Nursing Errors Are Common Considering Care Times By Florida Providers
If you have spent any time at a typical Florida hospital as a patient or visitor, one issue regarding the interactions and movement of staff becomes apparent. Nurses seem to spend a lot more of their daily routine with patients as compared to physicians. In fact, studies have been conducted regarding this phenomenon. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) report that the difference in patient care time between nurses and doctors in hospitals is significant: Over 86 percent of the patient’s time with a health care worker was with nurses, while just 13 percent was with physicians.
When you consider that such a significant amount of care will be provided to you by nurses while hospitalized, there is a high risk of injuries due to nursing errors. Some mistakes are similar to those a physician might make, but there are many others that are unique to the nursing profession and nurses’ relationships with patients. It is wise to consult with a Miami nursing errors attorney if you suffered harm because of:
- Medication Error: Nurses handle a significant amount of medication administration, so there is the potential for mistakes with the wrong drug, dose, or patient. Even in the busy hospital setting, nurses must double-check patient identifiers, note potential interactions, assess the patient’s chart for allergies, and verify medication details.
- Health Care Acquired Infection (HAI): Patients developing an infection during a hospital stay is a serious problem in the US, and nurses play a part in prevention. To prevent the patient from HAI and life-threatening sepsis, nurses’ duties include:
- Monitoring patients after surgery;
- Complying with all sanitation and hand-washing procedures;
- Following policies on cleaning and disinfection of instruments; and,
- Alerting physicians to signs of infection.
- Charting Mistakes: It is crucial to record all information regarding a patient’s care, and nurses are part of the process. Documentation errors can result in improper treatment, and they occur when a provider fails to chart:
- Health and medication information;
- Medications that were administered;
- Any medications that are canceled;
- Changes in the patient’s condition;
- Orders given by doctors regarding the patient’s care; and,
- All nursing actions.
- Falls: Patients often try to do too much while hospitalized, getting out of bed or a wheelchair when they are not sufficiently stable. Nurses are in the best position to prevent falls by consistently, continually checking patients, particularly those that are most at risk of falls. Checks during the nighttime hours should be conducted more frequently.
Understaffing by the hospital may also be an underlying reason for falls, making it difficult for nurses to do their jobs. In such a situation, a nursing error could also be a hospital error.
Get Legal Help from a Florida Nursing Errors Lawyer
For additional information on your rights after suffering injuries from nursing errors, please contact Freidin Brown, P.A. We can schedule a no-cost case review at our offices in Miami or Fort Myers. After evaluating your situation, a medical malpractice attorney can explain how the laws apply to your case.
