Paper Example on Patient Neglected: Missed Critical Testosterone Doses

1. Introduction: State Briefly the Essential Facts of the Case (Subjective & Objective Findings).

The primary issue, in this case, is the inability to follow-up a patient who is taking testosterone injections. The nurses failed to communicate with the patient effectively and ensure they receive the doses according to the dosage. As a result, the patient missed critical doses leading to the deterioration of his health. Another fact is regarding the rights of the patient to select neurology who should give services. Also, the insured nurse failed to complete appropriate documentation in time for adequate scheduling and book appointments. The objective facts of the case are that at the follow-up visit, the testosterone level of the patient was 224 ng/dl while it was expected to be between 241-827 and the patient support assistant was at 9.4 ng/dl when it was supposed to be more than 4.0. The individual facts recorded at the initial diagnosis include fatigue, night sweats, headaches excessive thirsty and disturbances when sleeping. From the legal point of view, the insured nurse failed to administer medication effectively.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

2. Identify the Legal Issues Involved

There are two primary legal issues involved in the case study. The first one is the legal rights of a nurse to follow-up and monitor patients receiving testosterone injections. The medication requires effective monitoring so that they can be useful. The second legal aspect involved is regarding the right of the patient to select the healthcare professional who should give services (Buttaro, Trybulski, Polgar-Bailey, & Sandberg-Cook, 2017). The patient continued to receive testosterone injections for 11 months without monitoring or laboratory tests to monitor the health conditions of the patient, and this is unethical behavior in the nursing practice.

3. What Additional Facts Are Necessary That Weren't Included In the Case Study

There are other important facts which have not been mentioned in the case study. The first is one is that nurses have the right to work in an enabling environment that supports them to work effectively to meet the needs of the patients while maintaining their ethics (Trisha, 2013). For example, they must follow the code of ethics when serving the patients to avoid conflict of interest. The therapeutic relationship is another essential element that should be included in the case. For example, they should engage in social activities like effective communication and therapeutic touch to share a positive experience with the patients, and this makes them useful in their services.

4. Based Upon the Precedent And the Issues, Determine Who Should Be the Prevailing Party In This Case, Explain Your Reasons Why

The parties who should be present in this case include the patient himself who is the plaintiff and the insured nurse and neurologist who are the defendants in the entire case. The other parties include a legal expert and chief nursing officer (Papadakis, McPhee & Rabow, 2018). These are the primary parties in this case, but the parties can be more depending on how they agree to settle the problem. For example, using alternative dispute resolution requires the involvement of third parties like a mediator while the judicial system involves advocates and magistrates.

5. Do You Support The Decision, If So State Your Reasons Why Or Why Not?

I do not agree with the decisions that the experts should settle the case on behalf of the nurse. Everyone should be held responsible for their actions and this is according to work ethics. Each specialist in the healthcare sector has different codes of practice they should (Jill & Ailsa, 2018). The nurse will be in a better decision to explain what went wrong and explain the documentation made as well as the relationship with the neurologist. From the information, it is possible that the nurses rarely communicated and monitored the health of the patient which is unethical hence should explain the circumstances that led to that before action is taken.

6. Define Risk Management and the Importance of This Department within a Family Practice Setting

Risk management is the process of developing systems and processes and management strategies that help to detect shortfalls and challenges that affect the quality of services. The importance of this department in a family practice is that it helps to ensure effective communication with service users and build therapeutic relationship (Buttaro et al. 2017). The second importance is that it helps to monitor the conditions of the patients effectively since the system remind appointments dates and plan for the services effectively. Most importantly, it promotes patient safety due to effective service and medicine administration as well as engagement of the stakeholders.

7. What Type Of Risk Management Recommendations Should Be Implemented To Prevent Further Legal Actions Against Family Nurse Practitioners?

The first recommendation is to develop effective follow-up and monitoring techniques to contact all patients who miss their appointments and test results. For example, nurses should send out notifications to patients alerting them about their appointments and this helps to ensure they do not miss the dates (Papadakis et al. 2018). The second one is effective record keeping. Communication between patients and nurses breaks down when the nurses do not provide adequate information. Records help to keep appointments up to date and keep constant communication with the patients and their families.

8. What Have You Learned From This Case Study And How Will You Apply This In Your Future Current Practice As A Family Nurse Practitioner?

The first thing I have learned from the case study is that effective communication between patients and nurses is critical in healthcare practice. It helps to share experiences effectively to provide quality healthcare services. Also, communication is vital because it helps to update patient appointments and notify them when it is almost the due date (Papadakis et al. 2018). The second critical lesson from the case study is that everyone is held responsible in their actions and they should follow the code of ethics. Therefore, in future, I will improve my code of practice by ensuring effective communication and record keeping as well as keeping appointments up to date and monitoring the patients effectively.

References

Buttaro, T., Trybulski, J., Polgar-Bailey, P., & Sandberg-Cook, J. (2017). Primary care: A collaborative practice (5th ed.). New York: Mosby, Inc.

Jill, C & Ailsa, M. (2018). Community health and wellness: principles of primary health care. Sydney: Elsevier.

Papadakis, M. A., McPhee, S. J., & Rabow, M. W. (2018). Current medical diagnosis and treatment 2018 (57th ed.). Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Medical.

Trisha, G. (2013). Primary health care: Theory and practice. London: Blackwell Publishing.