Chapter 3 Key Terms
Incident report
a means of documenting problems events within a hospital or other medical facility
Statute of limitations
a period of time that a patient has to file a lawsuit
Risk management
a practice to minimize the incidence of a problem behavior that might result in injury to the patient and liability for the organization
Confidentiality
a set of rules or a promise that limits access or places restrictions on certain types of information
Bonding
a special type of insurance made with a bonding company that covers employees who handle financial statements, cash and records
Prudent person rule
aka responsible person standard, means the HC professional must provide the info that a prudent, reasonable person would want before making a decision about treatment or refusal of treatment
Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
an agency that oversees hospital accreditation standards, JCAHO
Endorsement
an approval or sanction
Guardian ad litem
court-appointed guardian to represent a minor or unborn child in litigation
Discovery Rule
legal theory that provides that the statute of limitations begins to run at the time the injury is discovered or when the patient should have known of the injury
respondeat superior
means the employer is responsible for the actions of an employee
Good Samaritan laws
state laws that help protect HC professionals and ordinary citizens from liability while giving emergency care to accident victims
Revoke
take away, as in revoking a license
Scope of practice
the activities a HC professional is allowed to perform as indicated on their licensure, certification, and/or training
Reciprocity
the cooperation of one state in granting a license to practice medicine to a physician already licensed in another state
Standard of Care
the ordinary skill and care that medical practitioners use and that is commonly used by other medical practitioners in the same locality when caring for patients
Accreditation
the state of being accredited, especially the granting of approval to an institution of learning by an official review board after the school has met specific requirements
