Liability

[GiantHeart21]

I am a nursing student and we have been going over liability. I have also been reading the mistakes thread. I was wondering if there is a set list of mistakes that can cause one to lose there licsence or if it is up to a judge or manager or.... who to decide whether or not you keep your licsense. I noticed that some poeple made some hude mistakes and kept their licsenses and then others made more simple mistakes and lost their's along with even the manager or charge nurse. Along the same lines, it is my understanding that the charge nurse or unit manager ir responsible for all of the patients and staff on the floor at any given time. If this is true, how is it possibe for one person to be help responsible for sooo many people and their actions when they cannot be directly supervised. Any insight on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

[Aneroo, LPN]

I am a nursing student and we have been going over liability. I have also been reading the mistakes thread. I was wondering if there is a set list of mistakes that can cause one to lose there licsence or if it is up to a judge or manager or.... who to decide whether or not you keep your licsense. I noticed that some poeple made some hude mistakes and kept their licsenses and then others made more simple mistakes and lost their's along with even the manager or charge nurse. Along the same lines, it is my understanding that the charge nurse or unit manager ir responsible for all of the patients and staff on the floor at any given time. If this is true, how is it possibe for one person to be help responsible for sooo many people and their actions when they cannot be directly supervised. Any insight on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

It depends on the offense. Certain offenses have to be reported to the state BON. They will be the ones to investigate it and determine if you will lose your license. I found out in nursing school it's actually a whole lot harder to lose your license that most people think. it may be suspended for a few months, you may have to take some refresher courses (ethics or documentation), but perm losing licenses doesn't happen too incredibly often.

With the charge RN/unit mgr, I think it again goes down to the offense. If it is something they failed to report, then yeah, their butt is in big trouble also. If you made a med error, then I don't see how they could also be held responsible for that action (not like you're checking off meds with your charge nurse). However, if something is delegated to someone (CNA), and it is done wrong, isn't done, isn't reassessed, then that RN is at fault. It depends on who is in charge of who (RN to RN is assignment, RN to CNA is delegation).

HTH some- Andrea

[grandee3]

Please don't get hung up on the mistake thing. Relax absorb the things you need to know and try to relax. You don't want to start your nursing career worrying about things that sometimes you have no control over. Keep the book open for now and when you get to the floor close the book and move on. Watch, look, listen and by all means ask if you don't understand something. Stay focused and don't let fear eat away at you.

Good luck and I hope you have a wonderful career in nursing. It can be a thrilling ride if you let it.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

The list of mistakes that can cause one to lose their license can be compiled by reading though the nursing law of your state and the policies enacted by the Board of Nursing of your state. Boards enact policy statements to clarify the levels of importance of specific types of mistakes. The Board of Nursing is who decides if someone is going to lose their license or not.

While a manager is responsible for all the patients and staff on her unit, she is not individually responsible for what each nurse does. Each nurse possesses a license and is expected to know the nursing law and act correctly. The manager's responsibility is that when he/she becomes aware that one of her employees is doing something wrong, they must take some kind of action. That action is usually dictated by facility disciplinary policies. If she fails to take action then she can be held just as liable as the employee when a patient is injured and it can be established that it is something that she could have interceded and stopped from ever occurring by disciplining the employee.