NEGLIGENCE IN NURSING

Negligence in Nursing

Negligence in Nursing

Outline

This paper is based on the prevailing practice of negligence in nursing. First of all, the introduction section presents a brief overview of the problem of negligence, followed by a discussion on professional liability of nurses. The chain of command concept is presented with regards to the government's rules that are applicable in nursing field. The concepts of loyalty is also discussed followed by concluding remarks.

Introduction

In the health care field, the term malpractice originally encompassed only the negligent wrongs of a physician.  In the past, a distinct division existed between a nurse and a physician.  The nurse functioned within a much more defined framework.  Rather than diagnose patients, treat symptoms, or prescribe medication, it was sufficient for the nurse to wait for and then simply implement a physician's order.  In years past it was virtually unprecedented for a nurse to criticize a physician's order.

The role of the nurse, however, has changed.  Today, nurses commonly assume functions previously performed only by the physician.  In hospitals and clinics across the country, nurses have assumed the responsibilities such as the actual examination, diagnosis, and treatment of a patient, oftentimes without any direct supervision by a physician. 

As nursing has matured into an increasingly advanced, sophisticated, specialized, and independent profession, the nurse's role in providing patient care has also expanded - a reality that is particularly true in the face of the ever-increasing demand for cost-conscious health care.  As a result, liability for basic nursing negligence has shifted to its “professional” counterpart - malpractice liability. No other speciality relies more heavily on nurses to assess patients and evaluate treatment options than the field of obstetrical nursing, and the stakes for the patients and families involved could not be higher.

Professional Liability for Nursing Negligence

All nurses owe duties to the patients they serve.  According to the American Nurses Association, a nurse “promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient.” Additionally, a nurse is both responsible and accountable for his or her individual nursing practice and will determine the appropriate delegation of tasks consistent with the nurse's obligation to provide optimum patient care. In order to ensure that they are satisfying these ethical and legal responsibilities owed to their patients, modern obstetrical nurses play a prominent and important role in the evaluation of a woman as she progresses with her labor, and the ability of the fetus to successfully tolerate the labor. As the person with the greatest exposure to the patients, it is oftentimes ultimately the responsibility of the nurse to make crucial assessments of patient status and effectively communicate the status reports to the physician also charged with the care of the patient.  When there is a breakdown in this necessary line of communication, tragic results can follow. 

Nurses with specialized training or extensive experience are held to a higher standard of care, corresponding to what a reasonable and prudent nurse with the same training or experience would have done in the ...