MEDICAL LEGAL SERVICES
March 14, 2009
The Redwood Coast Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWONN) has invited Kindra Waluk, Legal Nurse Consultant and Healthcare Educator, to discuss current legal issues related to medical and nursing errors in the acute care setting. Discussion will focus on appropriate medical record documentation, accessing the chain of command, and identifying the professional responsibilities for the Registered Nurse when working in a Charge Nurse or Float Nurse capacity. Please join The Redwood Coast Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWONN) at:
March 18, 2009
5:00p - 7:00p
Humboldt Area Foundation
Vietor Retreat Room
373 Indianola Rd, Bayside, CA
Contact the Redwood Coast Chapter of AWHONN for more information. CEUs will be provided.
Continuing Education for Humboldt County Bar Association
March 2, 2009
Please join Pacific Legal Health owner, Kindra Waluk, RN, MSN/Ed, CLNC as she presents Whiplash and Chronic Back Injury Economics at the March 6, 2009, general membership meeting of the Humboldt County Bar Association. Please contact Education@pacificlegalhealth.com for more information or call our office at (707) 832-4150.
PLH Brings Rural Professionals Continuing Education Opportunities
November 8, 2008
Being a rural professional has its luxuries and challenges. Attorneys, doctors and nurses working in rural communities face three common barriers to receiving up-to-date continuing education: time, distance, and cost.
As a healthcare educator, Kindra Waluk has created a series of medical-legal programs to meet minimum continuing legal education (MCLE) requirements for attorneys.
PLH will launch this series with the Humboldt County Bar Association in January, 2009, based on an interest survey submitted November 7, 2008. We look forward to overcoming rural practice obstacles by bringing the MCLE program directly to you.
Legal Issues in New Graduate Nursing
October 16, 2008
Pacific Legal Health spent this fall helping new graduate nurses understand "Legal Issues in Nursing", focusing on the interpretation of standards of care and their importance when providing safe nursing care in the hospital setting. New graduate nurses are acculturated to the policies and procedures that reflect their nursing specialty. Recognizing areas that commonly concern Risk Managers enables new graduate nurses to be alert to at-risk clinical scenarios. The goal in recognizing clinical practice risks helps protect nursing licenses, grow confidence in new nurses, and support the organizational goal of safe and efficient health care.
Nurses are now taking additional measures to prevent medical errors too common in today's health care settings.
"Preventable medical errors" have been identified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as those health problems occurring specifically due to sub-standard health care. Nurses and doctors work together to ensure all patient needs are met; oftentimes health care providers must anticipate the potential complications related to hospitalization and prevent them by addressing patient nutrition, hygiene, exercise, and positioning in bed BEFORE problems arise.
Medicare/Medicaid Changes Their Stance on
Medical Errors
August 8, 2008
This fall will be a busy time for hospitals and long-term healthcare facilities due to the decision by the federal government to recognize eight medical diagnoses that are considered directly due to negligent healthcare. In October, 2008, healthcare agencies will be held financially accountable for preventable medical errors that commonly occur during hospitalization. These "hospital acquired conditions" or preventable medical errors that cause serious injury or death for patients, results in extended hospital stays and unnecessary healthcare costs. Federal insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, will not pay for treatment and hospital care related to these conditions acquired from potentially negligent healthcare and deem patients not responsible for related payments as well (CMS, 2008).
One condition considered a preventable medical error includes the breakdown of one's skin, known in healthcare as a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are caused by unrelieved pressure against the skin, commonly when placed on bedrest by a doctor's order due to surgery, medical conditions, and/or illnesses (Dirksen, O'Brien, Lewis, et al., 2007). This unrelieved pressure limits the blood flowing to the skin, thereby causing tissue death. The healthcare providers in charge of patient care are responsible for ensuring our skin stays intact. Assessment tools such as the Braden Scale allow nurses to assess skin changes and prevent skin damage during hospitalization. Doctors and nurses collaborate to ensure patients stay safe - this includes ensuring skin stays intact.
Have a medical-legal case where skin integrity is in question? Contact PLH to discuss case screening and discovery recommendations addressing Policies and Procedures, hospital practices, and current evidence-based research.
Contact PLH for educational seminars discussing the anatomy of the eight medical errors and the legal ramifications for patients and attorneys involved in
Pressure Ulcer litigation.
Example - Normal, intact skin
Example - skin with Stage 3 pressure ulcer
New Service: Forensic Computer Expert Liaison
North Coast Networks has joined forces with Pacific Legal Health to provide forensic computer expertise to the medical-legal field.
Armed with unique capabilities to recover deleted files, erased email communication, and identify suspicious electronic activity, Pacific Legal Health provides attorneys another level of exemplary service.
Have you ever been asked to answer your cell phone beyond the double doors of a nursing floor? Been looked down upon for answering an email with your Blackberry while visiting a friend or family member? What hospitals are not telling you is that they may be introducing the same risk we bring in with our PDAs, phones, and blue tooth headsets. Tracking equipment through radio frequency tags is increasing in frequency at hospitals across the nation. IV pumps and medication dispensing equipment are just a few pieces of hospital equipment using microchips to track location and use in the health care setting. However, this trend could be disrupting life saving medical care received from external heart pacemakers, ventilators, and IV syringe pumps, reports the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA, 2008).
This may pose a substantial factor in negative outcomes occurring in the critically ill patient population. Who’s responsibility is it to maintain the safety of hospitalized patients when the equipment may cause harm? Product design defects known to cause untoward effects to the consumer-at-large are concerning when it may mean life or limb.
In the literature... Wireless Technology Creates Hospital Risk
Pacific Legal Health
3144 Broadway, Suite 4-181
Eureka, CA 95501
Toll Free: (866) 559-9927
Phone: (707) 832-4150
Fax: (707) 221-9884
Contact us: service@pacificlegalhealth.com
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