Legal Issues in Nursing Practice Essay
This essay will discuss the legal, ethical and professional concept of patient/client confidentiality and will identify any implications this may have for practice with relation to a recent clinical experience. With regards to a recent clinical placement the author has chosen to discuss a recent placement within the community with references to client care. The author feels strongly that the responsibilities on caring is to maintain the general trust of patient/clients, not only through care but also through observing certain codes of practice and adhere to legislation laid down by the government in order to preserve clients rights.Legal Issues in Nursing Practice Essay These are there for a guide to follow in order to uphold the general principles regarding staff and clients. Within the nursing profession The Nursing and Midwifery council (NMC 2002) are guided by the codes of professional conduct, these are the shared values of all UK health regulatory bodies. Confidentiality is paramount to all nursing codes, in all cases the focal word is trust. As a registered Nurse. Midwife or Health visitor they are accountable for their practice and in the exercise for professional accountability must “protect all Confidential information concerning patient and clients obtained in the course of practice, and make disclosure only when consent, where required by a court or where you can justify disclosure in the wider public interest” (Hendrick 2000).
Middle
If the Nurse had discussed the conversation with the care manger she would be breaching the professional codes of conduct also Mrs Green would have felt betrayed by the District Nurse which could have had a very negative effect on the her and could lead to compensation and disciplinary action for the District Nurse, whereby if the client is contented with the actions of the District Nurse this would give her a positive out look and aid to her recovery. Mrs Green expected the nurses to keep the information that she gave which showed that she was happy and confident with the nurse but there are occasions where the issues of being ethically bound by confidentiality for professionals within health and social care can present them with ethical conflicts. For example Mrs Green could have been extremely depressed and there may have been an issue that she could have been a suicide risk, whereby the nurses would have had to inform other agencies and even the care manager. Informed consent for example, means that confidentiality is not absolute. In cases dilemma or conflict, universal moral principles are implemented to help caring professionals deal with the problems presented. Ethical codes and the law are liable to changes and it is the duty of professionals to update themselves on these changes. Legal Issues in Nursing Practice Essay
Conclusion
It is health care professional who needs to be aware of the implications that their actions may have on the client, themselves and the trust they are employed by, be it legal or moral, As with Mrs Green she trusted the actions of the District Nurse as she felt they could help her present situation. If the client feels betrayed by the health care professional it can have a very negative effect on the client and could lead to compensation for the patient/client and disciplinary action for the health care professional, whereby if the client is contented with the actions of the health care professional this will give them a positive out look. The incident with Mrs Green made the author aware of just how easy it is to disclose information, a conversation which the author may have believed would have been in the best interest of the client could have broken the codes of professional conduct, the author is also now aware of how much legislation is in place to protect an individual and the importance of keeping up to date with it, such as Freedom of information Act 2000 which came into place on 1st January 2005 whereby the general public will be able to view the working practices and minimum standards which are already in place this means that the the NHS and staff will be will be publicly open to scrutiny.Legal Issues in Nursing Practice Essay
Every profession has a set of rules or standards that guide the actions of professionals. Negligence at the workplace occurs when professionals breach their duty of care to their clients and therefore, they fail to meet the clients’ expectations. Professional negligence in nursing is treated with utmost seriousness since nurses are charged with preserving human life. Moreover, the primary purpose of nurses is to ensure that patients under their care do not come to any harm. Additionally, negligence can have adverse effects on nurses’ careers such as withdrawal of practicing license, lawsuits, and suspension from being members of a nursing organization (Huang et al. 21). This essay focuses on the legal aspects of negligence and how they apply in nursing.
Legal Aspects of Negligence
Nurses are accountable for the outcome of a healthcare process since they are usually in charge of patients with limited knowledge of treatment procedures. Nursing professionals are held accountable by professional bodies such as the American Nurses Association, the community, and government agencies (Nettina 15). The laws and regulations governing the conduct of nurses are incorporated in the education and training process to help nurses to understand what is expected of them and the consequences of violation of the set professional standards. Moreover, nurses are expected to adhere to the regulatory framework when carrying out their duties throughout their careers.
