Fundamentals and Legal Concepts in Healthcare

Legal and Ethical Principles

• Advocacy: Supports a person's health, wellness, safety, privacy, and personal rights.
• Responsibility: Respect obligations and follow through on promises.
• Accountability: Willingly take responsibility for one's actions.
• Confidentiality: Protection of a person's privacy.
• Autonomy: A person's right to make their own decisions.
• Beneficence: Act of kindness and doing good for others.
• Fidelity: Keeping promises and fulfilling them.
• Justice: Fair treatment and providing safe and quality care.
• Non-maleficence: Commitment to do no harm.
• Veracity: Commitment to telling the truth.

Client Rights

• Patients Bill of Rights: Adopted by AHA in 1972, outlining client rights.
• Nurses' responsibilities: Protecting client rights, informed consent, and confidentiality.
• Client autonomy: Right to refuse/discontinue treatment and participate in care plan decisions.

Legal Concepts

• Tort: Injury due to another's failure to act.

  • Unintentional tort: Negligence and malpractice.
  • Intentional tort: Assault, battery, false imprisonment.
  • Quasi-intentional: Libel, slander, defamation.

• Crime: Intentional wrongdoing against persons or environment.

  • Felony: Serious crimes like insurance fraud.
  • Misdemeanor: Less serious crimes like substance possession.

Informed Consent

• Legal documentation of patient approval for tests or treatments.
• Requirements include being 18+, competent, or having a guardian.
• Non-consensual contact allowed in cases of mental illness or safety risks.

HIPAA

• Protects patient information privacy.
• Guidelines for sharing patient information.
• Importance of secure information handling.

Nursing Process and Assessment

• Assessment: Gathering subjective and objective data.
• Planning: Setting goals and identifying interventions.
• Implementation: Executing the care plan.
• Evaluation: Analyzing outcomes and modifying care plans.

Patient Safety

Fall Precautions

• Identification and management of fall risk patients.
• Use of non-skid socks, proper lighting, and environmental hazards removal.

Seizure Precaution

• Assistance and safety measures during a seizure.
• Documentation and post-seizure care.

Restraints and Seclusion

• Last resort measure with physician's order.
• Monitoring and documentation of restraint use.

Communication

• Therapeutic communication: Verbal and nonverbal techniques to support patient needs.
• Types of communication: Assertive, aggressive, passive, and passive-aggressive.

IV Therapy

• Complications including phlebitis, air embolism, and catheter embolism.
• Types of IV solutions: isotonic, hypertonic, hypotonic.
• Central Venous Access Devices and care guidelines.

Nutrition and Elimination

• Enteral Feeding: Indications and complications.
• Urinary and Bowel Elimination: Managing dysfunctions and associated conditions.

Pain Management

• Differentiating acute and chronic pain.
• Pain scales and nonpharmacological management.

Electrolyte Imbalances

• Understanding sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium imbalances.
• Signs, symptoms, and treatments.

Fluid and Electrolyte Balance

• Fluid balance and distribution in the body.
• Impacts on nursing care and treatment.

Patient Positioning and Assessments

• Proper body positioning for various conditions.
• Head-to-toe assessments from newborn to adult.

Mental Health

• Overview of mental health and factors affecting it.
• Common mental health disorders and nursing interventions.

Medications and Safety

• Safe medication administration practices.
• Overview of medication types and uses.