Understanding & Preventing Nursing Negligence and Malpractice Cases

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of nursing negligence and malpractice, highlighting the key differences between the two concepts. It defines nursing negligence as a breach of duty by a nurse that results in harm to a patient, providing examples such as failing to administer medication or inadequate patient assessment. The essay also discusses nursing malpractice, which involves a nurse's failure to fulfill their medical duties, leading to patient harm, such as improper monitoring or documentation errors. Furthermore, it explores preventive measures for both negligence and malpractice, emphasizing the importance of following doctor's orders, using the nursing process for assessment, improving communication, and accurate documentation. The essay references relevant academic sources to support its explanations and arguments.

Running head: NURSING NEGLIGENCE AND MALPRACTICE 1
Nursing Negligence and Malpractice
Name
Institution

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Nursing Negligence and Malpractice
Nursing negligence
Nursing negligence is the act of a nurse to violate his duty or to cause an injury to a
patient. A good nurse is often informed about the laws and regulations of a certain healthcare
station as well as the ethics governing their nursing practices. A good nurse often avoids
negligence by communicating effectively with the patients and works under the stated guidelines
of a health care (Jacoby & Scruth, 2017).
A breach of duty is on an act of negligence by a nurse. A duty may be breached by a
nurse when he fails to do what a prudent person who is reasonable would not do (Jacoby &
Scruth, 2017). A breach of duty by a nurse can also cause an injury to another person and that
will be considered as an act of negligence. An example of an injury is when the nurse fails to
give medications to the patients then thereafter the patient’s condition worsens and even dies.
This is when a nurse is considered negligent.
Inadequate performance of the nurse for example if their skills and attention are low is
considered negligence by the law. A nurse should provide an approved care standard to the
patients. Performance failures may include acts like not following the order or protocol, constant
errors in medication, use of equipment inappropriately and failure to correctly assess the patient
even after an injury (Myers & Boutier, 2011).
Ways of preventing nursing negligence includes the nurses following the doctor’s orders
when assessing the patient. When the patient is not adequately assessed them it might cause
death. Nurses are supposed to use nursing process in their assessment to avoid negligence. There

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should be improved communication between the doctor and the nurse to prevent injuries to a
patient (Karno, 2011).
Nursing malpractice
Nursing malpractice is an act in which a nurse fails to complete his medical duties and
that failure then causes harm to the patient. Nurses should be able to administer the right
medication to the patient and monitor the vital signs of a patient properly. Doctor, nurses and
other health professionals can be held responsible for a malpractice (Karno, 2011).
An example of a malpractice is the failure to monitor the patient properly. It is the duty of
the nurse to follow up the patient’s condition and be able to inform the physician in case of any
changes (Mcclellan, 2010). When a nurse fails to assess the condition of a patient and it causes a
harm to him then he is charged with nursing malpractice. This might occur when the nurse
misses a vital sign in a patient.
Mistakes in documentation are one of the examples of malpractice. One main duty of a
nurse is to keep records accurately regarding the patient’s condition (Mcclellan, 2010). Mistakes
done in documentation by the nurse is the failure to update the changes in patient’s condition and
recording the patient’s condition incorrectly.
To make sure nursing malpractice is avoided the nurse should document the physician’s
orders accurately and precisely. The nurse should also check the physician’s orders 3 times
before implementing them. The nurse should also try to write their note legibly. The nurse
should try to communicate with the physician properly in case of any clarity (Karno, 2011).

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References
Jacoby, S. R., & Scruth, E. A. (2017). Negligence and the Nurse: The Value of the Code of
Ethics for Nurses. Clinical Nurse Specialist, 31(4), 183-185.
Karno, S. (2011). Nursing malpractice/negligence and liability. Law for Nurse Leaders: A
Comprehensive Reference. New York: Springer, 249-80.
Mcclellan, F. (2010). Medical Malpractice: Law, Tactics, and Ethics. Temple University Press.
Myers, W. T., & Boutier, B. P. (2011). Preparing a Nursing Negligence Expert Report in Six
Paragraphs. Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting•
Spring, 22(2), 13.