InfoLAW: Consent to Treatment: The role of the nurse

Consent may be implicit or explicit. Holding out an arm to have a blood pressure taken is implicit consent, whereas an ECG or blood gases may require explicit consent. The main types of consent in the health care setting are general consent as required for admission to and basic care in a health care facility…

Read More

InfoLAW: Medication Errors

Medication errors are a relatively common occurrence in nursing practice that can cause life-threatening complications for patients. According to a Health Report completed by Statistics Canada, “almost one-fifth (19%) of hospital-employed Registered Nurses acknowledged that over the previous year, medication errors involving patients who were in their care had occurred “occasionally” or “frequently”“.1 In fact,…

Read More

InfoLAW: Negligence

Negligence is the failure or omission to provide care that a reasonable and prudent nurse in similar circumstances would have rendered. During their career, a nurse may be faced with a professional negligence allegation arising from their nursing practice from a current or prior patient. A negligence claim may be in connection to variety of…

Read More

InfoLAW: Privacy

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…

Read More

InfoLAW: Privacy and Electronic Medical Records

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.

Read More

InfoLAW: RN Prescribing

Please note: In this document, “dispensing of medication” specifically refers to RNs dispensing medication in the absence of a medical order for the treatment of a specific condition(s) following the RN’s nursing assessment. In an effort to safely improve timely access to care for certain patient populations, an increasing number of Canadian provinces and territories…

Read More

July Webinar: AI in Healthcare

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making its way into healthcare fast, and chances are, nurses will start seeing it in their workplaces more and more. While AI brings new tools and considerations, it does not alter the legal and professional responsibilities nurses uphold. This webinar will break down AI basics—explaining what it is, exploring legal implications,…

Read More

Legal Considerations When Nursing in a Pandemic

All three levels of the Canadian government continue to be actively engaged in preparing for possible pandemic emergencies. The SARS outbreak in 2003, the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, and the 2020 declaration of COVID-19 as an international pandemic highlight the importance of nursing in controlling and containing communicable diseases. As nursing resources can become stretched during outbreaks, nursing regulators may consider whether there are enough nurses to meet the demand in their jurisdiction. Here are some elements to take into consideration when practicing during a pandemic.

Read More

Medical Assistance in Dying: What every nurse should know

On June 17, 2016, the federal government’s Bill C-14 An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying) received royal assent and became law in Canada. As a result of receiving royal assent, the provisions of Bill C-14 which amend the Criminal Code now form part of the Code, and…

Read More