Malpractice and Negligence
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Malpractice and Negligence
Clinical practice is a crucial component of the healthcare sector. It is, therefore, crucially important for nurses to and nursing care to adhere to the set guidelines and standards of care as malpractice and negligence put the patient’s health and life at risk. Nurses are a focal point in the provision of quality medical care and hence the need for a regulatory framework, policies, guidelines, and code of professional conduct to guide nurses on how to handle different scenarios that may arise at work. However, cases of negligence and malpractice are still prevalent in our healthcare institutions, which is increasingly deteriorating the quality of care.
During my clinical rotations, I have interacted with numerous registered nurses, and I have witnessed several cases of malpractice. The one that caught my attention the most is when I saw a nurse charting the patient’s assessment without actually carrying out the evaluation of the patient as required. The information recorded on a patient’s profile is crucial. It needs to be highly accurate as it determines the type of medication, modes of treatment, and the next step taken in the treatment process. Malpractices like this one are detrimental to the healthcare process, and pervasively affects service provision. It may also put the life of the patient at risk since the nurse barely record the correct information per the condition of the patient.
Failure to carry out a patient assessment is a nursing practice negligence that falls under failure to follow the standards of care, failure to communicate, failure to assess and monitor, failure to act as a patient’s advocate, failure to use equipment in a responsible manner, and failure to document. Inadequate assessment of the patient is a common area of negligence in nursing practice where the nurse fails to monitor and report the progress of the patient to the physician (pg 30). In the case I witnessed, the nurse not only failed to monitor and document the patient’s progress but lied about it.
Registered Nurses in California are expected to practice within the nursing business and professions code. One thing a nurse can do to protect themselves from negligence is through effective communication with the patients. Communication breakdown between the healthcare provider and the patient is one of the primary elements of negligence in nursing (pg 33). In this regard, a nurse needs to develop and embrace effective communication skills, such as attentive listening. They should be careful and truthful to the patients as well. A nurse should always seek to establish a good rapport during the first interaction with the patient and continue building a helpful relationship to ensure the quality of care and avoid cases of negligence.
Another way in which a nurse can avoid negligence is through proper use of medical equipment. It is vital for the nurse to adhere to all the manufacturer’s instructions and guidelines set for using different equipment in the hospital. If a nurse identifies a malfunctioned equipment, she should report to the appropriate department and tag the equipment as out of service to prevent other nurses from using it (pg 34). When used for the unintended purpose, medical devices pose significant dangers to patient health and life alike. While the human factor plays a significant role in the usage of medical equipment, nurses should ensure to apply the correct settings and configurations when using these devices.