Question

Legal Issues: torts, incident reports, delegation standards, HIPAA?

Answer 1

Question - legal issues

Solution - In nursing profession despite health care professionals best efforts in providing quality care, instances of ligation can occur. So there is a need to educate nurses regarding their responsibility and accountability to patients and the complex issues involved in basic legal situations. Medical professionals always do their best to perform their jobs in the atmost level. But some can result in legal action being initiated against them by the patients. Whenever a similar situation is faced it is important to be fully educated and informed about the current laws and standards that are available to us. Most commonly occuring legal issues are relating to informed consent, negligence, , malpractices etc.

Legal laws, reports and standards that the ones who are in medical profession should be known of are explained below.

TORT LAW

Tort law is the area that covers most civil laws. The original intent of tort is to provide full compensation for proved harms. In simple words tort law consists of the legal situations where an individual could be held liable for an injury inflicted upon another person. It also involve the injured patient or party seeking compensation for the damages that have been experienced.

Mainly there are 3 types of tort cases in which we could get involved are

1)INTENTIONAL TORTS

2)NEGLIGENCE

3)STRICT LIABILITY

INCIDENT REPORTS

It is a tool which documents any events that may or may not have caused injuries to a person. Investigation report can be used in the investigation and analysis of an event. This report is used to understand health and safety issues as well as property and equipment damages also. In brief incident report documents all the worksite injuries and accidents. Also it should be completed at the time an incident occurs. The most important types of events that should be reported are-

• Where the people could have been potentially harmed by the risks detected.
• Adverse events related to medicine, vaccines and medical devices.
• Unexpected occurrences that resulted in serious physical or psychological injury.
• No harm events.

DELEGATION STANDARDS

Delegation generally involves assignment of performance of activities related to patient care to a unlicensed assistive personal while retaining accountability for the outcome. Delegation is a skill that must be taught and practiced for nurses to become efficient in using it in the delivery of nursing care. It involves the process of application of critical thinking and also it improves with education and experience. Delegation skills are developed over time and it involves professional development. Nurses who are registered are expected to be knowledgeable about the principles of Delegation, associated risks and benefits. There are many sources which gives thorough information regarding the the role of a registered nurse. In the code of ethics it is said that the nurse must not engage in practices prohibited by law Or delegate to others activities prohibited by practices acts of other health care personnel or by the law. Therefore a registered nurse determine the scope of their practice in light of their education, knowledge and extent of experience.

HIPAA

HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. It outlines how nurses at covered entities should collect, use and handle protected health information. Maintaining HIPAA compliance is essential for any health care provider, and nurses are the key factors in protecting patients health care security. It was introduced as a law to uphold a national set of standards for confidential and secure exchange of personal health care information by the health care authorities. The Protected Health Information (PHI) comes under HIPAA includes patient information like name, address, birth date etc. Violation of the HIPAA law is a criminal offense and also charges penalty. In order to prevent from violating HIPAA law nurses must refrain from actions like gossiping, leaving electronic informations unprotected et. Nurses are always exposed to private patient information every day. So nurses should be aware of the security policies and procedures involved in the proper handling of the information.

To SUMMARIZE, it should be in mind that all the health professionals should be aware of the current legal issues and their various key concepts. Having knowledge and understanding about these key concepts can motivate improved implementation of these laws in the protection of human rights of both patients and providers in the healthcare.