SummerLei

Yeah, that does make complete sense!

OK.. I wish my school had emphasized malpractice insurance. I would have gotten it right away. But I am just coming up with stuff to worry about after reading some of the threads on here. I will just have to continue what I am doing. I sure am glad that I have insurance now though thanks to everyone's advice! :)

So my NSO policy was approved and now I have malpractice insurance. I am reading information on my policy, and it says the policy will only cover a claim if the incident occurred during the time that the policy was effective. So I guess that means it won't cover anything that happened before the time I had my policy? I mean, I've only been working 3 weeks without it because I was unaware of the importance of malpractice insurance until I started reading some of the threads on here. After reading some of these threads, I am starting to get paranoid though that my policy won't cover those 3 weeks I did not have insurance. Although I practice safely, follow policy and procedures, and practice within my scope of practice, you never know what will happen these days.. so what if 5 years down the road, a pt makes a claim against me that occured during those 3 weeks without insurance? I will be out of luck right?? There is no other company that I can go through to get coverage? Sorry-- I worry a lot... so any advice would be great

So my NSO policy was approved and now I have malpractice insurance. I am reading information on my policy, and it says the policy will only cover a claim if the incident occurred during the time that the policy was effective. So I guess that means it won't cover anything that happened before the time I had my policy? I mean, I've only been working 3 weeks without it because I was unaware of the importance of malpractice insurance until I started reading some of the threads on here. After reading some of these threads, I am starting to get paranoid though that my policy won't cover those 3 weeks I did not have insurance. Although I practice safely, follow policy and procedures, and practice within my scope of practice, you never know what will happen these days.. so what if 5 years down the road, a pt makes a claim against me that occured during those 3 weeks without insurance? I will be out of luck right?? There is no other company that I can go through to get coverage? Sorry-- I worry a lot... so any advice would be great

Oh yeah, of course policies and procedures are created for a reason and I will always follow them because that's the only way to provide the best care to your patient and cover yourself. I was just curious if other hospitals did double checks like ours to prevent errors from happening. I am just the type of person that loves to research policies and procedures so that I can understand why they are the way the are-- this helps me to remember them better anyways so that I can always be sure to implement them in my practice. I understand that it would have to be treated as a body fluid exposure with all of the necessary tests involved because the true risk is not fully understood.

Thanks guys! I just applied for a policy with NSO. I really appreciate the advice.

Thanks for the advice! Do you guys have any suggestions on who to go with when getting malpractice insurance? What are the insurers that y'all use?

Thanks guys. I am going to look into this and get it as soon as possible!

Wow, I hope that noone would lose their job over this. It was an honest mistake and the risk to the baby seems very minimal, if there is a risk at all. I saw on the CDC website though that it has to be treated as a body fluid exposure because the true risk cannot be determined.

Hey guys! I am a brand new peds nurse, and I have lots of questions as I am beginning my career in pediatric nursing. At my hospital, we store breast milk for all the babies on the unit in one large refrigerator. All the breast milk containers must have the pt's name on the time and the time the breast milk was expressed. We have to perform a double check with another caregiver before giving the breast milk to the pt to ensure that we are giving the correct breast milk. Is this what other pediatric hospitals are doing as well? Has anyone had an incident in there hospital where the wrong breast milk was given? If so, what happened and was the child okay? I know at my hospital if the wrong breast milk was given, it is treated like a body fluid exposure and testing has to be done for HIV, hepatitis C, and hepatitis B. Although, I have been reading the literature on my own, and there have been no reported cases of hepatitis C or B being transmitted through breast milk, and there has been no reported case of HIV being transmitted through breast milk after just a single feed. Usually HIV is transmitted through breast milk after several feeds... so my question is, how is it beneficial to do all of this testing for HIV, hepatitis B, or hepatitis C ? It seems like the risks outweigh the benefits because testing for all of this stuff can be very stressful for the parents and the healthcare providers I am sure.. The literature I am reading is up to date... am I missing something? Thanks guys for any information you can share!

Hey guys! I am a new grad RN, BSN-- just started my first job in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. My nursing school never emphasized to us to get malpractice insurance and I actually have never heard of any RNs that have it. However, after reading some of the posts on this site, it sounds like some of you guys do. My question is.. is it important for me to get as well?? Sorry, I really know nothing about legal stuff, so I am currently researching malpractice insurance for RNs but wanted to hear yall's opinion! Thanks!

Hey guys! I need some advice. I am a new grad RN and just started my first job in the hospital. I find the hospital environment to be very very stressful and overwhelming. I never want to be off of orientation. Working in the hospital has been causing me to have a lot of anxiety lately. I have been thinking about looking for a job in a clinic or doctor's office setting in maybe a year or two (I am going to stick it out in the hospital for as long as I can). My questions are as follows: - do RNs that work in the clinic or doctor's office setting make the same amount of money as those who work in the hospital setting? - what constitutes a typical day as an RN working in a clinic or doctor's office? Thanks for all the help!

Hi guys! I am a new grad and just started my first job as an RN on a peds unit. I LOVE children and being a pediatric nurse is my passion. However, the hospital atmosphere is VERY VERY hard and stressful. I am experiencing a lot of anxiety, and I never want to be off of orientation! I realize these feelings may be normal for a new grad to experience, but I feel like there is no way the anxiety I am feeling can be normal. I have already started to consider switching to maybe a clinic/doctor's office environment within maybe a year or two. What are yalls thoughts? Do RNs in these environments make the same amount of money as those in the hospital? What do RNs in these environments do exactly in a normal day? Thanks for the help!

Thanks guys for the responses! They were all really helpful!!

Hi guys! I am a new nurse and just have a question about HIPAA. Of course, my nursing school thoroughly scared me about HIPAA and I never want to mention anything about my patients to anyone. As a new nurse, when I get off of work, my friends and family of course want to know how my day went and how my patients were. I always just say my day was good and busy.. never mention anything about my patients. So my family and friends really don't have a good understanding of the kinds of things that I really do everyday and I am really proud of the work that I do. I would like to explain more to them without of course violating patient privacy in any way at all. I have been reading about HIPAA on the internet and have actually read that even if information does NOT have identifiable information like names, addresses, social security number, etc, it can be a HIPAA violation. So my question is, how can I really explain what I do everyday without violating HIPAA? I take care of patients with actually very rare diagnoses so I feel as though I cannot even discuss that without identifiable information like names and such. For example, my friend texted me after work the other day and asked me how work was. I was really proud of myself because I am on orientation with a preceptor and took care of two very sick patients by myself-- and they both had really interesting/rare conditions. My friend (who also went through nursing school) asked me what these patients had. I really wanted to tell her and discuss my experience without of course names and all that, but I didn't because of HIPAA. Could I have told her this information? Right now, I honestly feel like I work for the CIA and have to keep everything top secret. So I am just trying to figure out a good way to vent about my day and hard situations that I face as a new nurse and a way to explain to my family and friends what I do so that they can appreciate the work that I do and understand how special it is to me. Is there a way to do this? Please help!