Avoiding Liability Bulletin – April 1, 2014
As you already know, there are many, many sources of information on the Internet that pertains to the legal and ethical aspects of your practice. However, some are more trusted and more acceptable than others.
Information can be posted about these topics with little, if any, solid documentation behind the sites. So, it is essential that when you are looking for information about your practice, educational opportunities, and the like, you use resources that are reputable, accepted, and provide up-to-date information.
Here are a few of the many sites I utilize regularly for keeping up with current issues in nursing and in law. I hope they are helpful to you as well.
- American Nurses Association— www.nursingworld.org . This site provides ANA Position Statements, articles of interest, legislative information, and links to other helpful websites, including its Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.
- American Society of Healthcare Risk Management— http://www.ashrm.org/ . This site includes useful information on risk management in healthcare, including its Patient Safety Portal that has links to many topics on patient safety for nurses and other health care professionals.
- CRICO-Nursing— www.rmf.harvard.edu/Clinician-Resources/Specialty-Reference-Tag/Nursing . This site includes case studies on nursing malpractice and regularly changed articles on nursing practice and the law.
- Findlaw — http://www.findlaw.com/. This site allows you to search for state and federal laws, decisions of court cases, and search other legal resources.
- Institute for Safe Medication Practices— www.ismp.org . The Institute’s site includes the feature Medication Safety Tools and Resources and provides an email news – letter for nurses called Nurse Advise ERR.
- The National Academy of Medicine (Formerly known as the Institute of Medicine)— http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/ .
- Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations— www.jcaho.org The Commission website has a wealth of information on its standards, its accreditation and certification process, sentinel events, its requirements, and a section on information for nurses.
- National Council of State Boards of Nursing— www.ncsbn.org .The Council presents a wealth of information on nursing practice and nursing practice issues, the Nurse Licensure Compact, information on nursing regulation, and a link to its journal, The Journal of Nursing Regulation.
- Vanderbilt University Center for Ethics – https://medicineandpublichealth.vanderbilt.edu/cbmes/. The Center has a link to many excellent nursing ethics resources.
Happy Surfing!
THIS BULLETIN IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE TAKEN AS SPECIFIC LEGAL OR OTHER ADVICE BY THE READER. IF LEGAL OR OTHER ADVICE IS NEEDED, THE READER IS ENCOURAGED TO SEEK ADVICE FROM A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL.
