Patient eduction liability?

Are you "just" a floor nurse discharging generic med/surg patients? Or a nurse with an advanced degree or training doing specialized diabetic, or maternal/infant, or s/p MI, etc., discharge teaching?

All of the above make a big difference. Basically, bottom line, you review what the MD's discharge orders say or get, for example, a generic s/p hernia surgery discharge info sheet from your hospital and review that with the patient.

In either case you would need to run any peer reviewed information by the MD before teaching it to the patient.

Sometimes, in relatively minor situations, I might tell the patient some things not specifically mentioned in the Dr's orders but these are just simple basic common sense things. However the more I read (especially on Allnurses) the more I realize there are ramifications to interventions I may not fully understand or see all sides of.

You need to use the approved information that is provided for in the EMR system. (and then ya'll get shiny stars on the meaningful use scale).

Otherwise web MD'ing stuff could have a great deal of mis-information.

Part of the box checking is patient education. You can't prove you did it if it is not generated by the system. And if the patient goes home and doesn't do what they need to and harm results, could be on the nurse who may have educated, but not properly with approved education materials.

Education is more than just giving papers to the patients. It involves interactions. There are patients who on their own are googling the heck out of their story. And if presented with that, you could again review/answer questions and the like.

Resources are good things. But to be sure that you are starting with the information you are supposed to be is wise.

I was thinking about a nurse with a basi

I was thinking about a nurse with a basi

Check your organization's policy. It is highly likely to specify that you can only provide "approved" materials/resources for patient education. This is intended to reduce liability. If you go 'rogue' and don't follow the policy, you would not be covered by hospital mechanisms for defense in case of a lawsuit.... and you'd probably be fired.