I worked in the healthcare industry since the eighties as a candy striper (hospital volunteer). I was employed as a home health aide, certified nursing assistant, and a licensed practical nurse. After I obtain my LPN, I got married and stop working to be a stay at home mom. Although, I found being a stay at home mother rewarding, I always wanted to become a RN. Therefore, I went back to school and became a RN in 2012. Presently, I am employed as a Director of Nursing at a Homecare agency. I first encounter a legal issue in a facility, when I was a student nurse. It was during my clinical rotation in a nursing home facility named, Cathedral Village. I witnessed a nurse aide hit a patient who was in a vegetative state. I could not …show more content…
According to Philly.com, an LPN working in the same nursing facility, was charged by The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General with involuntary manslaughter in the April 13, 2018 death of a patient. She was also charged with neglect of a care-dependent person and tampering with records for allegedly failing to provide appropriate care to the patient, after he fell in his room and hit his head, according to an eight-page criminal complaint. Presently, as a home healthcare nurse, I have seen many legal issues in my field of work, such as theft, physical abuse and neglect. Now I am hearing more about theft of prescription drugs in my field of work. However, many forms of neglect in the home healthcare field is not reported due to fear of retaliation. As a home healthcare nurse, I enjoy working in the community. I also enjoy helping patients and family caregivers take care of their loved ones, with chronic and terminal diseases at home. I believed that as a home healthcare nurse I can help the family caregivers to decrease stress and assist them with better-coping skills. As a family caregiver myself I am aware of the
I first became interested in becoming a nurse anesthetist because my stepfather always told me stories when he came home from work and I became fascinated. When I got a little older, I began researching the job and became determined to become one. I am very passionate about this job and will work harder than anyone else, to reach my goal. I also have considered becoming a CRNA in the military.
Although I enjoy all facets of nursing, I truly believe that it is in the field of family practice that the foundation of the nursing process begins. I have seen many patients over the course of my career without a stable, primary care healthcare provider. Health and wellness begins with day-to-day habits, and a nurse in family care is uniquely poised to give wellness advice and guidance. Family nurse practitioners often perform similar functions to physicians: making diagnoses; prescribing tests and medications; and helping patients over the course of their life trajectories lead more fulfilling lives. Primary caregiving is truly wellness promotion. It involves not simply healing the sick, but also reducing the likelihood that patients will become ill. I have seen so many patients with preventable illnesses that could have
As a nurse working in the home healthcare field for many years, I have enjoyed being an
Cherry, B., & Jacob, S. (2008). CHAPTER 8 Legal Issues in Nursing and Health Care. In Contemporary Nursing: Issues, Trends & Management (5th ed., p. 185, p. 222). St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby/Elsevier.
The civil and common laws to protect the client´s rights are calls Torts: A Tort is a civil wrong made against a person or property and this are classified as Intentional Torts when violate another´s right such as false imprisonment and assault battery; Quasi-Intentional torts that is when lacking but volitional action and direct causation occur such as invasion of privacy and deformation of character Unintentional torts with includes Negligence and Malpractice. The improper act that she performed is a Quasi-Intentional tort. In to avoid legal and ethic problems the nurse must always follow the Standard of
To add to the complexity of nursing there are so many different fields in which you can work such as staff nurse, charge nurse, OR nurse, administrative nurse, school nurse, etc…Kristine is currently in the field of home care working as a bedside nurse. She decided to get into bedside nursing in the home health care field for a number of reasons including one-to-one patient care, the chance to create a flexible schedule that is conducive to the demands of raising a family, stress reduction, the autonomy of home care, and the ability to bless entire families as opposed to just one patient. Kristine pointed out how she enjoys being able to attend to the problem of caregiver role- strain in the family in addition to caring for the patient,
