What sections of the Nursing Practice Act and the Texas Board Rules…. Question
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Asked by pesther89
What sections of the Nursing Practice Act and the Texas Board Rules address documentation?
The nurse cannot make more staff magically appear. What could the nurse have done, under these circumstances, to improve her documentation and perhaps avoid being reported to the Texas Board? (NOTE: In the real case upon which this scenario is built, the nurse did testify that she felt that she had allowed herself to get lulled into the “that’s the way we do it” mentality for that unit!)
What do you feel is the best way to handle narcotic wastage if another nurse is not readily available?
Suppose you are an investigator with the Board. Open and read the sample background information and notice letter from the Board then discuss the above questions.
1. Read the Board Notice Letter. When the Board begins an investigation of a nurse, the nurse will receive a Notice Letter similar to this one, listing the specific allegations against the nurse. As stated, the nurse has 30 days from the date of the letter to file a written response. This is a facsimile of a real case.
2. You are to assume as follows: A. As the case evolves, it becomes clear that there is not an issue of chemical dependency or misappropriation of drugs in this case B. This is on a specialty pain management unit, which utilizes many narcotics in the treatment of the day patients C. The unit frequently is understaffed and the nurse under investigation gave this information:
1) The physicians would frequently, in the middle of a procedure, order more narcotics than originally requested, causing the nurse to have to quickly procure additional meds. Later, the physicians would fail to write/sign verbal orders for the additional meds.
2) This would cause the nurses to change the narcotic count to reflect the actual meds withdrawn. 3) The failure to waste according to the policy was due to the fact that no other nurse was available to witness the wastage.
3. This case eventually focused on two issues:
A. Documentation; and
B. Failure to follow the policy for wastage Discuss these questions: 1. What sections of the Nursing Practice Act and the Board Rules address documentation? 2. The nurse cannot make more staff magically appear. What could the nurse have done, under the circumstances, to improve her documentation and perhaps avoid being reported to the Board? (NOTE: In the real case upon which this scenario is built, the nurse did testify that she felt that she had allowed herself to get lulled into the “that’s the way we do it” mentality for that unit!) 3. What do you feel is the best way to handle narcotics if another nurse is not readily available?
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HEALTH SCIENCE
NURSING
NURSING 4350
What sections of the Nursing Practice Act and the Texas Board Rules…
