Exceeding in your scope of practice may result in a violation of your committed practices unless you hire a nurse attorney for the hearing of your case. It may be a good decision of goodwill to help out someone in need at a hospital. However, the Texas Board of Nursing doesn’t allow such acts.
After all, the Texas Board of Nursing ensures that all nurses will comply with the guidelines provided to them, and it will only be limited to the practices assigned to the nurse. Any acts that are out of the scope of practice may subject your license into suspension, disciplinary action or revocation. But if you cannot help to do the act of goodwill for a patient or staff, then hire a nurse attorney when the need arises.
An instance of such act happened on or about October 10, 2015, when an RN at San Antonio exceeded her scope of practice by providing plastic cuffs to a patient without the physician’s orders. Additionally, the RN was not able to document the incident on the medical records and nurse’s notes.
The RN was advised to attend a hearing for her case, wherein she stated that she will accept the responsibility of the allegations placed on her. She also stated that the reason why she applied the cuffs was due to the patient undergoing a state of hysteria when he was brought to the hospital for treatment.
She added that she used plastic cuffs because the patient complained of the discomfort of using metal restraints since he was already suffering from a long history of hand pain and cervical radiculopathy. She also wrote a temporary pass so then plastic cuffs can be applied to the patient until the physician checks the patient’s status.
The RN also states that no harm was done to the patient during the process, and the patient complied to the care provided by the RN. She also stated that she failed to document due to hospital policy, and e-mails are commonly used in the hospital for emergencies. Unfortunately, she was not able to hire a nurse attorney to defend her case further.
Therefore, the Texas Board of Nursing honored her explanation despite giving her a disciplinary action on her RN license. A nurse attorney is still valuable regardless of explanation as they can provide a stronger defense for your case. To do so, it’s best to contact San Antonio nurse attorney Yong J. An for further assistance by dialing him at (832) 428-5679.