Exam 71: Legal Implications in Nursing Practice

A new nurse notes that the health care unit keeps a listing of patient names in a closed book behind the front desk of the nursing station so patients can be located easily.What action is most appropriate for the nurse to take?

A patient's condition is slowly deteriorating.What actions should the nurse take to provide the best care possible?

A nurse notices that his neighbor's preschool children are often playing on the sidewalk and in the street unsupervised and repeatedly takes them back to their home and talks with the parent available,but the situation continues.What immediate action by the nurse is mandated by law?

A recent immigrant who does not speak English is alert and requires hospitalization.What is the initial action that the nurse must take to enable informed consent to be obtained?

Conjoined twins are in the neonatal department of the community hospital until transfer to the closest medical center.A photographer from the local newspaper gets off the elevator on the neonatal floor and wants to take pictures of the infants.What initial action should the nurse take?

A patient with sepsis as a result of long-term leukemia dies 25 hours after admission to the hospital.A full code was conducted without success.The patient had a urinary catheter,an intravenous line,an oxygen cannula,and a nasogastric tube.What question is priority for the nurse to ask the family before beginning postmortem care?

The nurse calculates the medication dose for an infant on the pediatric unit and determines that the dose is twice what it should be.The pediatrician is contacted and says to administer the medication as ordered.What is the next action that the nurse should take?

An obstetrical nurse comes across an automobile accident.The patient seems to have a crushed upper airway,and while waiting for emergency medical services to arrive,the nurse makes a cut in the trachea and inserts a straw from her purse to provide an airway.The patient survives and has a permanent problem with his vocal cords,making it difficult to talk.Which statement is true regarding the nurse's performance?

A nurse performs cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)on a 92-year-old with brittle bones and breaks a rib during the procedure,which then punctures a lung.The patient recovers completely without any residual problems and sues the nurse for pain and suffering,and for malpractice.What key point will the prosecution attempt to prove?

While recovering from a severe illness,a hospitalized patient states that he wants to change his living will,which he signed nine months ago.Which response by the nurse is most appropriate?

A newly hired experienced nurse is preparing to change a patient's abdominal dressing and hasn't done it before at this hospital.Which action by the nurse is best?

A nurse gives an incorrect medication to a patient without doing all of the mandatory checks,but the patient has no ill effects from the medication.What actions should the nurse take after reassessing the patient?

A nursing student in the final term of nursing school is overheard by a nursing faculty member telling another student that she got to insert a nasogastric tube in the emergency department while she was working as a nursing assistant.What advice is best for the nursing faculty member to give to the nursing student?

A nursing student has been written up several times for being late with providing patient care and for omitting aspects of patient care and not knowing basic procedures that were taught in the skills course one term earlier.The nursing student says,"I don't understand what the big deal is.As my instructor,you are there to protect me and make sure I don't make mistakes." What is the best response from the nursing instructor?

A patient has just been told that he has approximately six months to live and asks about advance directives.Which statements by the nurse give the patient correct information?

A confused patient with a urinary catheter,nasogastric tube,and intravenous line keeps touching these needed items for care.The nurse has tried to explain to the patient that he should not touch these lines,but the patient continues.What is the best action by the nurse at this time?

A pediatric oncology nurse floats to an orthopedic trauma unit.What actions should the nurse manager of the orthopedic unit take to enable safe care to be given by this nurse?

A nurse works full-time on the oncology unit at the hospital and works part-time on weekends giving immunizations at the local pharmacy.While giving an injection on a weekend,the nurse caused injury to the patient's arm and is now being sued.How will the hospital's malpractice insurance provide coverage for this nurse?

The nurse hears a physician say to the charge nurse that he doesn't want that same nurse caring for his patients because she is stupid and won't follow his orders.The physician also writes on his patient's medical records that the same nurse,by name,is not to care for any of his patients because of her incompetence.What component(s)of defamation has the physician committed?

A 17-year-old patient,dying of heart failure,wants to have his organs removed for transplantation after his death.What action by the nurse is correct?