By ignoring the wishes of the patient, the nurse has clearly violated an important tenant of the California Code of Regulations. Situations like this can be very challenging are used to giving orders and not having them questioned. An intimidated nurse is, especially for new, inexperienced nurses. Advocacy is not for the faint of heart and many physicians an unsafe nurse and it is vitally important that nurses speak up when faced with dilemmas like this. If the nurse in this instance was afraid to speak up, he/she should have gotten the charge nurse or clinical manager involved to ensure that Mr. E’s rights were not violated. Laws like this were instigated for precisely this reason, to prevent providers from running roughshod over patient’s rights.…
Nursing students have a scope of practice specified in the Nurse Practice Act (NPA) of the State of Nevada. We are required to provide treatment to our patient based these scope practice. Practicing any activity out of our scope is a violation of law. Some of our scope of practice includes “nursing student … shall identify himself or herself by his or her appropriate title,” “a nursing student may, as an apprentice nurse, perform those tasks which the nursing student has successfully demonstrated in his or her program of education,” “there is a formal procedure for the nursing student to refuse to perform any task until he or she is comfortable with his or her ability to do so safely,” and others. I complied with NPA’s scope of practice…
The concept of Safe Harbor Peer Review is sort of new to me and in this week’s readings I learned quite a bit. In California where I reside I haven’t really heard of the topic and it’s not part of our Nursing Practice Act but I’m not sure if the facility I work in has this process. However, this concept is important to report unsafe nursing practices. Also I learned that under this act in Texas it “protects the nurse from licensure action by the BON as well as from retaliatory action by the employer” (Texas Board of Nursing, 2013). This is great to know in regards to my nursing practice even though I do not live Texas, here in CA we have a similar protection under the whistleblower protection act. I have not encountered any situation in where…
Mr. E is a 67-year-old male who has been brought to the emergency department for lung congestion. Mr. E is diagnosed with pneumonia secondary to aspiration and Dr. K has determined that the best course of action is to intubate Mr. E. The nurse on duty discovers that Mr. E has an advanced directive that clearly states he does not want to be intubated. While looking at the medical notes she also discovers that Mr. E is mildly developmentally delayed. When Dr. K tries to discuss the situation with Mr. E he becomes very upset, shouts that he does not want to be intubated, and says he wants to go home. Dr. K has instructed the nurse to contact Mr. E’s next of kin because he fears that Mr. E is incapable of understanding the severity of his situation. The nurse contacts Mr. Y and advises him of the situation. The nurse then goes on break and discusses the situation in the cafeteria with other staff members who do not have any direct responsibility for the care of Mr. E. In South Carolina this nurse would be in direct violation of Section 40-33-110 of the Nurse Practice Act. Section 40-33-110 paragraph 8 states that the Board of Nursing has the right to fine, suspend, cancel, or issue public reprimand to any nurse who, “disseminated a patient 's health or personal information acquired during the course of practice to persons not entitled by law or hospital or agency policy to disclosure of this information” (South Carolina Nurse Practice Act, 2012). When Mr. E’s nurse spoke with the medical-surgical unit nurses about his situation the nurse was not following the South Carolina Nurse Practice Act. If the nurse was reported to the State Board of Nursing for this violation she could face fines and her nursing license could be suspended. Provision 3 of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Code of Ethics states…
In the summer of 2016, I decided to enter the Luzerne County Fair guide cover contest, but there was a problem, I had missed the deadline and would have to wait till next year. When the fair came around in September, the winning cover was better than what I could do. I was upset because I thought maybe I would never be good enough to win anything, especially not something…
References: American Nurses Association. (2013). Retrieved from Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements: http://nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/CodeofEthicsforNurses/Code-of-Ethics.pdf…
The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) implemented Safe Harbor for nurses to have a formal procedure to object to an unsafe situation in the workplace. The nurse’s duty is always to the patient! The BON (2013) refers to the duty of a nurse “always advocate for patient safety, including any nursing action necessary to comply with the standards of nursing practice and to avoid engaging in unprofessional conduct. This includes administrative decisions directly affecting a nurse's ability to comply with that duty.” If a nurse is put in a position where they feel that safe harbor should be implemented the steps afforded to them must be followed explicitly. The BON offers an abbreviated version of the form for safe harbor that can be filled out quickly, but the comprehensive version of the safe harbor form must be filled out before the end of the work period. According the BON (2013) “a nurse invoking Safe Harbor may engage in the requested assignment or conduct while awaiting peer review determination unless the conduct or assignment is one that would constitute