Legal Issues In Nursing Essay

Nurses will, sometime during their career, be faced with legal issues. Legal issues in nursing are important because nurses have the legal obligation to respond to the request for care (Muse, 2015). As nurses, we are expected to practice at a high professional standard with the best interest in our patients (Muse, 2015). Failure to exercise at a high level of care can lead to litigation and can result in the loss of a nursing license (Muse, 2015). In nursing, an example that can lead to litigation is malpractice. Malpractice is defined as the failure of a person with professional training to act in a reasonable and prudent manner (Marquis & Huston, 2009). According to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), between the years of

This article discusses lawsuits based on quality of care and the deterrent effect of the threat of litigation (Konetzka, Park, Ellis, & Abbo, 2010). They further focus their research on lawsuits only related to the staffing and pressure sores (Konetzka et al., 2010). Both of these are very important to legality, due to the increased focus on pressure ulcers as an indication of quality of care and the low nurse-to-patient ratio in certain areas, such as Kern County (Konetzka et al., 2010; NPDB, 2015). In addition, there is a focus on the aspect of leadership in these areas, as it is the role of the manager to not only allocate proper staffing, but to verify the quality of care given to the patients. (Konetzka et al., 2010). This article discusses vital issues to improvement of overall practice to avoid pressure ulcers, leadership skills at the management level for staff allocation, and legal repercussions of failing to do

To reduce potential liability, nurses should maintain a heightened awareness of his or her legal responsibilities (Watson, 2014). By using the nursing process and critical thinking, nurses may reduce the risk of an outcome that may lead to malpractice (Watson, 2014). Nurses are expected to have knowledge of hospital policies, procedures, state laws and regulations that govern nursing practice (Anselmi, 2012). It is also important to maintain an open honest communication with patients, the patient’s family, physicians, and all other members of the healthcare team involved in the patient 's care (Watson,