Examples Of Nursing Scope Of Practice

Scope of Practice In order to work within one’s scope of practice, there are a few standards and parameters that must be met. Also, there is a great deal of responsibility, since you are dealing with the lives of others. In order to be able to work within a certain scope of practice, there are usually three metrics that determine a professional’s scope: level of education, legislature, and the specific facility (Garrett, 2016). For example, someone who goes to school for nursing will be limited to the scope of practice for nurses in whatever state and facility they practice. They cannot practice in a scope above of theirs, just as someone with a lower level of training cannot practice in the nursing scope. Practicing outside of your own scope
of practice is not only irresponsible, but, it can have significant consequences. The first and most obvious would be putting the patient in unnecessary danger.
For obvious reasons, someone with nursing level training should not be attempting to practice at a physician’s level. This can also have legal complications. Not only would one be violating the standards of practice set by their facility, licensure, and legislature; there could be federal level consequences related to federal health care laws, as well. The responsibility associated with a provider’s scope of practice not only involves law and regulation; it also involves ethics. You are not working with computers, cars, or some other inanimate object. You are working with the lives of other people. Someone practicing outside of their scope of practice put the lives of their patients at risk. This is not only illegal, it is completely unethical. It is far better to ask for help or admit that you are unable to do something because of a limited scope of practice rather than to go about doing whatever it may be, putting the life of your patient at risk. Law, regulations, and standards of care exist for a reason; the well-being and
survival of your patients.
Impact of Negligence, Malpractice, and Litigation on the Relationship Between the Patient and the Provider Negligence, malpractice, and litigation are all closely related.
Negligence can be defined as failure to take the proper steps to prevent injury or illness to a person. Malpractice occurs when someone lacking the skill and training causes injury to a patient (Buzzachi, Scellato, & Ughetto, 2016). Malpractice claims are much more common that we think. In the United States, there are anywhere from 15,000-19,000 malpractice claims per year. The relationship between the patient and the provider is fostered and maintained through trust. As previously noted, health care providers are dealing with the lives of other people, one of the greatest responsibilities possible. Negligence, malpractice, and litigation will most likely all do the same thing to the patient-provider relationship. These things will likely cause the patient to lose trust in their provider (Goodwin, 2009). When someone loses trust in their provider, they will obviously not continue to see them again. This can leave a person feeling helpless and as if nobody cares about their well-being. In summary, the patient-provider relationship is built on trust. Without trust, there is no patient-provider relationship. Malpractice, negligence, and litigation all should be avoided in order to ensure that the relationships between patients and providers
continue.
Approaches to Minimize Error, Reduce Risk, and Improve Communication and Collaboration Among Providers One of the first steps all hospitals take to help mistakes is having meetings focused on risk management. Risk management meetings are focused on discussing past errors and what can be done to prevent future errors. One of the early ways of reducing risk for patients was when New York became the first state to break the medical code of silence when it began to publish the death rates of certain hospitals after open heart surgery. This allowed patients to see what their chance of survival would be based on the hospital that they chose. Also, once New York began to publish doctor and hospital data, the death rates dropped by over 50%. Because of the exposure that lower-rated hospitals now needed to manage, a lot of them were taken over by new leadership, which drastically improved outcomes and overall survival rates.