Liability in Professional Nursing Practice - Essay Example

"Liability in Professional Nursing Practice" is an outstanding example of a paper on care.
In this situation, patient R. M’s family is accusing Nurse Smith of negligence that led to the death of their patient. In as much as Nurse Smith claims that she kept monitoring the patient throughout the night, she is not able to substantiate her case considering no chart entries were recorded between midnight and 0600. Additionally, it is reported that the patient did not receive a timely medical intervention, which would have stabilized R. M’s low blood glucose levels hence the prevention of his death. Medically speaking, negligence entails the failure of a health practitioner to take responsible care in the prevention of a patient’s loss or injury (Emerson, 2007). Alternatively, nursing negligence is when a doctor or nurse who has the capability of caring fails to take care of his patient in the way a prudent nurse would have done and as a result leads to the suffering of the patient (Emerson, 2007). From the results, it is quite obvious that Nurse Smith unwillingly neglected patient R.M. hence resulting in his death. In this case, Nurse Smith must therefore be held responsible for the nursing standards for her own actions. This entails that she is judged for her negligence in the field.

In reference to Nurse Smith and patient R.M.’s family situation, nursing liabilities and malpractices remain a common aspect in most medical institutions. Professional negligence is a common trend currently and it continues to cause physical, emotional, and monetary damage to many innocent families. Personally, I cannot deny the fact that nursing liability has not occurred under my watch. It is a continuous trend even in my area of practice. Some of the most common liability issues that occur in my area of practice include breach of duty, causation, and damages. In this case, the breach of duty is what the nurses owe to the hospital patients, and any harm that befalls the patient remains the nurse’s fault. In some cases, nurses in my area of practice fail to provide an environment that is safe for the patient (Iyer, 2001). On the other hand, damages usually occur in case there is a duty breach. This is also a common liability in my area of practice. Other common liabilities that are common in my area of practice include nurses’ failure to communicate effectively with the patients and causation (Grant, 2011).  

Being a delicate issue not only in my facility but also in most medical facilities, addressing nursing negligence and liabilities is mandatory. As one of the biggest medical facilities in the country, my facility has been doing a lot to address the issue of nursing liabilities in the institution. As part of the intervention process, the medical facility has been encouraging its staff mainly the nurses to perform only skills, which are within their practice scope. Alternatively, the nurses are being encouraged to stay current in their specialty field by attending different in-service programs or by pursuing education in their field (Sharpe, 1999). On the other hand, nurses are being encouraged to establish their strengths and weaknesses in order to avoid liabilities in the facility. The nurses are also encouraged to attend equipment in-service programs. Such actions can assist detect any equipment failures in the facility especially while handling patients (Sharpe, 1999).