Here’s 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 “I don’t want to commit malpractice; I want to provide the best care for my patients, and I want to protect my license.” When you look at the staffing assignments, it can be both overwhelming and stressful. You may be thinking, “How am I going to get this all done and make sure that my patients are provided … [Read more...]
Malpractice Claims are on the Rise with Electronic Health Records
According to The Doctor’s 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...]
Keeping Your Nurse Practitioner License Safe
Recently I attended the Nursing Service Organization Annual Summit where they discussed the results of their annual statistical analysis of claims against nurse practitioners. They look at things such as area of practice, resultant injuries, alleged breaches in the standard of care and on their license protection claims. Here are some of the risk management strategies that they recommended. Professionalism is the key. Nurse practitioners have an amazing way of developing a great rapport … [Read more...]
Is The Handwriting On The Wall?
I frequently have nurses come to me because they have been fired from their jobs and are afraid that they will be reported to the Board. What’s interesting about these nurses is that almost all have said, “I knew I should have been looking for another job.” If you feel the handwriting is on the wall, it is better to resign than get terminated. On every job application, you will have to include that job on the application and include that you were terminated. You cannot simply omit a job … [Read more...]
