Nursing Fundamentals: Legal Issues, Safety, Infection Control, Ethics, Informatics, and Healthcare Systems

Comprehensive review flashcards covering legal principles, patient safety, infection prevention, nursing ethics, informatics, evidence-based practice, and healthcare delivery systems.

What is the legal definition of law within the context of nursing practice?

Law is a binding practice, rule, or code of conduct that guides actions and decisions of an individual or group and protects society.

What are the primary responsibilities and functions of a state Nurse Practice Act (NPA)?

A Nurse Practice Act regulates nursing practice to protect the general public, defines the scope of nursing practice, and approves programs providing prelicensure education to students.

What are the five key responsibilities of a State Board of Nursing?

The State Board of Nursing creates the state's NPA and gives it authority, defines the nursing scope of practice, approves schools of nursing, establishes licensure requirements, and manages disciplinary actions.

Under the Mutual Recognition Model, how must a nurse obtain permission to practice in a non-compact state?

The nurse must apply for licensure by endorsement.

What distinguishes a quasi-intentional tort from an intentional tort in civil law?

A quasi-intentional tort involves actions that injure a person's reputation through defamation of character (libel or slander), whereas an intentional tort is an action taken with the intent to harm another person (such as assault, battery, false imprisonment, invasion of privacy, or fraud).

What four legal elements are required to establish malpractice or negligence liability?

Duty, Breach of Duty, Causation, and Damages.

How is the nursing "standard of care" defined?

What a reasonable and prudent nurse would do in a given situation.

What is the nurse's legal responsibility regarding informed consent?

The nurse is not responsible for explaining the procedure, but for witnessing the client's signature by confirming consent was given voluntarily, the signature is authentic, and the client appears competent to give consent.

What are the Five Rights of Delegation in nursing?

Right Task, Right Circumstances, Right Person, Right Direction and Communication, and Right Supervision and Evaluation.

What types of patient care should a Registered Nurse (RN) never delegate to an LPN or UAP?

Care of patients that require complex care, are unpredictable, require nursing judgement, or involve high levels of interaction.

According to the CDC ($2022$), what rank do unintentional injuries hold among causes of death in the US, and what is the leading cause of unintentional death?

Accidents and unintentional injuries are the $3\text{rd}$ leading cause of death in the US (causing approximately $173{,}000$ deaths yearly, or $1$ death every $5\text{ minutes}$), with poisoning ranking as the number $1$ cause of unintentional death.

What critical guideline must be followed regarding vomiting when treating toxic ingestion?

Never induce vomiting when the ingested material is acidic or caustic to the esophagus.

What are the clinical manifestations of carbon monoxide exposure?

Headaches, weakness, nausea, vomiting, and bright cherry red skin; prolonged exposure leads to seizures, dysrhythmias, loss of consciousness, brain damage, and death.

What are the five principles identified in the $1999$ IOM report "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System"?

Provide leadership, recognize human limits in process design, promote effective team functioning, anticipate the unexpected, and create a learning environment.

What are "Never Events" (Serious Reportable Events) and how do they impact Medicare hospital reimbursement?

Healthcare-acquired complications that cause serious injury or death (such as wrong-site surgery, transfusing the wrong blood type, severe pressure injuries, falls and trauma, CLABSI, and CAUTI); Medicare will not reimburse hospitals if they occur during hospitalization.

What does each component of the communication safety acronym CUSS stand for?

C: State your Concern; U: Say why you are Uncomfortable; SS: State, "This is a Safety issue" and explain how and why.

What do the fire safety acronyms RACE and PASS stand for in hospital settings?

RACE: Rescue, Alarm, Confine, Extinguish. PASS: Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep.

What type of restraint is shown here, and what criteria are required by Medicare and The Joint Commission prior to applying restraints?

Mittens (Posey mittens). Restraints must be used only as a last resort, must be medically prescribed, and all less restrictive interventions must be tried and documented first.

What phone number should individuals call for the Suicide Prevention Hotline?

Call $988$, which is available $24\text{ hours}$ everyday.

What is the medical definition of an infection?

The invasion of and multiplication in the body by a pathogen (an organism capable of causing a disease).

What are the six links in the Chain of Infection?

Infectious Agent, Reservoir, Portal of Exit, Means of Transmission, Portal of Entry, and Susceptible Host.

What sequential stages of infection are illustrated in this diagram?

Incubation, Prodromal, Illness, Decline, and Convalescence.

What are the five key factors required for effective hand hygiene?

Time, Water, Soap, Friction, and Drying.

What protocols and PPE are required for enteric contact isolation (such as for C. diff and Norovirus)?

Wear a gown and gloves, place the patient in a private room, and wash hands with soap and water (hand sanitizer foam is not effective).

What room specifications and PPE are mandatory for Airborne Isolation (AFB)?

Place the patient in a negative pressure private room and wear an $N\text{-}95$ mask.

How do morals differ from ethics in nursing?

Morals usually refer to private, personal, or group standards of what is right and wrong, whereas ethics answers the question, "What should I do in a given situation?"

How are the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and nonmaleficence defined in nursing?

Autonomy is the right to choose and ability to act on that choice based on human dignity; Beneficence is the duty to do or promote good; Nonmaleficence involves doing no harm and preventing harm.

What is the distinction between veracity and fidelity in nursing ethics?

Veracity is the duty to tell the truth, while fidelity is the duty to keep a promise.

What is the primary role and overall goal of a client advocate?

An advocate is a person who expresses and defends the cause of another, with the overall goal of protecting the client's rights.

What four developmental components make up the science of nursing informatics?

Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom.

According to the evidence-based practice framework shown here, what three elements converge to improve patient outcomes?

Best Available Clinical Evidence, Individual Clinical Expertise, and Patient's Values & Expectations.

What criteria are evaluated under the CRAAP test for assessing research sources?

Currency (within $5\text{ years}$, with exceptions for historical topics), Relevance (intended audience and practicality), Authority (peer-reviewed journals, credible publishers, .gov/.org/.edu), Accuracy (author qualifications and corroborated research), and Purpose (educational vs. sales pitch/funding).

What does each letter of the PICO(T) research framework represent?

P: Patient, population, or problem of interest; I: Intervention of interest; C: Comparison of interventions; O: Outcome of the intervention; T: Timeframe.

What are the three levels of healthcare intervention and their clinical focuses?

Primary: Health promotion and illness prevention; Secondary: Early detection and treatment through screenings; Tertiary: Halting disease progression, restoring functioning, or providing palliative/end-of-life care.

What are the four overarching goals of the Healthy People $20\#\#$ project developed by the WHO and DHHS?

Increase quality and years of healthy life; Achieve health equality and eliminate health disparities; Create a healthy environment for everyone; Promote health and quality life across the life span.

What is the difference between Critical Pathways and Case Management in healthcare delivery?

Critical Pathways are an interprofessional approach that outlines the direction of patient care, whereas Case Management is the coordination of care across the healthcare system.