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Transcript of Presentation title Name/Credentials Organization Date.
Presentation title
Name/Credentials
Organization
Date
Authors: Linda M Hess, RN, MN, CNS
Jere O’Brien-Kinne, RN, MN, CNS. CPNP
Chris Cooper, BSN, RNC, MBA
Updated 2012: Kimberly Cooper, RN
Neonatal Patient Safety, Documentation and Legal Issues
Objectives
• Discuss the legal implications associated with working in the perinatal/neonatal arena
• Describe recent trends in nursing negligence/malpractice
• Describe most common charges against nurses• Discuss how the National Patient Safety Standards
affect you• Describe how you can protect yourself• Discuss the importance of clear, concise
documentation• Review the most common documentation issues• Identify the need to utilize the “Ladder of Hierarchy”
for issues and principles of professional communication.
Our Attitudes
• Burdensome, excessive, of little use
• Low priority• After thought, something to finish
before leaving
Definitions:• JCAHO defines NEGLIGENCE as a “failure to use
such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances.”
• JCAHO defines MALPRACTICE as “improper or unethical conduct or unreasonable lack of skill by a holder of a professional or official position; often applied to physicians, dentists, lawyers, and public officers to denote negligent of unskillful performance of duties when professional skills are obligatory.”
6 Major Categories of Negligence that Result in
malpractice Lawsuits
• Failure to follow standards of care
• Failure to use equipment in a responsible manner
• Failure to communicate
• Failure to document
• Failure to assess and monitor
• Failure to act as a patient advocate
Several factors have contributed to the increase in the number of malpractice
cases against nurses…
• Delegation. Cost-containment efforts and HMO’s
• Early Discharge. Nurses may be sued for not providing care, making appropriate referrals, or communicating pt condition in a timely manner.
• Nursing Shortage. Greater workloads increase likelihood of error.
• Advances in Technology. Nurses must keep abreast of constantly changing technologies & methods.
• Better-informed Consumers. More likely to recognize insufficient or inappropriate care.
NICU: A High Risk Place
• High Mortality• High Morbidity• Cutting Edge• Pushing the Envelope• Innovation
The Unique Neonatal Patient
• Symptoms change quickly and without warning
• Opportunity for major drug errors is great
• Enormous variability in reactions to care and treatment
• Clearly the most fragile population
When Things Go Wrong in the Nursery
• Often permanent disabilities/injuries
• Plaintiffs are sympathetic• Projected expenses are large• Difficult to sort out “cause” and
“effect”
Why Do People Sue?
• Unmet expectations leading to anger and disappointment
• Unexpected death• Want answers to
clinical questions• Enormous expenses
Washington State Statute of Limitations
• Professional Malpractice: Medical malpractice actions may be filed within three years of the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury, or within one year of the date the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered, whichever is later. However, no medical malpractice action may be filed more than eight years after the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury.
• Personal Injury: 3 years.• Fraud: 3 years.• Libel / Slander / Defamation: 2 years.• Injury to Personal Property: 3 years.• Product Liability: 3 years from the date of
injury, or within three years of the date the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered.
• Contracts: Written, 6 years; Oral, 3 years.
• Special Rules for Minors • Except in cases or wrongful death or
where a parent has knowledge of a medical malpractice injury, the statute of limitations begins to run on the minor’s 18th birthday.
In Washington State…• “The RN shall document, on essential client
records, the nursing care given and the client’s response to that care”
• “The RN shall communicate significant changes in the client’s status to appropriate members
of the health team”• “Communication is defined as…common system
of speech, symbols, and written communication…”– WAC 246-840-700: standards of nursing
conduct or practice
NANN
• Neonatal nurses are skilled professionals in newborn care who demonstrate expertise in a variety of roles and activities.
• All newborns and their families have the right to optimal care.
• As specialists in nursing practice, neonatal nurses recognize and accept their responsibility and duty to ensure the delivery of this care
Duties of Nurses Include:• Duty to monitor, observe, and report
changes in patient status• Duty to challenge or clarify physician’s
orders before carrying them out• Duty to anticipate events that might
harm a patient• Duty to administer medications
properly• Duty to document care
Reducing Potential Liability
• Maintain open, honest, respectful relationships and communication with patients and family members.
• Maintain competence in your specialty area of practice
• Know legal principles and incorporate them into everyday practice
• Practice within the bounds of professional licensure
• Know your strengths and weaknesses
Why Worry About Charts?
