DiversityNursing Blog

Decades ago, Ann Rhodes and her husband were coming home from a movie on New Year’s Eve. A car passed them and spun out of control into a field. One person was thrown from the vehicle, which then tragically rolled onto him.

“We stopped and got out of the car. One man was still in the vehicle, but he survived because he had his seat belt on. He had minor injuries,” Rhodes says.

When she got to the other man, he was still alive.  Rhodes, an RN with a master’s degree in nursing, took off her coat to put over him and held his hand. Moments later, he died.

“It was pretty awful, and we haven’t gone out on that holiday since. But I believe it is in most people’s instinct, especially a mother’s instinct, to protect others. I don’t think I could not help someone. Most people would stop – nurse or not – to see if they could help someone,” she says.

A Nurse’s Dilemma

Unfortunately, it’s not always as simple as just trying to help. The dilemma of whether or not to get involved while off-duty can be quite a difficult situation for nurses and other healthcare professionals to find themselves in.

Though the accident she witnessed affected her deeply, Rhodes also understands why a nurse might not stop to help.  After attempting to render aid, some nurses have actually been the subject of legal action.

“Being sued changes the way you think and the way you practice your profession,” she says. 

When The Law Is Not Enough

Every state has some form of the Good Samaritan law, which is designed to protect citizens from being sued or charged criminally for any injuries or death after they’ve stopped to help. The law is meant to encourage bystanders to render emergency assistance by covering everyone, no matter what their profession.  However, the law doesn’t provide a rescuer complete immunity.   

In a clinic or hospital setting, nurses are often protected through professional liability or Error and Omissions insurance. Rhodes discusses some of the aspects of that protection.

“There will be some exceptions, like if the nurse does something that is illegal or a violation of the law. Lots of policies have exclusions that include things like risky and unclear behavior, or an assault against a patient,” she says. “If they do perform a procedure, like grab a scalpel, and do something they are not trained to do, then that’s a different story.”

Similarly, the Good Samaritan law also does not cover you if you do something reckless. An example of recklessness would be starting to render aid, then stopping and leaving before the patient has been stabilized or other help has arrived.  

However, if you give a good faith effort given the circumstances, you have probably met your legal requirements and will likely be covered by the law.  However, that doesn’t mean you won’t get sued.

“People can file a lawsuit against anyone. The issue is whether they can collect,” Rhodes says. 

“Even if the lawsuit isn’t successful, it still takes an emotional toll on the person being sued. It will be costly too, even if the person being sued did everything right. They have to defend themselves.”

Enabling Bystander Response

The American Nurses Association (ANA) states on its website that registered nurses have consistently been reliable responders even when it puts their own safety or well-being at risk. 

Yet others struggle with the call to respond for a variety of reasons. 

These may include not having adequate support to meet the needs of the patient, concern about professional ethics, or legal protection while providing care.

Fortunately, the ANA and other national associations are partnering with government groups, employers, and others to help.  By implementing policies that enable registered nurses and others who provide care to respond without fear, it helps to ensure that the needs of the American public are met during any kind of disaster.

Assessing An Emergency Situation

So what should you do if you find yourself in an emergency situation?  

Carolyn Buppert, a healthcare attorney and author of the book “Nurse Practitioner’s Guide to Compensation and Qualify: How to Get Paid and Not Get Sued,” offers some sage advice.

“Nurses are not obligated to help,” she says. “In an emergency situation, it’s tough to think of precautions or liability.  But what should a nurse think about when she comes upon an individual or group of people who need medical attention outside of the workplace?”

Buppert recommends several questions to ask before rendering aid:

• What does this person need?
• How much of an emergency is this?
• What do I have to offer?
• Is anyone already helping?
• Am I sufficiently educated and experienced to provide a useful service to this person?
• What is the potential for physical danger to myself?
• What are the chances that EMS will be here soon?
• What is the likelihood that EMS will get here in time? 

“The law can get tricky in situations. For instance, if a nurse works for a hospital, and a discharged patient calls the nurse or approaches her or him in a shopping mall asking questions or requesting services or advice, the nurse should decline to provide nursing services or advice, and tell the patient to contact their physician’s office,” Buppert says.

“If the nurse gives advice and the advice is wrong, the patient suffers some adverse outcome, the nurse could be sued, and there is no Good Samaritan law that would protect the nurse,” she adds.

Preparing Before An Emergency

Not every form of  ‘helping’ is covered by Good Samaritan laws. Some states’ laws cover motor vehicle accidents but not all incidents or stranger’s needs on the street.

Buppert gives one last suggestion for all nurses. “My advice to nurses is to look up the Good Samaritan law in your state and see what protection it offers. Many nurses will help others, while off duty, without thinking of the possible consequences to themselves,” she says. “That’s admirable, but it doesn’t hurt to spend a few minutes looking at your state’s law to see what protections are available at a time when there is no emergency.”

Have a question about this or any general questions? Ask one of our Nurse Leaders!

Each year, millions of women undergo mammograms for early detection of possible breast cancer. It's an unpleasant procedure that uses X-rays. Researchers at TU Eindhoven are working on a 'breast-friendly' method, without radiation, that is more accurate and generates 3D rather than 2D images. They published their proof of concept earlier this month in the online journal Scientific Reports.

