School Nurse Liability Issues

[ajasfolks2]

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/action/view_topic/topic_id/14715

maeve:

Stumbled across this interesting article.

http://www.schoolnurse.com/med_info/legalissues.html

socks on a rooster:

That's a good article. I like her support of self carrying of emergency medications.

Arkadia:

. . .

Standards of Care

Collaberation

Delegation

Limits on prescriptive ability

Responsibility to State Nurse Practice Act or Licensing board and other governing bodies as the higher authority rather than to whim of administrator.

Failure to act being grievous such in the manner that negligent or improper action or action outside one's Scope of Practice can be.

Oh, and specifically, can very well appreciate this:

School nurses can be liable for errors made in advising the district, consulting to other staff, setting priorities for their own practice, making professional judgments, and directing others, as well as for staying long-term in a situation that remains unsafe for students. School nurses are generally not liable for errors made by others, unless they contribute to those errors by deliberate actions (or inactions), such as unsafe delegation under pressure from an administrator, or inadequate training or supervision of someone to whom they delegate a nursing activity.

bold added. Really, there have been few School Nurse positions I'd be willing to take on. Acuity, Standard's of Care, and Scope of Practice.  I've seen one too many positions that I would consider unsafe, both for student and professional license, as well as situations that are either outside one's scope of practice, or beneath a standard of care. Inappropriate delegation.

[ajasfolks2]

Tucking this link here:

Aft.org = American Federation of Teachers

The Medically Fragile Child
Caring for Children with Special Healthcare Needs in the School Setting
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/healthcare/medicallyfragilechild0409.pdf