Case Analysis
What does the LNC do in a Failure to Rescue Case?
Your role as a legal nurse consultant in helping an attorney with a failure to rescue case might involve explaining the function of a rapid response team. The concept of a rapid response team originated with a critical care nurse from New Zealand who recognized the need to bring resources to the bedside of a…
Read MoreThe LNC’s Analysis of a Failure to Rescue Case
Failure to rescue is a devastating clinical event and a devastating accusation against a nurse. A nurse walks into a patient’s room and recognizes the patient is not breathing and has no pulse. The nurse starts CPR and alerts the cardiac resuscitation team. After trying medications and shock, the team is unable to restore the…
Read MoreCommunication Problems and Patient Injury
According to The Joint Commission, communication problems and patient injury go hand in hand. Legal nurse consultants, risk managers, attorneys and healthcare administrators are all aware of the risks to patient safety from communication errors. In today’s multicultural society, sources of misunderstanding and communication problems can result in multiple opportunities for errors resulting in harm…
Read MoreCritical Care Nursing – “If you are not on top of your game patients die”
The critical care nurse in this video describes the high risk aspect of caring for patients.
Read MoreCritical Care Nursing and Team Communication
Collaboration and communication form the cornerstone of effective care. Critical care nursing exemplifies this principle. The involvement and interaction of critical care personnel have a critical impact on the outcome of critical illness. The outcome is influenced by the degree of interaction and communication between nurses and physicians. Critical care nursing and team communication are…
Read MoreCritical Care Nursing – High Risk Practice
Critical care nurses take care of some of our sickest patients. They practice in a high risk environment – both clinically and in terms of litigation. We take critical care nursing for granted, but they were not always among us. Critical care nursing in the United States began with the recognition that specialty nursing was…
Read MoreNursing Standard of Care: Just following orders? Part 2
In part 1 of this blog, I shared facts to analyze the standard of care. I described a case of a man seen in the ER. The patient had a significant change in his condition on discharge, yet was sent home anyway and subsequently died. Did the ER nurse meet the nursing standard of care?…
Read MoreNursing Standard of Care: Just following orders? Part 1
I have had the questioned posed to me by an attorney in a deposition (on more than one occasion), “So you think you know more than the doctor”? The nurses’ responsibility does not end with blindly following a physician’s order. I have personally testified at 3 depositions and was asked this question at 2 of…
Read MoreFour Steps to Create an LNC Sample Work Product Part 1
As a Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC), it’s important that you show potential clients or employers samples of your work product. LNC sample work product includes medical chronologies, medical summaries, timelines, calendars, and other written reports. Work product samples are particularly important for new LNCs, because attorneys want to know if you’re capable of analyzing medical…
Read MoreAir Embolism – Deadly Result of Patient Abandonment
This is a case of an air embolism. Twenty-three year old Natalie B. was born physically and mentally handicapped. One afternoon, an employee of defendant MedLink of Ohio, a home healthcare company, took Natalie to the defendant Uni¬versity Hospitals of Cleveland for dialysis treatment. The employee then left while Natalie had the treatment. During the…
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