Legal Professional Issues in Nursing

Nurses provide a critical service to society by helping to deliver quality medical care to their patients. Without nurses, many life-saving medical procedures would not be possible. Because nursing comes with tremendous responsibility, the profession has its fair share of legal and professional issues, such as the issue of state licensure, which is a process to ensure that nurses are properly qualified. Additionally, nurses must adhere to a professional standard of care. If this standard is not met or exercised, it raises the issue of professional malpractice, which can carry serious consequences.

State Licensure

• Before a nurse can practice in a hospital, clinic or doctor's office, she must be licensed by the state government.

  To practice, nurses must be property licensed. Nurses generally are awarded licenses by a state board of licensing or health department after completing a two or three-year degree in nursing at community college, clearing a criminal background check and passing a nursing license examination. The examination is comprehensive, testing for the knowledge and skills necessary to function as a nurse. Most states require nurses to take the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), which is a national standardized test, before issuing a license. Nurses who have been licensed in one state cannot practice in another state unless they receive a license from their new state. States usually do not require a second examination to license for nurse who is already licensed in another state.

Standard of Care

• All nurses are expected to adhere to a high standard of care, which is a legal term that refers to the expected procedures, tasks and risk assessment required of a nurse in their every day working environment. If a nurse fails to meet the standard of care, their actions can put patients at risk and result in the end of a nursing career. Nurses learn the standard of care during their nursing education, and supervisors or more experienced nurses typically ensure that they continue to practice at that standard. The standard is set by state nurse practice acts and professional organizations like the American Nurses Association.

Nursing Malpractice

• Nursing malpractice can result in tort lawsuits from patients who have experienced harm as a result.

  If a nurse fails to meet the standard of care, she is considered to have committed malpractice. The consequences for malpractice in a profession as important as nursing can be very severe. In addition to potentially harming or jeopardizing the life of a patient, nurses can lose their job for malpractice, be named in a lawsuit or even face criminal penalties. These consequences will vary, depending on local laws and the level of resulting harm. According to Nursing Link, nursing malpractice is typically divided into two categories--negligence and informed consent. Negligence occurs when a nurse exposes a patient to a level of risk not common to the procedure being performed. Obviously, all medical procedures come with risks, but it rises to negligence only in those cases when the level of risk exceeds what it would be if the procedure was performed by another nurse. Informed consent refers to the failure to notify a patient of the procedure's potential harms and benefits before performing it.