unprofessional or criminal conduct, or the nurse lacks the basic knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to competently perform the assignment.” Another step in the Safe Harbor process according to the BON (2013) “the supervisor should sign the form and the nurse’s copy and submit the form to the Peer Review Chairperson since a peer review meeting to review the request must be set within 14 days of the nurse invoking Safe Harbor.” Marshall and Zolierek (2012) state “the Texas Nurse Practice Act requires organizations that employ 10 or more nurses to establish a nursing peer review committee for the purpose of reviewing practice incidents that potentially meet conditions for reporting to the Board of Nursing and to review nurses' requests for “safe harbor” in situations where the nurse believes she/he was in a practice situation with potential risk for violating a duty to the patient” (p. 36). The Peer Review…
The Nurse Executive completed an investigation, interviewed the staff, sought information from experts in the field, and came to a well-thought-thought-out conclusion and plan. Her recommendations were based on a comprehensive analysis of the situation, and a desire to demonstrate respect for the nurse while ensuring patient safety. She wanted to counsel the nurse with compassion, in a fair and impartial manner. She wanted to do what was best for both the nurse and the…
I chose to interview my friend Samantha that completed her schooling last year as a registered nurse. She completed her associate's degree in nursing at our local community college and it took her approximately 3 years to achieve. While in school she did both classwork and also clinical training. Her clinical training was done at a hospital and also at a nursing facility, this was to further her experience with hands on practice while being observed and supervised. To obtain her license she had to pass all her classwork and clinical training, once this was achieved she then had to pass the required NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse) to obtain her license. She currently works at a hospital in our state but also at a hospital in another state, to do this she had to take that states NCLEX-RN before she was eligible to work in it. Both of the hospitals have similar job duties that she performs on a regular basis. They include direct and indirect patient care such as safety, personal hygiene, administering medications, filling out paperwork and setting up the schedules for her subordinates. Depending on the patients she may also have to do skin tests and draw blood for labs. There are times where she has to take action and change the treatment as she finds needed without the approval of the lead Physician, as she works the overnight shift they are rarely on duty when she is. Her primary responsibility is to maintain the health and safety of all her patients, which can be hard when the hospitals are understaffed and full of patients that are in need of constant medical care. She is also continuing her education to become a Nurse Practitioner, she is unsure if she will like it or not but knows that the salary difference is enough to continue her…
I was worried about not wishing to do as the nurse had asked and was nervous in case it had caused any animosity the rest of the working day, this wasn’t the case and I feel we still had an effective working relationship and the nurse was still professional in showing me other tasks. On working together again we were in assisting a lady that had had a stroke and was needing moved up the bed using a sliding sheet, me preferring to opt out of administering medication previously had no effect on our working relationship, and the activity was carried out well between me and the nurse, with communication clear throughout and the patient receiving the holistic care required,…
Nurses face legal and ethical challenges on a daily basis, many of which are directly related to legislative changes regarding confidentiality issues. Issues of confidentiality have been apart of ethical nursing for decades, but significant legal changes have defined a greater need to maintain confidentiality. The introduction of HIPAA in 1996 led to…
Nursing Negligence. (2006, October 17). Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. Law Firm, with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Naples. Retrieved from http://www.rkmc.com/Nursing-Negligence.htm…
In nursing today more is expected from a nurse than just following the doctor’s orders. A nurse must be able…
The Texas Nursing Practice Act, NPA requires practitioners to ask themselves about the potential consequences of accepting treatment responsibility for a patient. The practitioner should also ascertain whether the safety of the patient would be compromised if they go ahead with the treatment. The registered nurse should also ask themselves whether the environment they work in supports the practice through community standards, protocols, and procedures. The practitioner should ask how they have achieved and demonstrated competence regarding chemotherapy treatment to ensure that they give the patient the best quality care possible. They should also ask the standard of a practitioner in the field of oncology and whether they meet such standards on either a broad or limited…
I liked this article because it was different from other things I have read. I learned about this new technique for ACL prevention program. I wish there would have been more detail over the actual program. There was just a link to all the exercises; it was not actually in the article. I would like to do more research on this program to see if it would work for other sports besides soccer. Overall this was a good article and I would use it for further…