Recognizing the Role of Adhering to the Standard of Care to Avoid Malpractice
When providing health care, there are standards of care which a reasonably prudent provider should follow. Providers at all levels are held to these standards of care. Failure to provide competent care to your patients will put you at risk for malpractice. Remaining current with the evidenced-based guidelines and providing optimal care will minimize the risk of liability.
explain any legal implications that exist for failure to adhere to a standard of care, the key elements of malpractice, and compare the differences in malpractice policy options.
addresse the following:
Identify and explain any legal implications that exist for failure to adhere to a standard of care
Identify and explain the key elements of malpractice
Compare the differences in malpractice policy options
References - All references should be less than 5 years old
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2016). National Guideline Clearinghouse. Retrieved from http://www(dot)guidelines(dot)gov
Watson, E. (2014). Nursing Malpractice: Costs, Trends and Issues. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting, 25(1), 26-31.
Note: Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
Standards of Care
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All the medical practitioners in their profession are guided by certain guidelines on how they should administer care to the patients. These guidelines form the basis of how a physician should act; what they should do or they are not supposed to do. In any case, these guidelines are deviated from by the physician, they call for legal implications.
Legal implication comes into place if the doctor fails to meet the standards of care that are acceptable. It is negligence that can lead to harming a patient. If this happens, in a negligence lawsuit, the medical practitioner will be accused of violation of standards of care (HG. Org, 2017). A medical practitioner is liable to be held responsible if they fail to administer medication correctly. Their failure to protecting or warning patients of the imminent harm or danger calls for a legal action. They are also liable if they fail to monitor equipment.
It is required that the medical practitioner especially nurses to report observations and assessments they do on a patient in time. They will be found negligent if they fail to monitor the changes in the condition of the patient closely. In the case of the nurse, these changes should be reported to the attending doctor with an immediate effect. Failure to comply with the rules that regulate the practice of medicine concerning duties delegation to the unlicensed people calls for a legal action. Legal liability can also arise in the case where the medical practitioner mishandles patient's identification.
Medical malpractice is the negligence of profession by the hospital or staff. The outcome of this is usually emotional, physical or monetary damage to the patient in question. There are four key elements of medical malpractice; duty, breach of duty, damages and causations (Katie, 2012). Duty is what a doctor owes a patient. In the nursing profession, a nurse performs her duty when they interpret and follow the instructions of the phy...