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5 Most Common Malpractice Claims Filed Against Nurses

How do we prevent it?

  • Only perform skills in your scope of practice
  • Make sure you are up to date on faculty's policies, procedures, and standards of care

What is Malpractice in Nursing?

Failure to Document

  • Make sure to know how to use equipment properly
  • Seek help if you are unsure on how to operate a device

Figure 1: Safety doesn't happen by accident

Malpractice is a cause of action for which damages are allowed. Most lawsuits against Nurses are for alleged violations of Tort Law. In general terms a Tort is an action or omission that harms someone.

  • Document all care and communication thoroughly and factually
  • Only document AFTER you have given care

1. Follow the Standards of Care

2. Use equipment in a responsible manner

3. Document

4. Assess and monitor properly

5. Use proper communication

Failure to follow Standards of Care

  • Assess your patient based on physicians orders, policy and facility protocol
  • Document any abnormal findings or changes in the patients status
  • Remember: it is better to be safe than sorry

PATNT INFORMATION, DISCHARGE INFORMATION, & ASSESSMENT FINDINGS

Delayed care = Serious Consequences

  • Failure to communicate all relevant patient information to the doctor.

  • Failure to provide appropriate discharge information to the patient.

  • Failure to report changes to assessment findings to the next shift.
  • Listen to your patients needs or concerns and make sure they listen and understand yours.
  • Document ALL conversations
  • Follow facility protocol for discharging
  • If you think a physician is wrong, speak up!

Not trained ? = Wrong doing

  • If you operate or hook up the equipment for use other than what the manufacturer detailed.

  • If you failed to follow the manufacturer's guidelines for the equipment's use.

  • If you move the equipment before it is fully charged.

  • If you fail to preserve the equipment after a patients death.

Failure to Assess & Monitor Patient

Failure to Use Equipment Responsibly

Failure to Communicate

Requirements to Establish a Malpractice Case

CONCLUSION

  • Establish a nurse-patient relationship

Established by hospital records

  • Care was within the scope of practice

Expert witness (nurse/doctor/health care professional) is called

  • Deviation from good and accepted practice

What a competent nurse would have done in the exact same situation

Costs

  • Be aware of the most common malpractice suits and ways to prevent them
  • Follow your instincts
  • Document well
  • Maintain good bedside manner
  • Stay up to date on skills and care

Importance of Prevention

  • Damages were caused by the nurse's actions

To prevent unnecessary loss of life

What a nurse did or did not do

To prevent money loss

A 48-year-old morbidly obese woman with diabetes and sleep apnea (treated with nightly nasal CPAP), required surgery for a detached retina. The doctor did not order post op CPAP and no respiratory assessment was documented. The patient was showing S/S of pain, lethargy, cool and moist skin. The patient was found without a pulse or respiration was resuscitated and died while transport to another facility. The daughter sued resulting in a settled lawsuit of 1 million dollars.

Claims do not equate guilt. Even if you follow all of these preventions you can still be named in a malpractice suit. It is recommended that nurses invest in their own malpractice insurance to ensure their best interests are being honored.

REFERENCES

Brown, G. (2016). Averting malpractice issues in today's nursing practice. ABNF Journal, 27(2),

25-27.

Giordano, K. (2003). Examining nursing malpractice: a defense attorney's perspective. (Legal

Counsel). Critical Care Nurse, 23(2), 104+. Retrieved from http://

go.galegroup.com.proxy.binghamton.edu/ps/i.do?p=PPNU&sw=w&u=bingul&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE

%7CA100543074&asid=44865111033118715ab31e3a4576d2b9

THANK YOU!

Super-Healers Group 7

Hoffman, J., & Yu, W. (2008, May). Medical Malpractice Cases Involving Nurses (and Often Physicians).

Retrieved June 21, 2017, from https://www.rmf.harvard.edu/Clinician-Resources/Article/2008/

Medical-Malpractice-Cases-Involving-Nurses

Jenna Fetterman

Jeremy Johnson

Sherry Rivenburgh

Tori Slater

Stubenrauch, J. M. (2007). Malpractice vs. Negligence. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 107(7),

63. doi:10.1097/01.naj.0000279272.79475.21

Watson, E. (2014). Nursing Malpractice: Costs, Trends, and Issues. Journal Of Legal Nurse

Consulting, 25(1), 26-31.

Malpractice in Nursing

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