The Good Nurse
Nursing Law
Get It Together helps you organize your records and make it easy for your family to track down your important paperwork with this step-by-step guide. 
Do your loved ones know where to find your life insurance policies, online banking passwords, real estate deeds, or even your will?
If you’re like a lot of people, you keep important information—from the whereabouts of family heirlooms to online passwords to automatic bill-pay details—in your head or stashed in the odd desk drawer. Unfortunately, this disorganization will likely cause hassles for those who someday take care of you or your estate.
Everything You Need to Get Organized
Organize your records and make it easy for your family to track down your important paperwork with this step-by-step guide. Get It Together will show you how to keep track of:
- Estate planning documents
- Final arrangements
- Tax records
Includes all of the help you need to organize your records
for yourself and your family.
Legal Knowledge for Nurses
The practice of nursing is the promotion of health and the assessment of, the provision of care for and the treatment of health conditions by supportive, preventive, therapeutic, palliative and rehabilitative means which is delivered by a nurse in order for the patient to attain or maintain optimal function.
As a professional, nurses are held to a higher standard in the delivery of proper care to the patients that they serve. The legal implications of nursing practice are tied to licensure, state and federal laws, scope of practice and a public expectation that nurses practice at a high professional standard. The nurse's education, license and nursing standard provide the framework by which nurses are expected to practice.It is vitally important to know what the law requires of you as a nurse so that you can protect your ability to what you do. Here are a few issues facing nurses today:
- Nurses are expected to function within the legislation, legal policies, statutes relevant to the profession and practice setting, and professional standards.
- The standard of practice of nursing states that registered nurses must base their practice on an understanding and analysis of the legislation that influences nursing.
- Nurses are now being, and will continue to be given increased responsibility, thereby increasing their exposure to lawsuits.
- Nurses must know the rights and obligations of the nurse in interactions with patients, families of patients, other nurses, and other health care practitioners.
Nurses have the potential to lead the way in improving health and health care for all, but in order to realize that potential they must operate in an environment that is safe, empowering, and satisfying. ust as health care workers have a duty of care to their patients, employers have a fundamental duty of care to their employees – to create a healthy work environment for them.
It isn’t just about making sure health care settings are free from potential threats to a practitioner’s physical welfare – the World Health Organization (WHO) defines a healthy environment as a place of “physical, mental, and social well-being,” supporting optimal health and safety.
The Nurses Bill Of Rights
The American Nurses Association (ANA) believes that in order to be sure that a work environment fulfills these criteria, and allows nurses to perform to the best of their ability, there are certain fundamentals which have to be in place.
To that end, they have created the Nurses’ Bill Of Rights, a document setting forth seven basic principles concerning workplace expectations and environments that we believe every nurse has a fundamental right to see fulfilled.
- Nurses have the right to practice in a manner that fulfills their obligations to society and to those who receive nursing care.
- Nurses have the right to practice in environments that allow them to act in accordance with professional standards and legally authorized scopes of practice.
- Nurses have the right to a work environment that supports and facilitates ethical practice, in accordance with the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements.
- Nurses have the right to freely and openly advocate for themselves and their patients, without fear of retribution.
- Nurses have the right to fair compensation for their work, consistent with their knowledge, experience, and professional responsibilities.
- Nurses have the right to a work environment that is safe for themselves and for their patients.
- Nurses have the right to negotiate the conditions of their employment, either as individuals or collectively, in all practice settings.
American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses
Provision 1
The nurse practices with compassion and respect for the inherent dignity, worth, and unique attributes of every person.
Provision 2
The nurse’s primary commitment is to the patient, whether an individual, family, group, community, or population.
Provision 3
The nurse promotes, advocates for, and protects the rights, health, and safety of the patient.
Provision 4
The nurse has authority, accountability and responsibility for nursing practice; makes decisions; and takes action consistent with the obligation to provide optimal patient care.
Provision 5
The nurse owes the same duties to self as to others, including the responsibility to promote health and safety, preserve wholeness of character and integrity, maintain competence, and continue personal and professional growth.
Provision 6
The nurse, through individual and collective effort, establishes, maintains, and improves the ethical environment of the work setting and conditions of employment that are conducive to safe, quality health care.
Provision 7
The nurse, in all roles and settings, advances the profession through research and scholarly inquiry, professional standards development, and the generation of both nursing and health policy.
Provision 8
The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public to protect human rights, promote health diplomacy, and reduce health disparities.
Provision 9
The profession of nursing, collectively through its professional organizations, must articulate nursing values, maintain the integrity of the profession, and integrate principles of social justice into nursing and health policy.
Every day, nurses adapt and evolve to face new challenges in modern health care, and nurses must be supported today, tomorrow, and for the future. From advocating at the highest levels of policymaking, to setting the optimum credentialing standards, to funding the best nursing research, every nurse is encouraged to become the best nurse that they can be. The American Nurses Association promotes the health, safety, and wellness of nurses in all practice environments; and provide the resources, information, and networks that nurses need to excel in their practice.
