Avoiding Litigation for Yourself & For Your Facility

(50 mins – 1 hour)

By Kathleen Martin, RN, MSN, MPA, LNHA, CPHQ, WCC, HACP

Nurses, and especially wound nurses, are particularly vulnerable to litigation either as an employee or personally.

Pressure injuries and other wound care cases have increased 10-fold over the last few years. In this litigious environment that nurses find themselves in, there are important things you should know to avoid these many legal minefields.

Learn from a seasoned clinical nurse with wound care experience as well as over 25 years as a Legal Nurse Consultant/Nurse Expert Witness through an actual legal wound care case study.

In addition, just what an attorney and LNC looks for to either implicate or exonerate you and your facility will be discussed. Be proactive and don’t set yourself up for unwanted pressure by being named in a wound care law suit.

Objectives:

• Relate regulatory and standards of care to clinical and administrative practice in wound care & healthcare facilities and practice
• Discuss torts, negligence and proximate cause
• Discuss top 5 legal pitfalls in wound care nursing practice
• Demonstrate 3 major areas the plaintiff must prove
• Discuss an actual wound/PU case
• Relate how good management & administrative  practices can prevent such suits.
• Trace the legal process: from discovery to trial/settlement
• Discuss methods to improve documentation to avoid litigation.

California Board of Registered Nursing-Continuing Education Provider license/certification number 17756. 1.0 Contact Hour (s).