ipl-logo

Why Is Nursing Law Important

1226 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why is autonomy important nursing

Nursing Laws and Regulations
The public’s ideals of nursing have vastly changed over the last decade as the population expanded their knowledge about the profession. The American Nurses Association defines nursing as “the protection, promotion,... alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations.” Doctor Oz stated that nursing in the past faced the preconceived notion that it is simply bathing and cleaning patients. However, he notes that nurses are patients greatest advocates, which many patients understand after receiving care from a nurse. Nurses are able to provide emotional support to patients and families, while understanding …show more content…

The Patient’s Bill of Rights outline eight different key areas that pertain to the patient, one of which stating the ability to take part in treatment decisions. By having such laws within the health system, it not only emphasizes the importance of patient autonomy, it also holds medical professionals accountable for actions against these laws, unlike the Schloendorff case. Under these laws, if a healthcare provider were to engage in treatment without a patient’s approval, or even simply touch them against their will, the patient has a case for battery. Regardless of the providers intentions, which is rarely to harm the patient, unauthorized touching is considered a criminal offense. While medical laws have vastly changed over the last decade, they not only provide freedom in choices to a patient, but they also hold professionals and hospitals accountable for their …show more content…

Because nurses arguably interact with the patients most frequently, it is especially essential nurses limit the information they provide to the family members to only what the patient desires. Disregarding privacy laws can undermine a patient's trust in their provider and ultimately affect the care they receive. In the instance of highly sensitive topics, such as sexual or physical assault, a patient’s ability to disclose this information depends on their level of trust for the healthcare provider. Because nurses devote a lot of their time to each patient, having information disclosed to them about topics such as assault are essential for determining the treatment of the

Show More
Related
618 Words | 3 Pages

Preface: Awareness of the American Nurses Association Policy Statement I became very briefly acquainted with the ANA Social Policy Statement during my time studying in nursing school. In my program there was a greater emphasis placed on the ANA Stratigic Plan: Goals and Objectives rather than actively exploring the ANA Social Policy Statement. During the program, discussions of ethics were occasionally included in lectures but not broadly expanded upon. This gave me only a surface level understanding of ethics and how they pertain to nursing. From this week’s reading materail I have been able to expand my knowledge on nursing policy, pertinant nursing associations, and the ethics that guide them.

Read More
1026 Words | 5 Pages

Ethical Issues in Nursing: Nurse-Patient Ratios Megan Harvey, Katie McKelvery, Erica Robbins & Cassandra Tingley St. Johns River State College March 2018 Ethical Issues in Nursing: Nurse-Patient Ratios Every day nurses are faced with ethical dilemmas. Challenges in these situations are becoming more and more complex due to increasing workload and sicker patients. When a nursing unit is understaffed not only are nurses more likely to become burnt out, but their patients are far less likely to receive the quality of care they deserve. The problem is that the Federal regulations require hospitals who participate in Medicare to “have ‘adequate’ numbers of licensed nurses (RN, LPN, CNA) to provide care to all patients as needed,” but the regulations

Read More
436 Words | 2 Pages

This dilemma also exemplifies how one complex dilemma in patient care, can impact on legal, ethical and professional issues for nurses. These issues interface with each other in substantial ways. Nurses must be prepared for these inevitable challenging situations (Tang, 2011). The author must consider the legal, regulatory, ethical,

Read More
358 Words | 2 Pages

On any given shift, nurses have access to some of the most personal private information about a patient and his or her family. A right to privacy is grounded in the society and is protected by the United States Constitution. In addition, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Codes for Nurses prohibits disclosure of confidential patient information, as do the ethical codes of many other professional organizations (Malek, 2010). The Joint Commission mandates that institutions maintain and adhere to policies and standards to protect patient information. According to Malek (2010), nurses must remember that a right to privacy protects more than the patient’s medical record; it protects them from unauthorized photographs and news stories, as well

Read More
648 Words | 3 Pages

It is the person and their physical, emotional, and psychological needs that are the basic focus of nursing’s attention. In order to care for a patient, the nurse must incorporate all these needs. For example, providing reassurance with an anxious patient who just finished hip surgery. Care also plays a major part when taking care of a unique patient. Caring influences my personal philosophy because it is the most important aspect of nursing.