• The medical record is a witness that never lies, never dies and never moves
• Poor medical records are the leading non-medical reason a medically defensible case is settled or lost at trail
• Memories fade…even if you don’t think you could ever forget “that night”
Documentation
• Documentation is a means to:– Demonstrate contributions to quality health
care– Demonstrate contributions to client outcomes– Demonstrate contributions to fiscal outcomes
• Documentation must be seen as a critical component of nursing practice, not an after thought
Washington State Statute of Limitations
• Professional Malpractice: Medical malpractice actions may be filed within three years of the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury, or within one year of the date the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered, whichever is later. However, no medical malpractice action may be filed more than eight years after the date of the act or omission giving rise to the injury.
• Personal Injury: 3 years.• Fraud: 3 years.• Libel / Slander / Defamation: 2 years.• Injury to Personal Property: 3 years.• Product Liability: 3 years from the date of
injury, or within three years of the date the injury was or reasonably should have been discovered.
• Contracts: Written, 6 years; Oral, 3 years.
• Special Rules for Minors • Except in cases or wrongful death or
where a parent has knowledge of a medical malpractice injury, the statute of limitations begins to run on the minor’s 18th birthday.
In Washington State…• “The RN shall document, on essential client
records, the nursing care given and the client’s response to that care”
• “The RN shall communicate significant changes in the client’s status to appropriate members
of the health team”• “Communication is defined as…common system
of speech, symbols, and written communication…”– WAC 246-840-700: standards of nursing
conduct or practice
NANN
• Neonatal nurses are skilled professionals in newborn care who demonstrate expertise in a variety of roles and activities.
• All newborns and their families have the right to optimal care.
• As specialists in nursing practice, neonatal nurses recognize and accept their responsibility and duty to ensure the delivery of this care
Duties of Nurses Include:• Duty to monitor, observe, and report
changes in patient status• Duty to challenge or clarify physician’s
orders before carrying them out• Duty to anticipate events that might
harm a patient• Duty to administer medications
properly• Duty to document care
Reducing Potential Liability
• Maintain open, honest, respectful relationships and communication with patients and family members.
• Maintain competence in your specialty area of practice
• Know legal principles and incorporate them into everyday practice
• Practice within the bounds of professional licensure
• Know your strengths and weaknesses
Why Worry About Charts?
• The medical record is a witness that never lies, never dies and never moves
• Poor medical records are the leading non-medical reason a medically defensible case is settled or lost at trail
• Memories fade…even if you don’t think you could ever forget “that night”
Purpose of Documentation
• Document the Nursing Process – Assess, Plan, Implement, Evaluate
• “Tell the story”• Legal • Adhere to National, State, Professional
Organization, and Hospital regulations and policies
Four C’s of Documentation
• Critical thinking• Communication• Chain of
command• Charting
Frequency of “Mistakes”
• 3.7% of all hospitalized patients suffer an adverse event
• 27.6% of adverse events are due to negligence
• 1% of all hospitalized patients will be injured due to negligence
Recurring Problems With Claims
•Documentation•Medication errors•Chain of command
Other Common Themes…
• “Jousting” health professionals saying or implying something negative about prior care
• Practitioners making decisions or taking actions beyond their training and experience
What Do the Lawyers Look
for?
• Clear breach of established standards• Violation of hospital’s own standards• Criticism of care in medical record• Frustration with other providers in the
medical record
Medical Records Must Be:
•Complete•Objective•Consistent•Accurate
If Something Was Not Recorded
• It was not done• It was not important• It was no considered
Typical Problems with
the Medical Record• Conflicting documentation between
doctors & nurses• No documentation that an MD was notified
of significant changes in patient condition• Time gaps in nursing documentation• Missing vital signs• Failure to Chart Specifics (Saying after the fact
that a patient was monitored appropriately is useless without chart notes to back it up)
Good Charting Requires
• Persistence• Attention to
detail• Focus on the
big picture
Some Charting Do’s and Don’ts…
• Document facts, impressions, clinical judgments and treatments objectively
• Be specific (no generalizations)• Chart all nursing interventions, advice given
and patient's and families’ responses• Chart only the care you provided, observed, or
supervised• Chart promptly after and never before care is
given• Record any negative reaction to care or
treatment• Chart any potentially contributing patient or
family acts
Keep Focused
• Stay focused on health problem for which you are providing care. Avoid extraneous information that will not be used in providing care of the patient– “Paged Dr Jones again. Third attempt this
morning. He is probably on the golf course with his pager turned off”
• Initiate “chain of command” if providers are unresponsive. Charting failure to respond will not improve patient care or speed up the process
Phone Calls
• Name of person calling or called
• Date and time of call• Nature of conversation• Any changes in plan of
care resulting from conversation
Medication Errors
• 76.7 % of those total errors reached the patient but did not do harm
• 3.2 % reached the patient and did harm
• 0.03% caused a death• National Medication Error Reporting
program states that medication errors kill one person per day in the USA
Errors, Omissions and Corrections
• Errors: draw single line through error, date and initial the correction
• Omission: add information by identifying entry as “late entry”, or “addendum”. Sign, date and time
• Avoid obliterations, erasures, or alterations
• Once the accuracy of the medical record is questioned, the integrity of the entire record is questioned
Documentation in Difficult Situations
• Remain objective• Avoid judgment, remain factual• Do not omit important facts, even if they
are not the “best” facts• If you don’t want to see it blown up to
poster size, don’t write it• Sometimes documentation is not enough-
do not substitute a chart for patient/family communication
Adverse Events/Errors
• Do not chart any QA forms filled out, or calls to risk management– No: “called risk management about
overdose”– Yes: “baby appears to have received
high dose of vancomycin. Pharmacy and Dr Jones notified”
• Do not chart events associated with peer review or quality assurance activities
Who Sees the Chart?
