[Uberman5000]

Originally Posted by lizz

To me, at least, it's not so much a question of paying dues, etc. but the additional liability alone would be reason enough to suggest that Nurse Practitioners should have previous nursing experience.

When you look at this link describing legal cases where nurses were involved, a good numer of these settlements/verdicts involved nurse practitioners.

Nursing medical malpractice / professional liability insurance, newsletter, articles, continuing education, and legal case study for RN, LPN, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist

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Failure to Properly Monitor Man, Resulting in Aspiration Pneumonia and Death — $650,000 Verdict — Confidential Set tlement With Nursing Home Prior to Trial and Confidential Settlement With Nurse Practitioner.

Nurse Practitioner Blamed for Not Diagnosing Tendon Ruptures - Grafting and Muscle Reattachment Required - $970,000 Net Verdict After Settlement With Physician in Florida.

Nurse Practitioner Orders Marked Increase in Triple-Sedating Medications, Resulting in Coma and Anoxic Brain Injury - Cognitive Deficits Due to Hypoxia -$1.375 Million Settlement in Virginia.

Nurse Practitioner Fails to Refer Woman with a History of Lupus, Heart Catheterization, and Angioplasty After Report of Pressure and Heaviness in Chest - Cardiac Arrest-Death - Virginia Settlement for $425,000.

Defendants Fail to Diagnose Illinois Woman’s Gestational Diabetes - Result Is Macrosomic Fetus, Shoulder Dystocia, Erb’s Palsy, and Deformity - Plaintiff Claims Defendant Doctor Never Examined Her, and Nurse Practitioner Incorrectly Ruled Out High Blood Sugar - Doctor Argues She Was Not His Patient, Though Defendant Clinic Billed Medicaid Under His Medical Provider Number - $500,000 Settlement with Nurse Practitioner, Defense Verdict for Doctor.

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With this kind of potential liability, seems to me you'd really have to know what you're doing.

Just curious - Do you know how much experience the nurses had in each of those cases? My best guess is that they all had experience..I would be interested to know the case details.

We have to come to accept the fact that we live in a very litigious society and we can be sued for anything at anytime. I could look on the internet and pull up 1000 cases of medical doctors being sued for malpractice as well, does this mean each of them was a new gradlacking experience? I think the answer is a resounding no. You can make one mistake, could be minor one and if a complication results with a patient, there is always some lawyer willing to sue your malpractice carrier because there is money to be made with personal injury. Its the society we live in unfortunately.

[Sheri257]

Originally Posted by Uberman5000

We have to come to accept the fact that we live in a very litigious society and we can be sued for anything at anytime. I could look on the internet and pull up 1000 cases of medical doctors being sued for malpractice as well, does this mean each of them was a new gradlacking experience? I think the answer is a resounding no. You can make one mistake, could be minor one and if a complication results with a patient, there is always some lawyer willing to sue your malpractice carrier because there is money to be made with personal injury. Its the society we live in unfortunately.

That's true but, if these cases are any indication ... it looks to me like nurse practitioners are sued and found liable more than floor nurses because of the additional responsibilities they have.

Generally the more responsibility you have, the more liability you would have also.

I'm interested in becoming an NP but, I'd definitely want a lot of experience before I'd take on that kind of responsibility and potential liability.

[Mission]

HI personally wouldn't go into any clinical area if I was worried about getting sued. I know plenty of excellent physicians/nps/nurses/pas that have been sued simply because lawyers put all these advertisements in poor neighborhoods and tell their clients this is a way for them to get some cash and that they are suing the providers insurance company not the provider.

Anyway, I found this article - those who don't want to read it once of their finding was "that there was a significant negative correlation between years of experience as a RN and NP clinical practice skills as assessed by the NPs’ collaborating physicians".


Log In Problems

(free site - register to read article - above links to Medscape)

[mvanz9999]

Interesting points. And I don't see a resolution that makes "everyone" happy.

[sirI]

I don't see a resolution that makes "everyone" happy.

Hopefully the individual will read threads like these, ask opinion of other NPs who have been down this road and make an informed decision about their own future.

It all boils down to individual choice.

[Uberman5000]

Originally Posted by lizz

That's true but, if these cases are any indication ... it looks to me like nurse practitioners are sued and found liable more than floor nurses because of the additional responsibilities they have.

Generally the more responsibility you have, the more liability you would have also.

I'm interested in becoming an NP but, I'd definitely want a lot of experience before I'd take on that kind of responsibility and potential liability.

Are you certain of this assertion? Nurse pracitioners are sued and found liable more than floor nurses? How can you be certain of this..i would like to see some empirical data on this.

Its very true, the more responsibility you have, the more liablity you have no doubt about that.

I can understand your concern, but I loo at it differently. There is always some crackpot that will be out to sue you for anything they can, many people make money off lawsuits and it is actively ecouraged by the attorneys. This is why we have malpractice insurance though, I am not going to sit around and waste of my life away worrying that someone is going to sue me x and y. That is why I pay for malpractice premiums.

[Uberman5000]

Originally Posted by Mission

HI personally wouldn't go into any clinical area if I was worried about getting sued. I know plenty of excellent physicians/nps/nurses/pas that have been sued simply because lawyers put all these advertisements in poor neighborhoods and tell their clients this is a way for them to get some cash and that they are suing the providers insurance company not the provider.

Anyway, I found this article - those who don't want to read it once of their finding was "that there was a significant negative correlation between years of experience as a RN and NP clinical practice skills as assessed by the NPs’ collaborating physicians".


Log In Problems

(free site - register to read article - above links to Medscape)

Mission can you please post a link to that article done by Rich.....It confirms many of the things I have been saying, especially about the Bias that current APRNS have about hiring a new graduate with little experience "In the nursing field, there are strong negative biases against the
contraditional pathway. "....Surprisingly the study finds NO CORRELATION between the number of years worked and NP practice skills...so according to this study the naysayers have to re-examine their thoughts on this....An additionaly unexpected finding of the study was that according to collaborating physicians, the MORE experience the APRNS had, the less competant their skillset was!

I guess my whole point is I am not going to be A) Placed in an intellectual straight jacket by people who tell me to not bother applying for jobs that require experience as an APRN, because I know I can get them anyway.... and B) Not be paranoid about crackpots suing you for everything under the sun...thats why one has malpractice insurance.

Just my thoughts -

[sirI]

That is the link above, Uberman5000. It just posted as Log in Problems. It will take you to Medscape to view the article. You might need to register, but it is a free site.

[Uberman5000]

Originally Posted by siri

That is the link above, Uberman5000. It just posted as Log in Problems. It will take you to Medscape to view the article. You might need to register, but it is a free site.

Oh, ok great - thanks for pointing that out Siri -

Have a good day

[mvanz9999]

Regarding the negative correlation between experience as an RN and practice as an NP, the article does point out a lack of understanding HOW Physicians are rating NPs (based on what - their own method of practice?)...because the medical vs. nursing model is very different.

This leads me to believe nurses with more clinical experience, have a more solid understanding of the nursing model. This puts them farther away from the standard medical model. So, if a physician attempts to train a seasoned RN, that person will have a stronger tendency to view things from a nursing model, which is contrary to the medical model. An inexperienced NP will not have a solid base in the theory of nursing, and is therefore much easier to train from the physician's viewpoint. Naturally, physicians will tend to rate inexperienced NPs higher, *from their point of view*.

I think that, in itself, makes the article very limited in scope, and not all that useful.