1-800-267-3390James has worked as a Nurse Practitioner (“NP”) in his community care clinic for the last 10 years. He enjoys the unpredictable nature of the work and is well respected and trusted amongst his peers. He is a great asset to his team, working alongside two family doctors, providing primary care to adult patients in the community.
In the past few weeks, the world has entered a global pandemic further to the introduction of a new virus. To slow the spread of the virus, public health officials have instituted a stay-at-home order for all non-essential workers, which does not include primary care providers, and will take immediate effect. As a result of the outbreak, the community care clinic has decided to provide health-care services to clients through virtual care. Other than working a few days during a huge snowstorm, this is the first time that James will be using virtual care to complete his appointments. Given the immediate effect of the stay-at-home order, James’ employer were not able to provide him with detailed instructions to support him to adapting to this new normal.
James’ first appointment with a client, Nadia, goes smoothly. Nadia has been James’ client for many years now. She is worried as her foot has been sore for several days now since she fell from her bicycle and she reports after her fall she was able to walk a few steps and then could no longer bear weight on it. Nadia has Type 1 diabetes. James asks Nadia to describe her signs and symptoms, and examines her as well as he can through the video call. The foot and the toes do not appear to be bruised or swollen. He also notices a fairly large blister on her heel that appears to be in the process of healing with a dark scab and some localised redness but does not discuss it further. He orders an x-ray to rule out any breaks or fractures, and lets her know he will send the requisition to her via email. The video call drops before she is able to respond. James does not feel the need to call her back, as he knows her well and does not expect she will have a problem with this. He then emails her using what he believes is a secure internal network.[1]
Later that day, James has a second appointment with a young man named David who was a patient of the clinic before moving to Saskatchewan a few months ago. He presents with a fever, sore throat, cough and inflamed tonsils. James believes he may have strep throat. He recommends David do a throat culture swab at a clinic before starting any treatment such as antibiotics.
The following links to infoLAWs will help you to answer the quiz: Delegation to Other Health Care Workers, Quality Documentation, The Nurse as a Witness, Legal Risks in Nursing, Malpractice Lawsuits, Confidentiality.
Resources
[1] Names, characters and locations in this article are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
[2] CNPS, Twelve Things to Consider before Joining a Virtual Care Practice, https://cnps.ca/article/twelve-things-to-consider-before-joining-a-virtual-care-practice/, question 4.
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