• Patients/parents• Peer review• Quality
assurance• Payers• Surveyors• Attorneys• Auditors
Control What They See
•Today is the first day of the rest of
your charts!
Medication Administration
• Administer drugs in accordance to drug demonstration guidelines, orders
• Not protected from liability just because you followed an MD order. You are accountable for your own actions
• Expected to be patient advocate, which includes becoming familiar with the medications you administer
Neonatal Considerations
• Weight based dosing: more calculations than with adult patients
• Medications often must be diluted• Patient often cannot communicate about
adverse effects• May have limited reserves to tolerate or
compensate for errors
Anatomy of a Medication Error
• Never intentional• Usually systems based• Usually multidisciplinary• Often fails at several steps in the
system• Latent failures versus active failures
Common NICU Errors
• Decimal points (ten-fold, 100-fold errors)
• Converting numbers between units (milligram to microgram, etc)
• Weight based dosing• Dilution of medications
High Risk for Neonatal Error…
• Total parenteral nutrition• Neuromuscular blocking agents• Narcotics/opiates, IV and oral• Moderate sedative agents, IV (midazolam)• Hypoglycemics• Heparin, IV, subcutaneous• Insulin, subcutaneous, IV• Magnesium sulfate injection• Potassium chloride
Medication Errors
• 76.7 % of those total errors reached the patient but did not do harm
• 3.2 % reached the patient and did harm
• 0.03% caused a death
Barriers• Increase
awareness & openness
• Increase reporting• Perceptions
(punitive)• Time constraints
Organizational/Nursing Actions That Lead to
Improved Patient Outcomes• Practice good telephone etiquette• Have professional and appropriate appearance• Good Patient handoffs - SBAR• Provide safe, age appropriate, care• Appreciate and celebrate staff for jobs well done• Positive Attitude. Perform random acts of
kindness• Sense of Ownership and Accountability• Involve patient & family in their care• Follow-up to see if they have other
questions/needs
References• Boes, L, & Munson, D. (2002). Defensive Documentation and the
Law, Iowa department of Correction. Downloaded 1/26/05.• Croke, E.M. (2003). Nurses, Negligence, and Malpractice: An
Analysis Based on More Than 250 Cases Against Nurses. AJN, 103(9), 54-63.
• DeMilliano, M. (1992, July). Eight Common Charting Mistakes to Avoid. NSO Advisor.
• DiVarco, S. (2002). Documentation and Legal Issues in the NICU. Lecture Notes from National Neonatal Nurses Conference, Chicago.
• Eskires, T. (1998). Seven Common Pitfalls in Nursing. AJN, 98(4), 33-40.
• JCAHO 2008 National Patient Safety Goals• Maxfield, D., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., Patterson, K., & Switzer, A.
Vitalsmarts Industry Watch, Executive Summary (2005). Silence Kills: The Seven Crucial Conversations in Healthcare
• Monarch, K. (2007, July). Documentation, Part 1: Principles for Self-Protection. AJN, 107(7), 58-60.
• Shinn, L., et al (2001). The Nursing Risk Management Series II. Retrieved Jan 26, 2004 from http://nursingworld.org/mods/archive/mod311/cerm2ful.html
• Washington Administrative Code (2004). The Law Relating to Nursing Care and Regulation of Health Professions-Uniform Disciplinary Act. WA State Department of Health.