Read More
404 Words | 2 Pages

Healthcare is highly regulated at the federal and state levels. Laws are written to address different principles. These laws reflect societal expectations and are designed to guide us. As advanced practice nurses, we have a responsibility to fully understand the law and play our part in shaping health care policies that affect our patients and practice.

Read More
640 Words | 3 Pages

I believe that our patients have many basic rights that must always be provided, and must always be upheld. Our ethical duty as healthcare professionals ensure that we must give our patients these basic rights so we can provide the highest level of care possible. These basic rights include, privacy, respect, and also patients should be given the opportunity to give informed consent, among many other things. First and foremost, our patients must always be provided with a high level of privacy. Privacy allows our patients to feel comfortable coming to our healthcare facility and not have to worry about their confidential medical information getting released to anyone from the outside.

Read More
653 Words | 3 Pages

Practice Policy Appropriate health care continues to be one of the major challenges throughout the nation. Financial and educational hindrances can produce negative health effects on individuals and communities. Advanced practice nurses can implement their evidence based knowledge and skills within any environment to increase the knowledge and health of the surrounding populations. However, nurse practitioners must comply with the protocols and laws mandated by the board of nursing. This paper will discuss the setting in which nurse practitioners practice in, along with the laws and limitations that they must adhere to at all times.

Read More
1351 Words | 6 Pages

Patients often share personal information with their health care providers. If the confidentiality of patient information is not protected, trust in the physician-patient relationship would be gone. If the patient does not feel comfortable with their provider and not willing to disclose everything to them, leaving out that vital information could be detrimental to the patient. When health care providers ensure a trusting environment by respecting patient privacy this encourages the patient to continue care and to be as honest as possible during the course of their health care visits. For conditions that might be very private, confidentiality assures that private health information cannot be disclosed to family members or employers without their

Read More
2128 Words | 9 Pages

If we as nurses respect the confidentiality of a patient, we should do so for all the patients. However, Griffith (2007) argues that the duty of confidence should not be absolute and nurses should always consider sharing information if required. Though the principle of respecting patient autonomy and their right to confidentiality is broken here, the principle of beneficence and non-maleficence is uphold. Nurses have an obligation to protect patient’s confidentiality but the duty to warn an innocent party of imminent harm is far more critical. Therefore, breaking confidentiality here is potentially doing more good than

Read More
801 Words | 4 Pages

If nurses make mistakes, they have to admit it. In addition, Nurses have an ethical responsibility to keep their patients ' medical record confidentiality. Nurses shouldn 't release this confidential data to other persons. Furthermore, Nurses need to be trusted with a great deal of high profile information. A patient counts on a nurse 's professionalism and integrity to keep their medical information confidential.

Read More
2160 Words | 9 Pages

Nurses have to face with patients, families, physicians, and other professionals who are a

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

Registered nurses are required to deliver wide-range nursing attention and treatment to all persons in a healthcare setup (American Nurses ' Association, 2000). Notably, they have to offer emergency care and guarantee the safe execution of treatment. It is mandatory for nurses to demonstrate a broad knowledge of the laws and regulations that are in line with their profession. Additionally,

Read More
1140 Words | 5 Pages

In her article she reminds students and nurses to carefully consider patients privacy and she challenged nurses to answer the question what is confidentiality before pursuing nursing as a career. Patient needs to trust health care provider and nurses have long been listed as one of the most trusted among all professions. To maintain that trust nurses must understand confidentiality issues. USEFULNESS:

Read More
834 Words | 4 Pages

Importance of nurses A nurse is a health care professional who is engaged in the practice of nursing. Nurses are men and women who are responsible (along with other health care professionals) for the treatment, safety and recovery of acutely or chronically ill or injured people, health maintenance of the healthy, and treatment of life-threatening emergencies in a wide range of health care settings. Nurses may also be involved in medical and nursing research and perform a wide range of non-clinical functions necessary to the delivery of health care. Nurses develop a plan of care, sometimes working collaboratively with physicians, therapists, the patient, the patient 's family and other team members.

Read More

More about Why Is Nursing Law Important

Related Topics

Open Document