•  "Could you tell me about a time when you interacted with a patient who really needed some spiritual support or attention?"
•  "Please describe your personal definition of spirituality?"
• "How do you see the connection between religion and spirituality?"
• "Could you talk to me about your own comfort in providing spiritual care to critically ill patients?"3
  
  

Taylor summed up many of the study's findings. "Assessing the mind, the body and the soul necessitates the care of spiritual interventions."

References

1.Canfield C et. al. Critical Care Nurses' Perceived Need for Guidance in Addressing Spirituality in Critically Ill Patients. American Journal of Critical Care. May 2016. 25 (3). 206-11.

2. Table 1. Critical Care Nurses' Perceived Need for Guidance in Addressing Spirituality in Critically Ill Patients  http://ajcc.aacnjournals.org/content/25/3/206/T1.expansion.html

3.Table 2. Critical Care Nurses' Perceived Need for Guidance in Addressing Spirituality in Critically Ill Patients  http://ajcc.aacnjournals.org/content/25/3/206/T2.expansion.html

It’s an unusual sight in the halls of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Alongside doctors, nurses, and patients, a robot about the size of a washing machine quietly glides through the hospital, a bright light marking its presence.

Dana-Farber executives have high hopes for “Lucy,” one of the newest technologies in use at Boston’s best-known cancer center. Lucy is being developed to deliver prescription drugs directly to patients while they sit in infusion rooms receiving chemotherapy — a treatment that can take many hours. If the system works, it will save patients the time and trouble of having to stand in line to pick up their prescriptions at a pharmacy after an already long and draining day of treatment.

“We want Lucy to be able to improve the patient’s experience while they’re here all day,” said Sylvia Bartel, vice president of pharmacy at Dana-Farber. “Their last stop is usually coming to the outpatient pharmacy and picking up a prescription. They finish their chemotherapy, they have to wait in a line, so we felt like there had to be a way for us to efficiently deliver the [medications] using technology.”

Dana-Farber began testing the technology in 2013, after getting a phone call from executives at Vecna Technologies, the Cambridge-based company that developed the robot and was looking to expand its health care business. The Boston cancer center is one of just a few hospitals in the world using the machine.

Lucy is equipped with a touchscreen, a scanner, and compartments for stocking drugs. There is no attempt to give it human features, other than a voice only used occasionally. For now, the robot doesn’t interact with patients, only with hospital staff. It moves drugs around the Longwood area hospital, making about a dozen trips a day, using Wi-Fi-connected software to open doors and use service elevators.

Lucy isn’t glitch-free. It has ended up on the wrong floor before. On one recent afternoon, its movements were halting. Another day, it was out of service because of a connectivity problem.

Even so, Carlos Verrier, business operations manager in Dana-Farber’s pharmacy, said Lucy has helped make the pharmacy more productive. The hospital pharmacy is a busy place, processing some 400 scrips a day.

“It’s really allowing the staff to do more of what they’re trained to do... and not having to take them away to do a delivery,” Verrier said. “They spend more time on clinical aspects of their job than on delivering medication.”

Deborah Theobald, Vecna’s chief executive, said there’s a lot of potential for using such robots to move sensitive items around a hospital. Robots can move potent, expensive drugs around a building more safely and securely than humans, she said. Their every move can be easily tracked.

Vecna’s QC Bot costs roughly $150,000. Theobald acknowledged that hospital executives may need some persuading before they’re ready to give it a try.

“There’s an education process to get them over the hump and see the [return on investment],” she said. “People really appreciate robots once you get over the education hurdle. People don’t want to go back.”

Anne Tonachel, a former patient and current volunteer at Dana-Farber, has seen Lucy moving around the halls and quickly become a fan.

Tonachel is an ovarian cancer survivor who vividly remembers the pain of receiving chemotherapy treatment for many hours at a time. The treatments left her feeling too sick to pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy. Tonachel said she would have loved to skip that step by having a robot deliver prescriptions directly to her.

“No one would mind having Lucy show up at their bed or chair side,” she said. “In fact, her arrival might add a bit of interest to the day and bring a few smiles.”

A woman who was called 'just a nurse' has sparked a conversation around the world about the value of nursing.

Caitlin Brassington, of Toowoomba, Australia, posted on Facebook that one day last week after work she was in a grocery store, wearing her scrubs, when she ran into an old friend who said she hadn't realized that Brassington was "just a nurse."

"Wow! Over my 18 year career I have heard this phrase many, many time[s], but today it got to me," wrote Brassington, 38, in a now-viral Facebook post that's received more than 19,000 likes.

Brassington went on to gives example of how important nurses are to their patients and communities.

"I have helped babies into the world, many of whom needed assistance to take their first breath, and yet I am just a nurse," she wrote. "I have held patients hands and ensured their dignity while they take their last breath, and yet I am just a nurse. I have counselled grieving parents after the loss of a child, and yet I am just a nurse."

A pediatric nurse who has been in the profession more than nine years, Brassington told ABC News she's "heard this phrase said many times before," but for some reason was moved in this instance to speak out.

The a mother of three added that many don't realize how the role of nurses has evolved over the last 50 years, "particularly with advances in technology and advanced training."

"I think more than ever nurses now have a partnership with doctors and are a vital component of the health care teams," she said.

In the U.S. alone, there are more than 2.7 million nurses, according to 2014 statistics from the United States Department of Labor.

Brassington said her post was on behalf of nurses around the globe.

"It has started a worldwide conversation about how we value and respect certain service industries within communities," she told ABC News. "I think this conversation is long overdue."