Is the nursing negligence violating the standard of conduct? Yes if the nurses don’t abide by the standards set and a patient is harmed, they have to face legal and ethical repercussions. If you are a nurse, you need to be aware that the patient’s safety and overall well-being should be your utmost priority. Although negligence occurs rather rarely but still has a profound impact on the medical community.
As per Nurses Services Organization, nursing conduct is meticulously monitored and has increased its ratio by 33.7%, and 56% of all negligence claims are against nurses who malpractice even their basic responsibilities, and duties and are unable to fulfill industrial expectations.
Nursing mistakes usually occur due to limited knowledge, skillset, and little to no judgment to make correct decisions that ensure a patient’s optimal health.
It usually occurs in harming patients and even prudent nurses are incompetent to effectively deal with patients.
If any of your loved ones suffered through nursing negligence and become a victim of it, he’s entitled to take compensation claims.
In this guide, we will explore all about nursing negligence and what are the main causes that need to be rectified.
Table of Contents
What Is Nursing Negligence?
Is nursing negligence synonymous with incompetency? What is it and how do you feel like you are prey to it? It’s doing something or being unable to do something that a careful nurse wouldn’t do in the same situation and a patient’s injury is worsened resultantly.
When a nurse is incompetent to adequately do patient care and her performance isn’t up to the mark, an injury has likely occurred.
You can identify it by examining your elf what if a reasonable nurse has treated it? Would your injury situation remain the same? If not then you have been subjected to nursing malpractices and it must be addressed and rectified at the earliest opportunity.
Causes of Nursing Negligence That Need To Be Rectified
Having inadequate knowledge or not giving proper attention could be the main culprits in nursing negligence cases. Here are some causes which help you to identify if you ever become a victim of it.
- Lacks Proper Knowledge of Medical Equipment & Medications
One of the primary tasks of a nurse is to be sufficiently aware of the safety protocols, factors, and constraints of the medical equipment she or he will use. She shouldn’t have permission to modify the equipment use as per her preference as it could likely harm a patient’s health.
She must abide by the manufacturer’s instructions and should be counted as responsible for the standards of care.
Another cause of nursing negligence is not properly monitoring medication, a nurse should administer it as per the physician’s guidelines. The medical complications can be life-threatning causing death.
- Violates Patient Care Standards
The core responsibility of a nurse is to be stringent on patient care protocols. The purpose of such healthcare standards is to ensure that patients get physical and emotional safety.
If a nurse isn’t capable enough to create a safe environment for the patient who has been injured, it shows nursing negligence.
It usually happens in situations when the patient is undergoing postoperative care and abandons extreme pain, but the nurse fails to administer proper medication to relieve pain.
- Negligent To Document Patient’s Health Conditions
Documentation is the key to the patient’s health monitoring. If negligence occurs, it leads to injury or worse death. As per the legal perspective, if an event hasn’t been documented it hasn’t taken place yet.
Additionally, if a nurse fails to record a procedure once, there are chances it will be done twice maybe by any other nurse which complicates health.
- Performing Duties While Using Drugs
Working when you are under the influence is harmful to you and your patient’s health. Nursing Negligence is noted to be your judgment is badly affected because you are drunk or intoxicated.
When a nurse is intoxicated and a severe punishment has been administered, there are chance nurses will give her the wrong medication which further effect the situation.
The usual drugs commonly taken by nurses and other healthcare professionals are alcohol, antidepressants, morphine, percodan, vicodin, methamphetamines, inhalants, cocaine, and sleeping pills.
They usually camouflage their adduction by indulging excessively in caffeine, and chewing gums, so keep an eye out when sometimes resorting to these approaches, there’s something fishy.
- Failure to Communicate & Adequately Monitor Patients
Nursing negligence originates when a nurse fails to communicate clearly with nurses, physicians, and other professionals like she fails to share a patient’s data with the physician and doesn’t share discharge information.
If a nurse fails to keep newly admitted nurses on board important information results in a patient’s compromised care.
In post-operative care, there are certain standards set that say how many times a patient should be visited and given specified medications. Nurses should pay close heed to when a patient’s pain flares up and is on the way if worsening, and should take immediate action.
Bottom-line
In conclusion, it’s impossible to mitigate nursing negligence but it can surely be rectified if nurses become more vigilant., It’s difficult to remove it altogether from almost all healthcare professions but identifying the root causes and addressing them timely can decrease the intensity of adverse consequences.
The most typical causes are known to be inadequate knowledge of medical equipment, negligence in giving medication timely and monitoring vigilantly. If a nurse fails to communicate properly violates standards and is under the influence while on duty, it points towards negligence and a patient’s health is on stage due to this.
Give it a thorough read to understand better about the negligence and share if your loved one becomes a victim of it.
FAQs on Nursing Negligence
What are the five elements of negligence?
If there’s an instance of negligence you have faced, you and your lawyer have to prove five elements; duty, breach of duty, cause, infact, proximate cause, and harm.
What are the five most common allegations of nursing negligence?
These are noted to be when the nurse fails to bring a physician when there’s an emergency, does not properly monitor the patient’s health, not giving proper medication, negligence in updating patient’s chart, and does not respond to the patient’s needs on time.
You may like to read about the following:
- Emotional Distress In Nurses: Description, Causes & 6 Effective Strategies
- How To Become a Public Health Professional
For more information, visit whatsmind.com
