Nursing Fundamentals: Safety, Delegation, Ethics, and Scope of Practice

Flashcards covering key safety, delegation, legal responsibilities, and professional boundary concepts from Chapters 1 through 5 of nursing lecture notes.

Teach Back Method

A communication technique used to confirm patient understanding by having the patient explain back or demonstrate the instructions given to them.

Restraint (Bed Rails)

The clinical classification applied when all four bed rails are raised on a patient's bed; a maximum of three bed rails is considered appropriate.

Unlicensed Assistive Personnel (UAP) / Patient Care Technician (PCT)

Unlicensed healthcare staff to whom nurses can delegate basic, non-complex tasks such as gathering vital signs, emptying Foley catheters, and giving bed baths.

Non-Delegable Nursing Tasks

Care responsibilities that involve complex care, unpredictable patients, nursing judgment, or a high level of interaction, which must be performed directly by the nurse.

Malpractice Liability

The continuous legal responsibility a nurse retains for assigned patient care, regardless of difficult unit conditions such as being busy or short-staffed.

Professional Boundaries

Limits that govern the nurse-patient relationship, which prohibit accepting personal gifts from individual patients or establishing close personal relationships outside the healthcare setting.

Super Nurse Attitude

A potential boundary violation described in Box 38.4 where a nurse acts as though they are the only person who understands or can properly care for a specific patient.

Vulnerable Populations

Patient groups—specifically the elderly, minors, and the mentally impaired—for whom nurses are mandated by law to report known or suspected abuse.

Mandatory Reporting

The legal requirement for healthcare providers to report communicable diseases to the health department and known or suspected abuse of vulnerable populations.

Impaired Nurse Reporting

The professional duty to report colleagues who are suspected of practicing under the influence of drugs or alcohol or diverting narcotics.

Unauthorized Practice

Practicing nursing under an expired license or performing medical tasks that fall outside of a nurse's defined scope of practice.

Scope of Practice

The legally defined boundaries of nursing practice, which prohibit nurses from independently ordering medications or treatments without a provider's order.

Student Nurse Standards of Care

The clinical standard requiring nursing students to meet the exact same standards of care and performance as licensed registered nurses.