Healthcare: Recognizing The Role Of Adhering To The Standard Of Care (Essay Sample)

Recognizing the Role of Adhering to the Standard of Care Name Institution Recognizing the Role of Adhering to the Standard of Care The essay sets out to discuss the legal implications of adhering to the standard of care. It also identifies key elements of malpractice while comparing the malpractice policy options. Legal implications that exist to adhere to a standard of care Standard of care is an acceptable way that professionals are expected to perform their roles (Miller, 2013). In healthcare, the standard of care is a legal term that refers to the acceptable practices that guide providers such as Nurse Practitioners (NPs) in the delivery of care. Stelmach (2015) asserts that owing to the dynamic nature of the healthcare system, standards are rapidly changing following technological advancements. For that reason, nurses should be upbeat with these changes to adhere to the standard of care. Providers that fail to adhere to a standard of care, often attract legal implications. While NPs owe the duty of care to patients, laxity may threaten the safety of patients. In such circumstances, there could be negligence lawsuits where the provider is accused of breaching the standard of care (Reader & Gillespie, 2013). Thus far, a healthcare provider can be held accountable if they fail to adhere to the required standards. Nonetheless, failure to protect or advise patients of the potential harm or injury could also speed up legal actions. In addition, healthcare providers are held responsible if they fail to monitor and assess medical equipment. NPs are, for instance, required to report the patient’s observations and assessment in a timely manner. Failure to monitor and document the patients’ situation appropriately may be a recipe for negligence. Although such changes must be reported to the primary care physician, any shortfall to adhere to the rules that guide medical practice about delegation of roles to unlicensed persons can attract legal actions. In turn legal liability can also occur when healthcare providers mishandle patients’ identification care. Key elements of malpractice According to Buppert (2014), a malpractice is a misconduct or negligence that leads to injury, loss or damage to patients. Nonetheless, a malpractice claim requires that the patient ascertains the following; duty of care; breach of duty; proximate cause; and damage. Hence, the occurrence of malpractice depends on these elements. The duty of care occurs when there is a professional relationship. Essentially, provider-patient relationship is established when the patient arrives at the nurse’s office for check-up, or when the nurse cares for an admitted patient or home visit. Nonetheless, patient-provider relationship can occur through other ways such as over a telephone conversation; providing medication or advising the patient’s family (Buppert, 2014). In most cases NPs are seen to breach duty of care if they endanger the safety of the patient. The third element of malpractice is proximate cause, which focuses on whether the nurse’s act caused any injury to the patient. If the action does not lead to injury, then there is no malpractice. The element of damage focuses on the outcome of the nurses’ actions in the provision of care. As such, the patient has to prove that the nurse’s sloppy actions caused him/her to suffer injury, damage, and financial loss as well. Compare the differences in malpractice policy options. There are different malpractice policy options that protect NPs and patients such as; the claim made policy and occurrence insurance. The occurrence insurance offers life coverage for occurrences that arise during a policy period, irrespective of when a claim is filed. On the other hand, claim-made policy only covers NPs if the insurance is active, regardless of when the incident happened (Buppert, 2014). In other words...