It is critical for nurses to adhere to specialty standards and recommendations to avoid legal action in case of a patient injury, says Jennifer Flynn, CPHRM, manager at Aon Affinity Healthcare Risk Management.
To increase patient safety and reduce liability exposure, she encourages nurses to take the time to understand the risks that confront today’s nurses, standards of care related to their professional practice, and the legal principles of malpractice. Standards of nursing practice derive from facility policies and procedures, job descriptions, national, state, and specialty professional standards, state nurse practice acts, and expert nurses, she notes.
Malpractice is negligence, misconduct, or breach of duty by a professional person, such as a nurse, that results in injury or damage to a patient, she explains. In most cases, it includes failure to meet a standard of care or failure to deliver care that a reasonably prudent nurse would have delivered in a similar situation.
Nurses can benefit by taking a proactive approach to examining current practices and direct risk control efforts toward statistically demonstrated areas of loss, Flynn says. She suggests starting with these key areas as a starting point to assess and enhance risk control practices:
- Know and comply with your state scope of practice requirements, nurse practice act, and facility policies, procedures, and protocols.
- Follow documentation standards established by nurse professional organizations, and comply with your employer’s standards.
- Document all patient-related discussions, consultations, clinical information, and actions taken, including any treatment orders provided.
- Document the nurse’s clinical decision-making process.
- Maintain clinical competencies aligned with the relevant patient population and healthcare specialty.
- Develop, maintain, and practice professional written and spoken communication skills.
- Engage in timely and proactive discussion with members of the patient’s care treatment team to ensure ongoing awareness of the patient’s treatment plan.
- Timely and thoroughly report any changes in the patient’s condition and/or response to treatment, and document such interactions along with any revisions in the treatment plan in the patient’s clinical record.
- Emphasize ongoing patient assessment and monitoring.
- Consult with the healthcare team in accordance with state regulations regarding concerns related to patient care issues.
- Timely report to the treatment team, and document spoken and/or written discussions with the patient and authorized family members to ensure full team awareness of patient and family concerns regarding care and treatment.
It is critical for nurses to adhere to specialty standards and recommendations to avoid legal action in case of a patient injury.
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