Patient restraints are measures used to limit the activity or control the behaviour of a person or a portion of their body. More specifically, according to the Patient Restraints Minimization Act of Ontario, “restrain means, with respect to a person, to place the person under control by the minimal use of such force, mechanical means…
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What is meant by “patient safety”? Patient safety is the reduction and mitigation of unsafe acts within the health-care system, and the use of best practices shown to lead to optimal patient outcomes.1 Countries around the world, including Canada,2 are taking steps to identify how patients are unintentionally harmed by health care management. Achieving the…
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Technological advancement in the healthcare field, as well as the increase in virtual care or telepractice, has helped patients access safer, faster and more specialized care than ever before. However, these developments have also given rise to a multitude of new privacy issues, concerning loss of and unauthorized access to, use, and disclosure of a…
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Electronic medical records (EMR) are now common to most nursing practices. To protect the privacy of patients’ personal health information, nurses should be aware of the unique privacy issues related to the use of EMR. Privacy Risks Access An increasing number of privacy breach cases involve unauthorized and inappropriate access by employees into their employer’s…
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During legal proceedings nurses may be protected from giving evidence in certain circumstances. In this infoLAW, the Canadian Nurses Protective Society (CNPS) reviews one legal exception to the requirement to provide evidence. This exception is called privilege. What is privilege? Privilege is a special legal rule arising from rules of evidence, the common law and…
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The Canadian Nurses Protective Society (CNPS) frequently receives requests for information regarding documentation issues or concerns. Nurses working in all areas of patient care encounter issues related to documentation, whether in paper or electronic form. Quality documentation can be a nurse’s best defence in the face of a complaint, claim or legal proceeding. Addressed below…
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An adverse event in healthcare can arise when there is an unexpected outcome or complication that negatively affects a patient’s care. It can involve prolonged hospitalization, injury, or death and is often due to complications in the management of the patient’s care. If a patient is unintentionally harmed by the provision of healthcare services (i.e. an…
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Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, YouTube, and LinkedIn allow us to communicate in real-time with “friends”, “followers” or the public. Nurses may use these sites as research and educational tools, for information sharing and as a way to network or socialize. Understanding the legal considerations involved in using social…
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Supervision entails initial direction, periodic inspection and corrective action when needed. It is the active process of directing, assigning, delegating, guiding, monitoring an individual’s performance of an activity to influence its outcome. Supervision can be direct (being physically present or immediately available while the activity is being performed) or indirect (providing direction through various means…
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“Telepractice” is the delivery, management and coordination of care and services provided via information and telecommunication technologies such as telephones, personal digital assistants, faxes, the Internet, video and audio conferencing and other devices.1 Telepractice is rapidly expanding, as are the technologies that accompany it. While telepractice was historically an extension of traditional care models, it…
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