Question

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How working both 8 hour and 12 hour nursing shift impact the negligence and malpractice at work if you are working as a nurse?

Negligence and malpractice

There are two types of torts: an unintentional tort (or wrong) and an intentional tort. An unintentional tort is an unintended wrong against another person. The two most common unintentional torts are negligence and malpractice.

Negligence is defined as the failure to act in a reasonable and prudent manner. The claim of negligence is based on the accepted principle that everyone is expected to conduct themselves in a reasonable and prudent fashion. This is true of laypersons, student nurses, and licensed professionals. A more formal definition of negligence is the failure of a person to use the care that a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances (Griffith and Tengnah, 2017).

Malpractice is a special type of negligence (i.e., the failure of a professional, a person with specialized education and training, to act in a reasonable and prudent manner) (Mathes, 2014). As state NPAs have evolved to reflect the growing professionalism of RNs, courts have begun to recognize the negligent acts of nurses as malpractice. Evidence of this change in perceptions is apparent in the increasing use of RNs as expert witnesses in malpractice cases.

In general, expert testimony is not needed in cases of “simple negligence,” if the actions of the defendant are so obviously careless that even a layperson would recognize the conduct as negligent. In contrast, if the jury does not possess the special knowledge and information that professionals ordinarily have, an expert witness is required to establish whether the person breached the expected standard of care. In this case, the breach of duty is not simple negligence but malpractice.

Elements essential to prove negligence or malpractice.

Although any patient (or surviving family member, in the case of a patient death) may sue the nurse and his or her employer, the following elements must be proved for the plaintiff to succeed in the case.

1. 1. The nurse owed the patient or client a special duty of care based on the establishment of a nurse-patient relationship. The nurse’s acceptance of a patient assignment establishes the relationship and requires the nurse to meet his or her duty to the patient. The duty of the nurse is to possess the knowledge and skill that a reasonable and prudent nurse would possess and exercise in the same or similar patient care situation. The duty of the nurse as described is the standard of care. A nurse-patient relationship also may be established through telephone communication in the case of a nurse who performs telephone triage and advice or via computer or audiovisual systems that are being introduced in some health care settings (American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing, 2011; American Telemedicine Association, 2014).
2. 2. The nurse has breached his or her duty to the patient or client. Evidence is presented that proves the nurse breached the standard of care. The standard of care is derived from a multiplicity of sources; these are described in Box 8.3.
3. 3. Actual harm or damage is suffered by the patient.
4. 4. There is proximate cause or a causal connection between the breach in the standard of care by the nurse and the patient’s injury:
   • • No intervening event is responsible for the injury.
   • • A direct cause and effect can be demonstrated.
   • • In some jurisdictions, the nurse’s breach of duty must only be proven to be a substantial cause of the patient’s injury.

Answer 1

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