The whole process of defending oneself in any given nursing malpractice lawsuit is not only traumatic but also serves as a potential threat to a nurse practitioner’s (NP) reputation or public image. Besides financial devastation, the process in question can have far-reaching effects on the NP’s emotional stability and self-confidence. In response, an NP should observe each of the already established and rapidly evolving Evidence Practice Guidelines (EPGs)with the sole purpose of minimizing the risk of losing their jobs, self-esteem, and finances. The EPGs play a fundamental role in defining a variety of standards of care, which, in turn, protect individual patients from substandard care. By enforcing hospital policies and associated standards, the EPGs provide acceptable and reasonable levels of care necessary for preventing harm or injury to a patient (Kredo et al., 2016). Concisely, the EPGs achieve this by ensuring a NP integrates best research evidence (BRE) with patient values, as well as their clinical expertise.
Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) continue to undergo significant changes; given their transition from opinion-based or traditional methods to evidence-informed practice characterized by sophisticated methodologies or decision-making techniques. In this sense, the NP should keep abreast of the evolution witnessed in nursing. In particular, they should prioritize following steps of evidence-based medicine and practice, which include converting information into answerable questions, tracking down the best possible evidence, appraising the selected evidence critically, integrating the appraised evidence into the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment processes, and evaluating the outcome (Kredo et al., 2016). In this way, the EPGs help NPs to avoid errors that result from failure to communicate, document, assess and monitor, and observe standards, which might lead to a lawsuit.
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Utilizing Evidence Practice Guidelines
A typical case in point involves hospitals that encourage NPs to delegate tasks due to nursing shortages. When faced with this situation, an NP should delegate a task properly with the sole purpose of avoiding a malpractice suit. The NP can achieve this by analyzing and establishing the task’s complexity, in addition to assessing the patient’s acuity. With this evidence-based assessment, the NP can identify and delegate the task to the right practitioner, including licensed vocational nurses and or a registered nurse (RN). By determining a professional who possesses the much-needed skills when it comes to performing the specific task, the NP remains well positioned to reduce the risk of defending themselves in the court of law.
Reference
Kredo, T., et al. (2016). Guide to clinical practice guidelines: The current state of play. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 28 (1), 122-128.
