Competency
Analyze legal components related to nursing practice.
Scenario
Your nurse manager has asked you to identify some key points from best practices in guarding against malpractice and to develop a small reminder resource for the staff nurses. The resource could be designed to attach to the back of a name badge or put into a small notebook that reminds them of the key steps for best practice and the standards of care for legal responsibility and malpractice.
Instructions
Create a legal resource for nursing staff that:
Examines the definition of standards of care and scope of practice within the state of Florida, with comprehensive supporting details.
Determines the essential elements of nursing malpractice, with comprehensive supporting examples.
Provide exemplary appraisal of best practices for legal compliance with comprehensive supporting examples
Expert Solution Preview
Introduction:
As a medical professor responsible for creating college assignments and evaluations for medical college students, it is important to understand the legal components related to nursing practice. In this scenario, the nurse manager has requested developing a small reminder resource for the nursing staff to guard against malpractice. This legal resource must examine the standards of care and scope of practice, determine essential elements of nursing malpractice, and provide best practices for legal compliance.
Answer:
To guard against malpractice, nurses must understand the legal components of nursing practice, including the standards of care and scope of practice, essential elements of nursing malpractice, and best practices for legal compliance.
The definition of standards of care and scope of practice within the state of Florida is critical. The standards of care refer to the level of care that a reasonable and prudent healthcare provider would provide in similar circumstances. Nurses must know these standards of care and how they apply to their practice. Similarly, the scope of practice defines the range of responsibilities that a nurse is competent to carry out. Duties beyond the scope of practice could result in malpractice and legal consequences.
When it comes to nursing malpractice, nurses must understand essential elements such as a duty of care, breach of duty, actual or proximate causation, and damages. A failure to abide by the standards of care or act outside the scope of practice could result in a breach of duty. Actual or proximate causation refers to the connection between the breach of duty and the resulting harm, while damages are the injuries or losses incurred as a result of the breach.
To ensure legal compliance, nurses must practice within the scope of their competency, communicate effectively with patients and other healthcare professionals, document thoroughly, and obtain informed consent. Evidence-based practice is critical, too, as it demonstrates adherence to the latest research and guidelines from credible sources.
Finally, citing credible sources of research with appropriate APA citation, spelling, and grammar is critical to providing a professional and legal resource for the nursing staff. Only studies from within the last five years can be utilized to ensure best practices and legal compliance. By following these best practices, nurses can guard against malpractice and ensure a high level of care for patients.