Apart from guiding nurses in their practice to enhance health outcomes, government regulations also determine the extent of nurses’ responsibilities. This function is particularly important in the event of lawsuits against a healthcare organization or a nurse practitioner. For example, if a patient decides to sue a hospital for negligence, the laws governing the conduct of nurses can be used to differentiate the obligation of the hospital’s nurses and that of its physicians; hence help in identifying the care professional responsible for the patient’s grievances. Additionally, the las also define the scope of nursing actions and independence.
Negligence falls under the law of tort which deals with wrongful acts committed by one individual against another (Abbas 2). Unlike other industries, the healthcare sector deals with human beings and not some stationary objects such as buildings. Therefore, issues of negligence are common is this occupation, especially when nurses fail to act with due care. Examples of nurses’ actions that may be considered as negligence include failure to monitor vital signs, wrong dosage, and inappropriate use of hospital equipment.
The United States uses the tort systems to punish medical practitioners found guilty of negligent acts. The tort system imposes monetary penalties on negligent healthcare providers and using the money to compensate the injured parties, who in this case are the patients. The main aim of imposing the fines on healthcare providers guilty of negligence is to deter them from committing similar offenses in future. Therefore, the tort system is more effective if the amount set as fine for negligence is significant or has a great impact on the offender’s economic status.
However, in as much as nurses can be held liable for injuries among patients under their care, not all medical errors are as a result of negligence. In some cases, patients may develop health complications due to inherent characteristics. An excellent example is a patient who does not have a recorded history of allergic reaction to specific medications. If the patient gets admitted in hospital and reacts to the treatment procedure such as the use of antibiotics that causes temporary organ failure, the nurses in charge of that patient are not at faults since the allergic reaction was unforeseen. Moreover, nosocomial infections occur in hospitals, especially in the surgical units, despite the care providers following preventive measures and protocols (Oyebode 327).Legal Issues in Nursing Practice Essay
Therefore, patients can only get compensation for lack of due diligence on the part of the healthcare providers on four conditions. One, the nurse being sued must owe the patient duty of care (Abbas 4). This means that the nurse must have been in charge of the patient’s treatment process when the injury occurred. Secondly, there must be proof that the nurse breached the duty of care by providing substandard services, such as not recording patient’s details. The third condition is the injury. The patient must also prove that his/her health has been adversely affected by the services of the hospital or the nurse professional. Finally, the injury must have been caused by the specific act of negligence (Abbas 4). For example, machine failure may lead to improper monitoring of patients’ progress; hence a nurse cannot be blamed if the patient develops complications due to unnoticed changes in the functioning of internal body organs.
Thanks to the reforms on the tort system that began in the mid-1970s, patients can now get compensation for economic and noneconomic injuries (Sohn 51). The value of economic damages such as the cost of a damaged kneecap can be easily calculated; hence there are no set limits. The reform set caps on noneconomic damages such as loss of reputation since it is difficult to assign a monetary value to such injuries (Sohn 51). The caps on the noneconomic damages were aimed at reducing the duration of trials and facilitating timely compensation of the injured parties. The caps also helped in reducing the litigation fees payable to lawyers by both the patients and the care providers being sued for negligence.
Patients who acquire injuries in hospitals and other healthcare facilities face various challenges in their quest for quality services and justice for breach of the duty of care. For instance, according to research only 27% of medical errors are attributed to negligence (Sohn 50). Patients may not know the difference between negligence and systematic errors. As a result, they may end up spending a lot of time and money on fruitless lawsuits. Moreover, healthcare providers such as nurses and physician may opt for low-risk treatment procedures even if they lead to suboptimal outcomes to avoid litigation (Sohn 51). In such cases, patients may miss out on the best clinical practices. Additionally, the fear of litigation may hinder activities such as evidence-based practices which are aimed at improving healthcare services.Legal Issues in Nursing Practice Essay