Health Care Professionals Criminal Liability
Professional Regulation and Criminal Liability of Nurses
Christopher Ponciano
September 27, 2010
Legal Issues in Health Care: Regulation and Compliance (HCS/430)
University of Phoenix
Professional Regulation and Criminal Liability of Nurses The health care field is a very complex workplace environment and the terminology like malpractice encompasses the negligence of health care professionals. In the past, there is a division that existed between physicians and nurses. Additionally, nurses had very defined framework, in which nurses are to wait after a patient have been seen by doctors and simply implements the physician’s order. In other words, nurses are not to diagnose, treat symptoms, or prescribe medications. In the past, criticism from nurses to a doctor’s order is considerably unprecedented. The role of nurses; however, has changed tremendously from simply performing a doctor’s order to assuming the previous role of physicians. Additionally, medical facilities in the country begun assuming physician’s duties, such as vital examination, diagnosis, and medical treatment for patient; oftentimes, nurses assume duties with indirect supervision from a physician. Increasingly, the advance role of nurses became very sophisticated, specialized, and independent profession. Additionally, expansion of the nurse’s role became imperative because of the ever-increasing demand concerning cost-conscious health care. Consequently, the shifted role of nurses prompted negligence issues to its counterpart professional liability also known as malpractice liability. Furthermore, nurses are the first contact when patients enter the medical facilities. Often nurses are responsible for all necessary treatments prior to seeing a physician, which puts the nurses in a direct line of professional liability from failure to follow standards of care to malpractice issues.
Consumers Civil Liability Complaint Process Patient rights are always a huge concern in the
Christopher Ponciano
September 27, 2010
Legal Issues in Health Care: Regulation and Compliance (HCS/430)
University of Phoenix
Professional Regulation and Criminal Liability of Nurses The health care field is a very complex workplace environment and the terminology like malpractice encompasses the negligence of health care professionals. In the past, there is a division that existed between physicians and nurses. Additionally, nurses had very defined framework, in which nurses are to wait after a patient have been seen by doctors and simply implements the physician’s order. In other words, nurses are not to diagnose, treat symptoms, or prescribe medications. In the past, criticism from nurses to a doctor’s order is considerably unprecedented. The role of nurses; however, has changed tremendously from simply performing a doctor’s order to assuming the previous role of physicians. Additionally, medical facilities in the country begun assuming physician’s duties, such as vital examination, diagnosis, and medical treatment for patient; oftentimes, nurses assume duties with indirect supervision from a physician. Increasingly, the advance role of nurses became very sophisticated, specialized, and independent profession. Additionally, expansion of the nurse’s role became imperative because of the ever-increasing demand concerning cost-conscious health care. Consequently, the shifted role of nurses prompted negligence issues to its counterpart professional liability also known as malpractice liability. Furthermore, nurses are the first contact when patients enter the medical facilities. Often nurses are responsible for all necessary treatments prior to seeing a physician, which puts the nurses in a direct line of professional liability from failure to follow standards of care to malpractice issues.
Consumers Civil Liability Complaint Process Patient rights are always a huge concern in the