The Consequences of Inaccurate Nursing Assessments

Inaccurate nursing assessments and recording of client data can detrimentally affect a patient’s well-being. Nurses are ethically, legally and morally responsible for assessing their patients appropriately. Nurses are also expected to document this data accurately in order to ensure safe and effective care for patients. In this case study, a nurse fails to assess the patient’s weight and instead estimates it. In this situation, it is key to consider the health complications that may arise as a result of the nurse’s actions, and at the same time, it is also important to look at the ethical issues surrounding this negligence. If the patient’s weight is recorded incorrectly in the charts, this may have implications related to malnourishment, healing, skin integrity, infection, and have additional complications related to Parkinson’s disease. In addition, this situation highlights accountability, negligence, ethics and misconduct in the nursing profession. The falsification of information, regardless of intention, is an ethical concern that needs to be addressed with both nurses in this situation since it can lead to complications for the client. It is key to analyze the health implications and ethical considerations that arise as a result of the nurse’s actions.

The health implications related to inaccurate recording of the patient’s weight are significant. First, appropriately assessing the patient’s weight would reveal that the patient is at risk for nutritional imbalance or malnutrition. Instead, the RPN recorded the patient’s weight at 70 kg and his height at 170 cm, which would indicate to the health care team that Mr. Gurd has a BMI of 24.2, which is within the normal range. In actuality, Mr. Gurd’s weight is 42 kg, meaning...

... middle of paper ...

...f nutrition intervention on healing of pressure ulcers and nutritional states (randomized controlled trial). Wound Repair and Regeneration 2001: 19, 330-336. doi 10.1111/j.1524-475X.2011.00691.x

Potter, P., Perry, A., Ross-Kerr, J., Wood, M., Astle, B., Duggleby, W. (2014). Canadian Fundamentals of Nursing, 5th Edition. Retrieved from http://pageburstls.elsevier.com/books/978-1-926648-53-8

Sheard, J., Ash, S., Silburn, P., & Kerr, G. (2011). Prevalence of malnutrition in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review. Nutrition Reviews, 69(9), 520-532. doi 10.1111/j.1753-4887.2011.00413.x

Tappenden, K. A., Quatrara, B., Parkhurst, M. L., Malone, A. M., Fanjiang, G., & Ziegler, T. R. (2013). Critical Role of Nutrition in Improving Quality of Care: An Interdisciplinary Call to Action to Address Adult Hospital Malnutrition. MEDSURG Nursing, 22(3), 147-165.