NUR 4327 – Legal Resource for Nursing Staff

NUR 4327 – Legal Resource for Nursing Staff

Florida Scope of Practice

The scope of practice for the registered nurse in Florida is outlined in the Nurse Practice Act of
Care for nurses is outlined in the Florida statute, Nurse Practice Act 464.003. The scope includes but is not
limited to an educated and licensed nurse who offers compassionate care, protection, and
empowerment to patients to prevent illness and promote wellness. The nurse can perform an
assessment, administer medications and treatments prescribed by a provider, and supervise and teach
other personnel.

Florida Standards of Care

Under the standards of practice, they elaborate more on the nurse’s legal responsibility to only
accept work assignments for which they are competent and qualified and how to dispute unsafe work
assignments. Nurses must maintain prevailing nurse practice and continuing education and use
skill and judgment when delegating tasks (Nursing Law Manual, 2008).

NUR 4327 – Legal Resource for Nursing Staff

Essential Elements of Nursing Malpractice

1. Duty to the patient, responsibility to care for the patient within the Nursing Scope of Practice.
2. Breach of your duty to care for the patient within the Nursing Scope of Practice guidelines.
3. The patient was harmed (damages).
4. Causation: The breach of your duty to the patient caused or contributed to the causation of the
harm to the patient (Spillis, 2022).

Best practices for legal compliance

The following is a small selection of practices to promote legal compliance.
1. Practice using evidence-based care
2. Keeping current with your state regulations on nursing
3. Seek opportunities to enhance learning in your specialized field.
4. Uphold the regulations in place by your employer
5. Remain compliant with the ANA Code of Ethics
6. Avoid distractions when providing care or medications (Brent, 2017).

Delegation Cheat Sheet

If you can make it around the circle, delegating is acceptable.

References

Brent, N. J. (2017, June 12). Protect your nursing practice with these legal tools. Nurse.com Blog.
https://www.nurse.com/blog/2017/06/12/protect-your-nursing-practice-with-these-legal-tools/

Nurse Practice Act, FL. Stat. § 464.001-027 (2020)
https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2020/Chapter464/All

Nursing Law Manual. (2008). The Florida Nurse Practice Act and the scope of nursing. The Health Law
Firm. https://www.thehealthlawfirm.com/uploads/Ch-6%20Florida%20Nurse%20Practice
%20Act%20and%20Scope%20of%20Nursing-revised.pdf

Spillis, P. (2022, March 3). What are the elements of a medical malpractice claim? Florida Healthcare Law. https://www.floridahealthcarelaw.com/what-are-the-elements-of-a-medical-malpracticeclaim/#:~:text=There%20are%20four%20basic%20elements,breach%2C%20causation%2C
%20and%20damages.

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NUR 4327 – Legal Resource for Nursing Staff

Your nurse manager has asked you to identify some key points from best practices in guarding against malpractice and to develop a small reminder resource for the staff nurses. The resource could be designed to be attached to the back of a name badge or put into a small notebook that reminds them of the key steps for best practice and the standards of care for legal responsibility and malpractice.

Instructions

Create a legal resource for nursing staff that:

• Examines the definition of standards of care and scope of practice within your state.
• Determines the essential elements of nursing malpractice.
• Appraises best practices for legal compliance.
• Provides stated ideas with professional language and attribution for credible sources with correct citation, spelling, and grammar in the legal resource.

Include in-text citations and references.