Nurses are taught to administer medications after confirming the 5 “rights”: patient; drug; dose; route; and time. Despite this diligence, medication errors still occur. When that medication is a narcotic, the effect on the patient can be dire. The 2006 Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties notes that hydomorphone, also known as Dilaudid, is approximately eight times more…
Read MoreA nurse may become involved in legal proceedings as a witness, accused, grievor, or defendant. This infoLAW will focus on three areas 1: professional discipline, criminal prosecutions and grievances. For information on civil liability please refer to the infoLAWs on negligence 2 and malpractice lawsuits 3. Professional Discipline Legally, nursing licensing bodies must ensure that…
Read MoreMedication 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, medication errors were only second to…
Read MoreWhen would a nurse face an allegation of negligence? A nurse would face an allegation of negligence if she is named as a defendant in a medical malpractice lawsuit, a type of civil lawsuit. A lawsuit may be initiated by one or more plaintiffs. Plaintiffs in a typical medical malpractice lawsuit are the patient and…
Read MoreIn the nursing profession, patient advocacy is usually discussed within an ethical framework. Is there a corresponding legal duty? Canadian court decisions have recognized the existence of a legal nursing duty to obtain proper care for patients, even when this requires nurses to seek assistance outside the usual treatment team (i.e. by speaking to someone…
Read MorePatient 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…
Read MoreWhat 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…
Read MoreIt can be difficult for nurses to know how to do the right thing when a patient is unintentionally harmed by the provision of health care services (i.e. an adverse event or critical incident)1 rather than their underlying medical condition. Both the patient, or their substitute decision maker,2 and health care administrators need to know…
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