According to FindLaw (2008), Ellen H. Finnerty, a registered nurse is requesting the Board of Nursing in Texas to set aside the judgment where she was disciplined for gross negligence and incompetence. The board’s decision came after an incident where Finnerty chose not to comply with a physician’s order to intubate a patient before said patient was transferred to the ICU. In August 2002, Finnerty was working at Huntington Memorial Hospital as a charge nurse. A nurse (A. Magi) that was caring for patient(J.C.) begin to display symptoms of respiratory distress, such as rapid and labored respirations of 40 and an oxygen saturation of only 70%. With the assistance of a respiratory therapist, the patient was suctioned and Nurse Magi received orders from the primary care physician for 100% oxygen via a nonrebreather mask with the oxygen saturation to be maintained above 94%, several different blood test, for the administration of a diuretic. After the orders were performed and the patient was continually monitored, there were no changes to the respiratory rate. Another call was placed to the PCP, there was an order given for the patient to be transferred to the ICU and stat intubation. These orders were relayed to Finnerty, who then assessed the patient, but did not disclose her findings with the medical staff. Lab results indicated that insuffient blood oxygenation and acidosis. The
The patient went as far to admit that she currently is having a hard time breathing, but has an appointment with her gynecologist on Monday. This writer advised the patient that if she has difficulties breathing she will need to go to the ER immediately and be medically assessed by Nursing. The patient started crying about she does not want to be medically assessed as she needs to return her boyfriend vehicle so that he can work. This writer informed the patient about the seriousness of her health comes first. This writer called Nursing Chrystal, but no response. Then this writer and the patient went to the Nursing Director office to be medically assessed. According to the Nursing Director, she advised the patient to go to the ER first and will not be dosed today unless she provides proof of documentations of her visit. Again, the patient fussed and then says, " I am fine, it's not serious," however, the patient was advised to follow medical
Patients come to healthcare systems expecting to receive the high quality care necessary to treat various illnesses they present with. Unfortunately, events do occur which can lead to criminal and/or civil charges. Criminal law requires the punishment of jail or prison time whereas civil law results in monetary compensation and is the most common form of law healthcare workers may encounter (Allen, 2013). Certain cases can be violations of criminal and civil laws such as in the case brought against a nurse that worked at Vermillion County Hospital in Clinton Indiana.
“The definition of a health professional is a person who works to protect and improve people’s health by the diagnosis and treatment of illness to bring about a complete recovery from mental, physical and social perspectives, either directly or indirectly (Kurban, 2010, pg. 760).” Nurses in the community today have acquired an increasing responsibility to intervene with medical decisions. In the past, there were clear differences between nurses and doctors. It was more common for a nurse to be supervised directly under the physician. They are not just performing Doctor’s orders anymore. The nurse role in patient care has been widely expanded. Allegations against someone can be one of the most stressful moments of their careers. Negligence
In the beginning of my college years, I studied Nursing at a private university. Once I transferred to Purdue, I began
Nurses are constantly challenged by changes which occur in their practice environment and are under the influence of internal or external factors. Due to the increased complexity of the health system, nowadays nurses are faced with ethical and legal decisions and often come across dilemmas regarding patient care. From this perspective a good question to be raised would be whether or not nurses have the necessary background, knowledge and skills to make appropriate legal and ethical decisions. Even though most nursing programs cover the ethical and moral issues in health care, it is questionable if new nurses have the depth of knowledge and understanding of these issues and apply them in their practice
On 3/31/17, Elsie (Michelle) Miller made a falsified documentation on a patient. Elsie wrote bed notes on a patient stating that, the patient was sound alseep during 15 minutes check, while the patient was actually not on CRU 2 at the time. The patient was actually discharge from the unit after been transferred to the hospital for medical treatment.
1. As a nurse working directly with patients we have to be aware of our legal responsibilities. We are responsible for providing safe and competent care to our patients. We also must know what falls within the scope of practice for our particular license that we hold. There are also various regulations within the state that your license is held. I feel that two of the biggest legal issues that a nurse may face is malpractice and negligence. Malpractice is sometimes referred to as professional negligence as it concerns professional actions and is the failure of a person with professional education and skills to act in a reasonable and prudent manner. Yoder, pg.72-73. Negligence denotes conduct that is lacking in care and typically concerns
I decided fairly quickly that I wanted to become a trauma nurse and eventually work in the emergency room. At that time, I also decided that I wanted