 As a licensed nurse, you are trained to follow orders and document your actions. However, in some circumstances, you may be asked to do something outside your nursing scope of practice. For example, have you ever had a supervisor say, âJust write an order for that.⯠We always do that to help out the physiciansâ? In that situation, your supervisor has put you between a rock and a hard place.⯠They are telling you one thing but your gut is saying, âHey!⯠Wait a minute!⯠I donât have an … [Read more...]
Can You Refuse An Unsafe Assignment?
Hereâs the scene: you walk into work for your 12-hour shift and immediately find yourself facing an exceptionally heavy patient load. What can you do? Your first thought is probably âI donât want to commit malpractice; I want to provide the best care for my patients, and I want to protect my license.â When you look at the staffing assignments, it can be both overwhelming and stressful. You may be thinking, âHow am I going to get this all done and make sure that my patients are provided … [Read more...]
Privacy Is Everything
This past week, a Maryville, Tennessee, nurse was fired for allegedly posting racist and violent messages through her Facebook account. It was later learned that she could not have made the comments because hospital security footage showed that she was in a patientâs room at the approximate time the comments were made. Then it was learned that the horrible posts were composed by her fiancĂ© on her social media account. He even went to the hospital to tell officials that it was he rather … [Read more...]
Malpractice Claims are on the Rise with Electronic Health Records
According to The Doctorâs Company, a medical malpractice insurance company, more and more claims are being filed as a result of Electronic Health Records (EHR). Because of drop down menus and lack of alerts, patients are getting harmed. In one example, a physician intended to order 15mg of Morphine. The drop-down menu gave him the choice of 15mg or 200mg. The physician mistakenly ordered the 200mg. The patient took the 200mg Morphine with Xanax and became somnolent and spent the night in … [Read more...]
Privacy Matters To Patients
I often hear of nurses who made HIPAA violations, none of whom intended to breach privacy but either curiosity or carelessness got the best of them. Here are ten such examples: EMR â If you forget to log out of a computer terminal, someone else can follow you to access anything under you log in. Computers are smart and everything you do on the device can be tracked. Every keystroke you make, every chart you look at, everything! Even if you accidentally pull up a wrong patientâs chart, … [Read more...]
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