Scenario
The Board of Nursing in your state has decided to utilize a tool developed by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing called the Taxonomy of Error, Root Cause Analysis Practice- Responsibility (TERCAP). Your nurse manager has provided you with a summary of the completed TERCAP report by your Board of Nursing’s Disciplinary Action Committee. She has asked you to review this summary and to develop a proposal of suggestions for continuing education topics on ways to minimize legal risks for your hospital’s practicing nurses. The nurse educators will develop an education series based upon your recommendations.
Instructions
Prepare a proposal based on the summary of the TERCAP with recommendations and suggestions on minimizing legal risks that:
Part One – Review summary of completed TERCAP report below.
A patient, aged 54, admitted for back surgery secondary to compressed vertebrae and intense pain. The difficulty with pain management has caused the patient some depression and insomnia over the last month. During her first post-operative day, the patient fell attempting to go from the bed to the bathroom without assistance. Her injury was serious and involved significant harm requiring two additional days of hospitalization and an addition six weeks of physical therapy.
A review of the case determined that her assigned nurse on night shift was an RN (age 24) with nine months of experience in this unit. This was her third 12 hours shift in a row, and she was 29 weeks pregnant. There were 28 beds occupied with only two RNs and one patient technician, due to one vacancy and a call-in for illness. This community facility has experienced a turnover rate of 12% in the last year (community average of 4.5%), and has a high number of new graduates working on medical surgical units, particularly on the 7 pm- 7 am shift.
A review of the chart showed that the patient had been advised by the out-going nurse, who admitted her to the unit post-operatively, that she needed