Do nurses need malpractice insurance?

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I was wondering if nurses in the UK need to get . I live in the US and nurses are often named in malpractice suits. I don't know if it is the american culture that likes to blame people and make them pay or if it is also common in other countries. I would appreciate any feedback.

Have a Great day :)

Jen

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Do you get mal practice cover just by being part of RCN or it something extra you must pay for? Off the topic a bit here but what do you think of the new training that student nurses go through? Are you as a nurse/mentor happy with the end product?

Yes you do get cover with the union fee which is about £15 per month now.

On the whole i have to say no I dont feel happy with the training the students get, I dont feel it prepares them enough for the hard life as a qualified nurse. Decision making is almost non existent, students are 'super numery' they play on this and get out of lots of exeriences. Then some of the mentors are RN's who trained that way and so are not much good themselves. But saying that I have had the pleasure of really fantastic students. I think the students are either good or bad and there are no imbetweenies.

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I think that lawsuites are becoming more common over here. But not near what they are in the states. As a student I have never met any nurses who have been taken to court but I think the NMC deals with issues (complainents) by conduct hearing but I might be wrong. :balloons:

Thanks for the reply. I know of a few nurses who have been called to court to testify in a lawsuit. I just wanted to know if I needed extra insurance for when I move to london.

Ya'll have a great day :)

Jen

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Yes you do get cover with the union fee which is about £15 per month now.

On the whole i have to say no I dont feel happy with the training the students get, I dont feel it prepares them enough for the hard life as a qualified nurse. Decision making is almost non existent, students are 'super numery' they play on this and get out of lots of exeriences. Then some of the mentors are RN's who trained that way and so are not much good themselves. But saying that I have had the pleasure of really fantastic students. I think the students are either good or bad and there are no imbetweenies.

Who do you blame for the state of nurse training today? The other thing that amazes me is that the training for nurses is different in different universities within the UK. For example, Middlesex does a module of pharmacology while at my school we don't. I know the NMC is looking into the question of whether nursing students should be a C grade when qualifying, then after a year move to D. I personally feel they should look at the program and see were it went wrong because they used to be able to train nurses without the need for this. I have had the horrifying experience of having a newly qualified nurses not know where their heart was, not know the basic urine output to expect and answered in an interview she would expect to see 300ml/hr, and not know why it is important to test blood when clients are on drug therapy, or why the orifice is shown next to the lady parts in an anatomical diagram. That scared me!!! Any views on this would be helpful.

Furthermore, I have one other question: I am currently on a ward were there is a newly qualified midwife who came to get more experience with adults. They are now letting this person give out drugs, administer care, etc unsupervised. This person has also made their own staff nurse badge. When I tried to bring this subject up to one of my mentors they said that since midwives can give drugs it was alright. I stopped because I didn't feel it was worth going further since at the end of the day it is the nurse I was talking to whose pin number is on the line but doesn't the NMC have different parts of the register for a reason?? I mean otherwise I should have just trained as a midwife then made my own badge and not worry about 18 months conversion.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.
Who do you blame for the state of nurse training today? The other thing that amazes me is that the training for nurses is different in different universities within the UK. For example, Middlesex does a module of pharmacology while at my school we don't. I know the NMC is looking into the question of whether nursing students should be a C grade when qualifying, then after a year move to D. I personally feel they should look at the program and see were it went wrong because they used to be able to train nurses without the need for this. I have had the horrifying experience of having a newly qualified nurses not know where their heart was, not know the basic urine output to expect and answered in an interview she would expect to see 300ml/hr, and not know why it is important to test blood when clients are on drug therapy, or why the orifice is shown next to the lady parts in an anatomical diagram. That scared me!!! Any views on this would be helpful.

Furthermore, I have one other question: I am currently on a ward were there is a newly qualified midwife who came to get more experience with adults. They are now letting this person give out drugs, administer care, etc unsupervised. This person has also made their own staff nurse badge. When I tried to bring this subject up to one of my mentors they said that since midwives can give drugs it was alright. I stopped because I didn't feel it was worth going further since at the end of the day it is the nurse I was talking to whose pin number is on the line but doesn't the NMC have different parts of the register for a reason?? I mean otherwise I should have just trained as a midwife then made my own badge and not worry about 18 months conversion.

Is the newly qualified midwife dual trained or is she a direct entry midwife? A midwife who is direct entry is not a nurse and has no experience as a nurse apart from about 6-8 weeks of general nurse placement during her training. She cannot practice as a nurse unless she is a qualified nurse as well. As far as drugs go yes she can give out drugs her pin number covers her for this but I would have doubts re her knowledge of drugs as midwifery drugs are different. She will be accountable in her own right therefore if she did not feel capable of administering medication she should acknowledge this but i AM presuming she will have undertaken a drug competency course. What kind of ward do you work on?

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Hi,

Does a lot of litigation go on over in US? Here most of the cases of litigation are for very extreem cases, mostly people want an apology and an explaination. Patients and relatives tend to complain about the most petty things. Attitute and not rushing to tend to their needs especially when your busy can be areas of complaint.

Of course big mistakes go like wrong leg amputated, wrong drug, dose ect

Yes many lawsuits happen. but when you sue you must sue evertone who was envoled in the persons care including the nurse even if they were not responsible for the mistake or negligence

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