Okay, as a student, I see a lot of things that surprise me. And recently I've been a bit nervous about mistakes and "near misses" that I see made by other students, nurses, and even a couple of my instructors! Some of these are minor, like giving an inhaler late or whatever, but some of them are pretty big.
That got me thinking, what would be an example of a career ending mistake? What if a pt falls on your shift? I had a pt once who had fallen earlier in the day before I had him, and I know that Medicare won't cover anything that happens because of a fall in the hospital. That doesn't really seem fair, becasuse the nurse who had this pt I am talking about also had another climber and three other pts to deal with. This guy had a bed alarm on, and was as close to the station as it was possible for him to be (other rooms were full), but when his alarm went off, nobody was able to get to him in time and he fell. Luckily he didn't get hurt, but the family was really really mad. It seems to me like they pretty much did all the could to prevent his fall (he had to be out of restraints because he was getting ready to be sent to an nursing home and couldn't have restraints on for a whole day before or they wouldn't take him), and his family had been providing a sitter at night for a week or so by that point. But this happened during the day. Stuff like that can happen so fast...I mean, if a nurse has 5 or 6 pts at a time, it is physically impossible for him or her to be with every pt all the time, so how come Medicare won't pay for that, or how come nurses could get sued for that?
I'm sorry, I don't mean to scare anyone, and I know I'm rambling! My point is, can someone give me some real life examples of reasons nurses have lost their license, and what they can do after that happens? I mean, do you just go out and get a job at the grocery store, or what???
Lastly, I know there are lots of threads out there about insurance, but I do have a couple questions I couldn't find answers to, if you don't mind answering them for me. I don't want legal advice, don't worry!!! I just wonder...the hospital where I want to work discourages nurses from getting personal insurance because they say that makes them a "target" for lawyers - if something happens and the lawyer finds out that one of the nurses has insurance, they will target him or her. But then, I also have heard that if a hospital gets sued, they might try to pin the blame on the nurse, and if that happens, how in the world could that nurse live? If a jury found him or her liable for whatever happened and awarded $5 million to a pt, and he or she doesn't have insurance and has lost his or her license, what in the world would they do???
Anyhow, I don't know if any of that's true or not. So what do you guys think? Do you have your own insurance? Why or why not? How expensive is personal Liability Insurance (just ballpark, of course), and is there a reputable company that anyone knows of that I could look at? Again sorry for the rambling and thanks for your help! The closer I get to graduating, the more I start to panic about this stuff, and I've got a little ways to go yet!!!!!!
Wow...you learn something new each day! Losing a professional license for failure to pay child support?? Thanks for sharing that one! I am curious to see if my state is one of them that would.
This is indeed the case for Illinois. And you do not have to be an Illinois resident for this to happen, either.
Specializes in UR/PA, Hematology/Oncology, Med Surg, Psych.
As stated previously, it is rather uncommon for a nurse to be sued individually. Usually they go after the ones with the funds, the hospitals and Drs. Now a nurse can be dragged into the middle of a lawsuit and have to testify, give depositions.
As for loosing your license, I've mostly seen it for substance abuse users that refuse to comply with the BON mandated treatment or for willful misconduct. I'm sure people lose their licenses also due to gross negligence, but I haven't seen it personally.
Just wanted to say: get your own insurance..Most of these policies will cover you outside of work(volunteering, good samaritan acts, other jobs) and are portable, meaning that if you quit and go to work for another hospital, your policy comes with you. Some will cover you if you need to go before the BON.
Most hospitals try to discourage nurses from having the insurance because if you have your own lawyer, the hospital and their lawyers aren't in 100% control anymore. And nurses can get sued-there was a case in Mass. recently where a patient fell off of an OR table. I believe the surgeon, the CRNA and the circulating nurse all got sued.
I think you can even get coverage as a student at a reduced rate through NSO..
Specializes in Assisted Living, Med-Surg/CVA specialty.
I made a post recently about being scared of being sued and such, and I see a lot of you say you cant lose a license if you made an error on accident. . . what about if it causes harm to the patient? e.g. potassium IVP.
Or what about a patient who develops a bad pressure ulcer while hospitalized (say had limited mobility before hospitalization and then had a AKA performed, remained in hospital for a week or so, refused a lot of care (bathing, refusing to get out of chairs, etc.)?
Or what about a patient who develops a bad pressure ulcer while hospitalized (say had limited mobility before hospitalization and then had a AKA performed, remained in hospital for a week or so, refused a lot of care (bathing, refusing to get out of chairs, etc.)?
If a pt is completely A&O and able to understand consequences of their actions, then it is okay for them to refuse things. If they are confused or don't understand, then you have a tougher job, because you have to do it anyway. For example, if there is a confused alzheimers pt in with a broken hip and he keeps telling you he doesn't want to be turned, well, that's too bad, you need to turn him anyway because othewise he'll end up in a whole lot more trouble. If there is a young guy who is completely with it and just doesn't want to shower, well, you can't make him do it. If it was a pt who was with it in a situation similar to what you described, just chart your butt off! Chart not only that the pt refused to get out of the chair, but that you reviewed the consequences of not not moving with him, that he understood what you said, and that he still refused to do it, Just use the CYA method of charting, and you should be okay as far as that stuff goes!
If you want to see what are "career ending mistakes" go out and read on your state's BON to see what gets licenses pulled. Most of the ones I've read deal with diversion of meds for use or sale, having a substance / alcohol abuse problem, or something really dramatic. The case in New England where a nursing home resident wandered off, died from exposure, and was hauled back to the facility and put in bed to be "found" expired comes to mind. In that instance, licenses weren't lost because the person wandered, but because there was out right lying and attempts to hide the true circumstances of the death.
I made a post recently about being scared of being sued and such, and I see a lot of you say you cant lose a license if you made an error on accident. . . what about if it causes harm to the patient? e.g. potassium IVP.
I don't think anyone suggested that "you can't lose a license" for an error or an accident - you certainly can.
There are two points to be made here;
The first is that for someone to sue a nurse, that person or the representative for that person has to be able to demonstrate that the person was harmed as a direct result of something the nurse did.
The second is that nurses as not sued for doing what is 'prudent.' If you are going to give IV KCl, or any other medication for that matter, and you've never done it before, you need to look up how to give it and what cautions need to be taken when giving it. Pushing KCl would be imprudent, and you might get sued for it. You might lose your license for it, but you wouldn't get sued or lose your license for making a mistake, you'd suffer the consequences of doing something that prudent nurses know is really stupid.
The bottom line is, use your head.
One other point; you're not expected to know everything. It's okay to admit that you don't know something. Pretending you know how to do something when you don't is imprudent (stupid). When you don't know, ask, look it up, get help - there's no shame in that.
This evening I had a patient's wife ask me if I knew how to monitor CVVHD. I told her I'd done it before, but if I ran into any trouble, I knew who to call. She made it very clear to me that THAT was the answer she wanted to hear - NOT, "Oh sure, I know how to do it."
Listen to her...get it!!
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rph3664
1,714 Posts
This is indeed the case for Illinois. And you do not have to be an Illinois resident for this to happen, either.