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• Nursing practice


  Governed by many legal concepts
• Accountability


  An essential concept of professional nursing practice and the law
• Law


  The sum total of rules and regulations by which a society is governed
• Functions of the law in nursing

  • Provides a framework for establishing which nursing actions in the care of clients are legal
  • Helps establish the boundaries of independent nursing action
  • Assists in maintaining a standard of nursing practice by making nurses accountable under the law
• Sources of law


  • Constitutional law
  • Legislation
  • Administrative law
  • Common law
• Civil actions


  Deal with the relationships among individuals in society
• Criminal actions


  Deal with disputes between an individual and society as a whole
• The civil judicial process

  1. Filing a complaint

  2. Written response (answer)

  3. Pretrial discovery

  4. Trial

  5. Rendering a decision/verdict
• Nurse practice act


  Protects the public by legally defining and describing the scope of nursing practice
• Credentialing


  • Licensure
  • Certification
• Licensure


  A legal permit that a government agency grants to individuals to engage in the practice of a profession and to use a particular title
• Certification


  The voluntary practice of validating that an individual nurse has met minimum standards of nursing competence in specialty areas
• Standards of care


  • Internal standards
  • External standards
• Liability


  The state of being legally responsible for one's obligations and actions
• Contractual obligations


  The nurse's duty of care, that is, duty to render care, established by the presence of an expressed or implied contract
• Respondeat superior


  The master (employer) assumes responsibility for the conduct of the servant (employee) and can also be held responsible for professional negligence by the employee
• Informed consent


  An agreement by a client to accept a course of treatment or a procedure after being provided complete information, including the benefits and risks of treatment, alternatives to the treatment, and prognosis if not treated by a health care provider
• Types of consent


  • Express consent
  • Implied consent
• Minors and individuals who are unconscious, injured, or mentally incompetent may not be able to give informed consent
• Nurses are often asked to obtain a signed consent form to confirm the client gave consent voluntarily, the signature is authentic, and the client appears competent to give consent
• Legal issues related to death

  • Advance health care directives
  • Autopsy
  • Certification of death
  • Do-not-resuscitate orders
  • Euthanasia
  • Inquest
  • Organ donation
• Unintentional torts


  Negligence, gross negligence, malpractice, res ipsa loquitur
• Intentional torts


  • Assault
  • Battery
  • False imprisonment
  • Invasion of privacy
• Good Samaritan acts


  Laws designed to protect health care providers who provide assistance at the scene of an emergency against claims of professional negligence
• Nurses are expected to analyze procedures and medications ordered by the physician or primary care provider and seek clarification of ambiguous or seemingly erroneous orders
• Documentation


  The client's medical chart is a legal document and can be produced in court as evidence
• Incident report


  An agency record of an accident or unusual occurrence
• Ethics


  A method of inquiry that helps people to understand the morality of human behavior
• Morality


  Usually refers to private, personal standards of what is right and wrong in conduct, character, and attitude
• Bioethics


  Ethics as applied to human life or health
• Nursing ethics


  Ethical issues that occur in nursing practice
• Moral principles


  • Autonomy
  • Nonmaleficence
  • Beneficence
  • Justice
  • Fidelity
• Autonomy


  The right to make one's own decisions
• Nonmaleficence


  The duty to "do no harm"
• Beneficence


  Doing good, implementing actions that benefit clients and their support persons
• Justice


  Fairness
• Fidelity


  Being faithful to agreements and promises
• Veracity


  Telling the truth
• Asepsis


  The state of being free from disease-causing contaminants
• Medical Asepsis


  • Confines a specific microorganism to a specific area
  • Limits the number, growth, and transmission of microorganisms
  • Objects referred to as clean or dirty (soiled, contaminated)