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Reply with no less then 200 words. One reference if possible.
When it comes to professional negligence, it may be difficult to prove all four of the required elements. In order for a plaintiff to be successful in a case against a provider for professional negligence, I believe the biggest hurdle is to determine whether or not a breach of duty to the patient occurred. Without a breach of duty, there cannot be an injury resulting from such a breach. Determining that a duty existed is fairly easy. A nurse assumes care of a patient and is held to standards set by the licensing body as well as the Nurse Practice Acts of the state in which they are practicing (Vana et al., 2018). In determining whether or not a breach of duty has occurred, many resources are used to verify this. Nurse Practice Acts, laws, expert testimony, and evidence-based data are all utilized to determine if a breach of duty has occurred (Vana et al., 2018). The majority of healthcare facilities have policies and procedures in place for just about anything you could think of related to patient care. These policies are in place to prevent a healthcare worker from an action or inaction that could be considered a breach of duty (Vana et al., 2018). As long as the nurse is following standard and facility procedures and documenting appropriately, it will be very difficult to prove a breach occurred.
In the first scenario, where the patient died because there was a failure to communicate regarding his difficulty breathing, the professional liability of the nurse could have been easily avoided. Proper assessment of the patient at the time of the complaint was necessary to determine whether what needed to be done to treat the patient. Depending on the assessment, the patient could have been suctioned, respiratory therapy could have been notified, the patient could have been repositioned, or medications could have been administered. One very basic thing that we learn in nursing school is that if it was not charted it did not happen. Any communications or interventions should have been documented in the patient’s record. If the nurse did suction the patient, notify the physician, or escalate care, it should have all been documented. Additionally, any assessments or changes from previous assessments should have been documented as well. This is basic nursing practice. Even if the standards of care vary from one state or facility to another, this would be easily proven that there was a breach of duty, as any nurse in any field knows that documentation is the only way anyone is able to know what was done for our patients (Vana et al., 2018).
References
Vana, P. K., Vottero, B. A., & Christie-McAuliffe, C. A. (2018). Introduction to quality and safety education for Nurses: Core Competencies for Nursing Leadership and Management. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
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