Legal Dimensions of Nursing Practice (Jenny VanOverstraeten)
slander
A nurse is overheard in the hospital cafeteria making false, derogatory comments about a client. The nurse is guilty of:
Invasion of privacy
A nurse talks with family members about an AIDS client from the clinic where the nurse works. Which tort has the nurse committed?
Assault
A nurse threatens to restrain a verbally abusive client if the abuse continues. Which legal tort has the nurse committed?
Slander
A nurse who comments to coworkers at lunch that a client with a sexually transmitted infection has been sexually active in the community may be guilty of what tort?
Breach of duty
A nurse fails to communicate a change in the client's condition to the physician. Which element related to proving malpractice has been met? You Selected:
The student nurse, the nurse instructor, and the hospital
A student nurse is assisting an older adult client to ambulate following hip replacement surgery when the client falls and reinjures the hip. Who is potentially responsible for the injury to this client?
The agency's risk manager
A nurse and the facility have been named as defendants in a malpractice lawsuit. In addition to the nurse's attorney, whom else would be appropriate for the nurse to talk with about the case?
Slander
A nurse, while off-duty, tells the physiotherapist that a client who was admitted to the nursing unit contracted AIDS due to exposure to sex workers at the age of 18. The client discovers that the nurse has revealed the information to the physiotherapist. With what legal action could the nurse be charged?
Invasion of privacy
An HIV-positive client discovers that the client's name is published in a research report on HIV care prepared by the client's nurse. The client is hurt and files a lawsuit against the nurse. Which offense has the nurse committed? You Selected:
Certification
Having recently completed a specialty nursing program in neonatal care, a nurse is now preparing to leave the medical unit and begin providing care in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The nurse has completed which process of credentialing? You Selected:
To improve quality of care
Nurses complete incident reports as dictated by the agency protocol. What is the primary reason nurses fill out an incident report?
Certification
Nurses practicing in a critical care unit must acquire specialized skills and knowledge to provide care to the critically ill client. These nurses can validate this specialty competence through what process?
To protect the safety of the public
Professional regulations and laws that govern nursing practice are in place for which reason?
1300: Client temperature elevated. Telephoned health care provider's service 3 times without a response. Tepid sponge bath given and nursing supervisor notified.
The nurse attempts to notify a health care provider about a client's elevated temperature but does not get a response. Which statement, if documented by the nurse, would indicate that the nurse is following proper protocol for nursing documentation?
Call the provider to clarify the medication prescription
The nurse is preparing to administer a prescribed medication and notes the dosage is well above the suggested therapeutic range. Which action should the nurse take?
Duty
The nurse is providing care to a client whose condition has progressively declined. The nurse assesses and makes appropriate interventions as well as notifies the health care provider. Despite the nurse's efforts, the client expires. What element of liability has the nurse demonstrated?
Invasion of privacy
When talking with family over dinner, the nurse shares about a client with infertility at the hospital, identifying the person by name. Which tort has the nurse committed?
invasion of privacy
When the nurse informs a client's employer of the client's autoimmune deficiency disease, the nurse is committing the tort of:
An older adult client refuses an intramuscular injection, but the nurse administers it.
Which action constitutes battery?
The nurse administers amoxicillin to a client with known allergies to penicillin. The client has a seizure with resulting respiratory arrest.
Which best exemplifies malpractice?
It helps to reduce workforce injuries and illness in the workplace.
Which is true of the Occupational Safety and Health Act?
Accreditation
Which process evaluates and recognizes educational programs as having met certain standards?
Document the client's claims and the events surrounding the alleged incident.
A client states that the client's recent fall was caused by his scheduled antihypertensive medications being mistakenly administered by two different nurses, an event that is disputed by both of the nurses identified by the client. Which measure should the nurses prioritize when anticipating that legal action may follow?
Let the client go after signing a document stating that the client is going against medical advice.
A client informs the nurse that the client wants to discontinue treatment and go home. Later, the nurse finds the client dressed to leave. Which action should the nurse take in this situation?
The nurse should call and inform the nursing supervisor of the situation
A client is unhappy with the health care provided and informs the nurse that the client is leaving the facility. The client has not been discharged by the physician. The nurse finds that the client has dressed and is ready to go. What should the nurse's action be in this situation?
Tort
A client was admitted to a postoperative nursing unit after undergoing abdominal surgery. During this time, the nurse failed to recognize the significance of abdominal swelling, which significantly increased during the next 6 hours. Later, the client had to undergo emergency surgery. The lack of action on the nurse's part is liable for action. Which legal term describes the case?
an advance directive
A legal document that states a client's health-related wishes — such as a preference for pain management if the client becomes terminally ill — and also allows the client's adult child to direct the client's care, is:
"Having documentation might keep you out of trouble someday." "Reporting helps us fix problems that result in danger to clients."
A nurse confides in a nurse friend, "I never report minor incidents. The charge nurse always wants a variance report filled out and they take so much time." Which responses by the friend are indicated? Select all that apply.
Breach of duty
A nurse fails to communicate a change in the client's condition to the physician. Which element related to proving malpractice has been met?
"Wait and give me a report in the room at the bedside."
A nurse from the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) transports a client in the elevator with a nurse from the intensive care unit (ICU). There are staff members and visitors in the elevator as well. Which response from the ICU nurse is appropriate when the PACU nurse begins the report?
The nurse should ask the physician to come back and write the order.
A physician is called to see a client with angina. During the visit the physician advises the nurse to decrease the dosage of atenolol to 12.5 mg. However, because the physician is late for another visit, the physician requests that the nurse write down the order for the physician. What should be the appropriate nursing action in this situation?
"The rules made by the board of nursing don't reflect my practice."
Action has been taken against a nurse's license based on a claim that the nurse acted outside of nursing's scope of practice. The nurse's attorney determines that the nurse needs more education about the purpose of the board of nursing when the nurse makes which statement?
The nurse is legally held to the same standards of care as when staffing levels are normal.
After reporting to work for a night shift, the nurse learns that the unit is understaffed because two RNs called out sick. As a result, each nurse on the unit must provide care for four acute clients in addition to the nurse's regular clients. Which statement is true for this nurse when working in understaffed circumstances?
A nurse who demonstrates advanced expertise in a content area of nursing through special testing
Which scenario is an example of certification?
Nurses are responsible for adhering to specific documentation about controlled substances.
Which statement about laws governing the distribution of controlled substances is true?
