Legal & Ethical Issues

Plot

Quick Look Nursing: Legal and Ethical Issues, authored by two successful nurse attorneys, examines topics from basic legal foundations to complicated legal issues challenging nurses every day. Important topics chosen for the book include a wide range of legal and ethical issues from basic concepts, such as professional regulation of licensure, to bioethical issues, such as assisted suicide. It is written to provide nursing students, nursing faculty, and nursing professionals with an organized and manageable format covering the essential components of legal and ethical issues to make learning and teaching easier.Section One includes subjects related to legal risks in the nursing practice and presents a review of the legal system, negligence and malpractice, standards of care, insurance, regulation of practice and refusing an assignment. Section Two examines topics related to liability in patient care including confidential communications, informed consent pain control, patient teaching, clients with AIDS, and abusive situations. Documentation issues are presented in Section Three including computerized records, implementing orders incident reports, and forensics. Employment issues are dealt with in Section Four including contracts, unionization, employment status liability, sexual harassment, violence, and employees with AIDS and needlesticks. Section Five targets ethical issues including unethical conduct, patients rights, maternal vs. fetal rights, and assisted suicide.This extraordinary text is a concise yet scholarly presentation of material that is essential for professional practice. Each chapter condenses content that would normally be included in an hour lecture format and incorporates the essentials.