The Journal of Legal Nurse Consulting is a critical summary that keeps up to speed with the happenings in the healthcare system. The article focuses its address on nurses and their obligations within their working environment. With the evolving healthcare system, healthcare professionals must be equipped with outside guidelines that impact their healthcare environment. Legal requirements emerge as one of the most significant duties that healthcare professionals should practice. This is because their operations are primarily founded on the rules laid in the law.
The article addresses issues underlying nursing malpractices and explores their consequences. As duty calls, healthcare professionals should be familiar with their environment and the effects of carelessness. This is because legal frameworks are designed to handle specific personnel accountable for negligence acts (Frank & Danks, 2019). This is an implication that healthcare professionals have the duty to protect patients and themselves. Understanding the law requirements and applying them in daily practices is also essential.
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The article also explores beyond informed consent as one of the features of the healthcare system. This is an aspect that fundamentally involves the methods and importance of communication in the healthcare system. The law recognizes communication as a requirement in the healthcare sector; thus, it should be considered by healthcare professionals. The healthcare provider has a responsibility to inform their patients about the treatment and its effects on the body (Gossman, Thornton & Hipskind, 2019). Thus, the medication process should be an integrated procedure, and an interaction between the patient and the care provider should be utilized.
Protein-Calorie malnutrition is also a healthcare concern amongst the population. This is a problem that is affecting all ages and has been attributed to the shift in lifestyle. Despite the increased cases of malnutrition, undernutrition has been neglected, which affects many people. This means that the legal nurse consultant has to acquire knowledge about these to multifaceted conditions to make informed decisions. Understanding the symptoms and effects of protein-calorie malnutrition is significant in determining their impacts in a given case. Thus, healthcare providers should use their knowledge of malnutrition to administer ideal nutrition care.
The advancement of technology is a significant aspect that continues to impact daily lives. The healthcare sector has also been one of the beneficiaries of the new features brought by technology advancement (Yanamadala et al., 2016). This has been evident in the shift towards electronic documentation and the transfer of information between various departments. However, the shift towards technology use in healthcare has also experienced setbacks in terms of data security. The vulnerability of technologies dealing with data and other critical activities in healthcare is subjected to theft and intrusion. This is an implication that the legal nurse consultant should recognize the features of healthcare technologies and effectively use them in arising legal issues.
Medical legal aspects for medical records are also an essential component for legal nurse consulting. This is because medical records have, in recent past, played a vital role in the quest to attain quality and effective healthcare. The need for medical records has resulted in issues such as documentation malpractices, which are against the law requirements (Monarch, 2007). This means that healthcare providers should be keen as they are liable for actions emerging from documentation malpractices. Thus, medical records require a critical evaluation and examination to avoid therapeutic implications that are apparent in incompetence cases. This will significantly help in avoiding legal issues from the incompetency of handling medical records.
Summarily, the Journal of Nurse Legal Consulting is an essential tool for nurses that seek to familiarize themselves with the laws guiding their working environment. This is because the journal explores some of the compelling features that are present in the daily duties of healthcare professionals. Understanding what the law expects from healthcare providers is one of the steps in achieving quality and effective healthcare.
References
Frank, L., & Danks, J. (2019). Perianesthesia Nursing malpractice: Reducing the risk of litigation. Journal of Perianesthesia Nursing, 34 (3); 463-468.
Gossman W, Thornton I, Hipskind JE. Informed consent . (2019 July 10). In: StatPearls (Internet). Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430827/
Monarch, K. (2007). Documentation, part 1: Principles for self-protection. Preserve the medical record--and defend yourself. American Journal of Nursing. 107 (7):58–60.
Yanamadala, S., Morrison, D., Curtin, C., McDonald, K., & Hernandez-Boussard, T. (2016). Electronic health records and quality of care: An observational study modeling impact on mortality, readmissions, and complications. Medicine , 95 (19), e3332. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000003332.
