5 Ways to Reduce the Risk of Medical Malpractice Claims Against Nurses

According to a new report from the Nurses Service Organization, medical malpractice claims against nurses have been on the rise.

The report identified five risk control recommendations:

• Patient safety: Train staff and identify potential gaps when it comes to preventable sources of injury or illness, like falls, medication errors or environmental hazards.
• Assessment and monitoring: Listen to, document and communicate patient complaints and concerns.
• Treatment and care: Make sure nurses report and document all patient complications and courses of medical treatment, maintain competencies on core nursing techniques and track all reports and test results.
• Chain of command: Be certain that nurses understand and feel comfortable using the chain of command if a practitioner is unresponsive to a nurse’s calls for assistance.
• Scope of practice: Review state regulations, job descriptions and internal practices to ensure that doctors, nurses and administrators understand the limits of a nurse’s scope of practice.