Walkthrough: Management of Care Q6 – NCLEX-RN®

00:01 The nurse manager is providing an in service training to staff.

00:05 Which statement describing legalities and nursing practices is included in the in service? Okay, I know this is likely not your favorite question, but this is probably in management of care section.

00:18 So let's take a look at this.

00:20 Use our rational mind critical thinking, and I think we can get this right.

00:26 So don't let these questions scare you.

00:28 So let's look at the answer choices.

00:30 There you go. Luckily, we just have four options.

00:35 That's a good thing.

00:36 But spend some time that cup in that stem, right? Did you fall for it? Did you look at the answer choices before you put the word in your own words? Okay, don't do that on a test.

00:48 So let's go back up.

00:49 The nurse manager is providing an in service.

00:52 The question is really asking, which statement describes legalities in nursing practice? Okay, that's the key word.

00:59 That's what I'm looking for. legalities in nursing practice.

01:03 Okay, so number one.

01:06 "HIPAA is a legal document that designates a person to make healthcare decisions on behalf of a client." Number two.

01:13 "Malpractice is defined as the failure to provide appropriate nursing care." Number three.

01:18 The Nurse Practice Act defines and describes the legal boundaries of nursing.

01:22 And number four.

01:24 Supervise nursing students cannot be held legally responsible for acts of negligence and malpractice.

01:31 Okay, we've read through those answer choices once.

01:33 You've put the question into your own words.

01:36 I want you to go back and refocus your brain.

01:38 What did you say? We're looking for legalities in nursing practice, okay.

01:44 Ask yourself that four different times while you pause the video, eliminate the answer choices, and we'll come back and work on it together.

02:00 Okay, how would you do? I know this is usually not nursing students favorite kind of content.

02:06 But actually, you just stick with us.

02:08 We will teach you some simple rules and you're going to do great on these types of questions.

02:13 So the key, legalities in nursing practice.

02:17 Okay, so let's look at number one.

02:18 HIPAA is a legal document that designates a person to make healthcare decisions on behalf of a client.

02:25 Is HIPAA a legal document? No. HIPAA is not a legal document.

02:31 That would be more like a power of attorney or an Advanced Directive document.

02:35 That's what would designate a person to make healthcare decisions on behalf of another person.

02:40 Now, these are very specific documents, okay.

02:43 So, you'll have to check with your state policy, look at your hospital policy, and look at these documents closely.

02:51 But it's never going to be HIPAA, that's going to allow you to make healthcare decisions for someone else.

02:56 It's going to be a power of attorney or a specific Advanced Directive document.

03:00 Remember, HIPAA stands for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

03:07 This just protects a patient's privacy with their protected health information.

03:11 So doesn't allow us to make any decisions.

03:14 But it's very strict rules on what we can and cannot share about a patient's health care status.

03:19 So number one, you're out.

03:22 Let's look at number two, we're looking for legalities in nursing practice.

03:27 And number two, malpractice is defined as the failure to provide appropriate nursing care.

03:35 Okay, so that is checking my knowledge about definitions.

03:40 So malpractice. What did you remember? It's got the word practice in it. And that was also in our question.

03:46 But is that the definition of malpractice? The answer is no.

03:52 It is not the definition of malpractice.

03:55 Malpractice is divining substandard care that results in injury to the client.

04:02 What you see there is negligence.

04:04 Negligence is the failure to provide reasonable care.

04:08 Now, here's why students get so confused on these questions, because that's not good, right? That's not what we want.

04:15 If you're looking at, "We don't want this kind of care is failure to provide appropriate care." But that's not what the answer is saying.

04:21 It's saying malpractice is this.

04:25 That's really not true, because they've given you the definition of negligence.

04:29 So if you can get in that mindset that anytime you see defined as or they're telling you this term means this, make sure you're very careful to see if that definition is correct or incorrect.

04:41 Okay, so we got rid of one, we got rid of two.

04:44 Now we're down to three and four.

04:46 Three? And we're looking for legalities in nursing practice.

04:51 Three says the Nurse Practice Act defines and describes the legal boundaries of nursing.

04:57 Well, I know that's true. And it talks about practice.

05:00 So I'm going to leave that one in.

05:02 But I'm going to do the work of looking at number four.

05:05 Number four.

05:06 Supervise nursing students cannot be held legally responsible for acts of negligence and malpractice.

05:12 So they're saying, nursing students, I'm a nursing student, and I'm supervised. I cannot be legally responsible for if I do something that is negligent, or that constitutes malpractice.

05:25 Hey guys, that's absolutely wrong.

05:28 Nursing students can be held legally responsible and should be for acts of negligence and malpractice in a client's care.

05:36 It doesn't matter if you're supervised.

05:39 If you did something that you knew to be negligent, or constitutes malpractice, you will be held legally responsible.

05:48 So that seals it up.

05:49 We're up to the Nurse Practice Act. Number three is the correct answer.

05:53 Let me give just a quick note on that.

05:55 The Nurse Practice Act really is what defines and describes the legal boundaries of nursing.

06:00 It regulates our practice, right? So it tells us what nurses can and cannot do at the state level.

06:06 So each state has some different rules with standards regarding our scope of practice.

06:11 So why are we talking about this? Well, everyone who's a professional nurse needs to know about the Nurse Practice Act.

06:18 Secondly, in your nursing program, wherever you are, your faculty has likely taught you things that may apply only in your state regarding what nurses can do, CNAs can do, unless and assistive personnel can do, they likely give you examples from your state.

06:36 But remember, when you sit for the NCLEX, I'm in Oklahoma, and I always tell students, "Hey, it's not the OCLEX for Oklahoma, it's the NCLEX."** It's a national exam.

06:48 So the rules are a little bit different in NCLEX.

06:51 And there's regarding practice and what people can and cannot do.

06:55 Don't let that stress you out, stick with us.

06:58 We'll give you all those strategies.

07:00 But I just want you to keep in mind, sometimes faculty teach from a bias of the state where they practice or where your school is.

07:07 But that's not always how it works on the NCLEX.

07:10 Alright. So look at what you've learned in this question.

07:13 You've learned about HIPAA.

07:14 Well, you already knew about HIPAA, but you learned to look at those types of documents when it says, "Is HIPAA gonna give me authority?" We've talked about definitions.

07:24 So you know, to be on the lookout for definitions if they're incorrect or correct.

07:27 We talked about the nursing practice, probably more than you want it, but that's a critically important exam.

07:33 And remember, it's not the OCLEX, or the ACLEX.

07:36 It is definitely a national exam.

07:39 And number four, yeah, that one's just a reality check.

07:43 Take your responsibilities as seriously as I know you're doing in your clinical setting.

07:48 So that's it.

07:49 We got a little bit of a run through through some management of care issues.

07:52 You got those in your notes, things that were new to you or might have tripped you up.

07:56 And now, we're ready for the next question.