person, without that person’s consent
Can be harmful and bring about injury, or simply offensive to the patient’s personal dignity
What are four intentional torts?*
Assault, battery, invasion of privacy, and false imprisonment
When can medical treatment be administered without consent?*
Situations that are life-threatening and the patient is unconscious or mentally incompetent
What three things are required for consent to be valid?*
- Patient must have legal and mental capacity to consent
- Consent must be voluntary without coercion
- Consent must be informed (patient must understand all options, risks, and benefits)
What three aspects need to be involved for a nurse to be liable for negligence?*
- Duty of care owed to the patient/client
- Breach of that duty of care by healthcare provider
- Patient suffered damage as a direct result of the breach of the duty of care
Define proximate cause*
Defendant is liable for any harm caused by their negligence
Damage must be something that could reasonably be foreseen as resulting from the negligent conduct
Define contributory negligence*
Even if the plaintiff is partly to blame or partly at fault for the harm suffered, they can still receive damages for the remaining portion
If a nursing student performs a nursing action, they will be held to the same standard of care as ___*
an RN
Define gross negligence*
Conduct that drastically departs from the standard of a reasonably competent nurse
Define criminal negligence*
Gross negligence that results in death or serious bodily harm - constitutes a criminal offence that may be punishable by law
What is the employer’s responsibility in liability?*
Healthcare facilities, as employers, are vicariously liable for the negligent acts of their employees
Employers have a common law duty to take active steps to ensure that nurses falling short of a standard receive the appropriate improvement plan - the employer may be held liable otherwise
What are five issues that may effect liability?*
- Short staffing
- Floating - nurses may feel pressure to practice outside their competence level
- Physician’s orders
- Dispensing advice over the phone
- Contracts and employment agreements
What are the four steps of risk management?*
- Identify possible risks
- Analyze risks
- Act to reduce risks
- Evaluate steps taken
What is a nurse’s best defence to avoid legal issues?*
Documentation
Define documentation*
Anything written or electronically generated that describes the status of a client or the care given to that client
What are the six main tenets of documentation?*
- Factual - avoids subjective information or opinion
- Accurate - truthful, exact, concise, clear, correct spelling/grammar
- Organized - follows a logical order/pattern
- Timely - should occur asap after the treatment/incident/intervention, chronological
- Complete - includes all appropriate and essential information, chart only your own actions/observations
- Compliant with standards
What are six high risk documentation errors?*
- Falsifying records/documenting ahead of time
- Failing to record client changes
- Failing to document notification of primary provider
- Incomplete documentation
- Failing to follow policies
- Documenting observations and/or the work of others
Must act as any other “reasonable and prudent nurse” would in the same situation is an example of?*
Standard of care
Are incident reports part of the patient’s health record?*
No, they are their own separate file and should not be documented in the health record
