Nurse's Legal Handbook

Contributors vii Foreword ix 1 Nursing practice and the law 1(45) Levels of nursing practice 1(2) Laws, rules, and regulations 3(7) Interpreting your nurse practice act 10(8) Keeping nurse practice acts up to date 18(1) Standards of nursing care 19(14) Legal significance 33(4) Nursing licensure 37(9) 2 Working in diverse clinical settings 46(24) Nursing practice vs. medical practice 46(3) Legal risks in diverse clinical settings 49(21) 3 Patients' rights 70(55) Documents upholding patients' rights 70(10) Informed consent 80(12) The patient who refuses treatment 92(9) Respecting the patient's autonomy 101(4) Confidentiality and the right to privacy 105(3) Patient's right to privacy 108(6) When the patient demands his chart 114(2) Patient discharge against medical advice 116(4) When a patient dies 120(5) 4 Understanding malpractice liability 125(29) Understanding malpractice law 127(6) Understanding the statue of limitations 133(4) Avoiding malpractice liability 137(8) Maintaining professional liability insurance 145(9) 5 Lawsuits and the legal process 154(17) The medical malpractice lawsuit 154(8) Defending yourself in a lawsuit 162(8) Res judicata 170(1) 6 Legal risks on the job 171(61) Hospital policies 173(4) Legal risks caused by understaffing 177(5) Legal risks in special care units 182(4) Legal responsibility for patient safety 186(5) Legal risks when administering drugs 191(4) Telephone triage 195(2) Patient teaching and the law 197(2) Incident reports 199(4) Caring for a minor 203(4) Caring for an abused patient 207(7) Caring for the mentally ill or developmentally disabled patient 214(7) Caring for a suspected criminal 221(5) Upholding a patient's living will 226(4) Working as a quality management nurse 230(2) 7 Legal aspects of documentation 232(22) Purpose of accurate documentation 232(3) Legal significance of the medical record 235(3) Nursing documentation 238(10) Witnessing and signing documents 248(2) Computerized medical records 250(4) 8 Legal risks while off duty 254(18) Legal protection for Good Samaritans 254(10) Giving free health care advice 264(3) Donating nursing services 267(1) Acting during a disaster 268(4) 9 Nurses' rights as employees 272(23) Understanding employment contracts 272(5) Unions 277(6) Legal issues in collective bargaining 283(6) Grievances and arbitration 289(6) 10 Ethical decision making 295(16) Law vs. ethics 295(1) Moral dilemmas 296(4) Values and ethics 300(2) Ethical theories 302(5) Basis of ethical decisions 307(4) 11 Ethical conflicts in clinical practice 311(60) Right to die 311(9) Organ transplantation 320(8) Perinatal ethics 328(2) HIV and AIDS 330(8) Abortion and reproductive technology 338(12) Genetic engineering and screening 350(4) Personal safety in the workplace 354(9) Substance abuse among nurses 363(8) Glossary 371(31) Understanding the judicial process 402(2) Types of MCOs 404(2) Interpreting legal citations 406(2) Court case citations 408(5) Index 413