This course is an advanced course in legal nurse consulting and is the third course in the Legal Nurse Consulting Track of the Masters in Nursing Degree program. The prerequisites for this course are: successful completion of NRS 523 and NRS 524, and current licensure as a registered nurse. This course builds on the knowledge and skills acquired in NRS 523 and NRS 524, with an emphasis on nursing and health care malpractice. This comprehensive course covers a wide-array of negligence and malpractice issues. You will examine many dimensions of the core issues involved in negligence and malpractice claims today in clinical nursing practice and other areas of health care practice specialty. There is acute emphasis on all related standards of care and practice in each clinical situation examined. You will gain a much more in-depth education in case analysis and case reporting, as well as in expert witness research and testimony. This is a high level graduate course and requires an extensive amount of reading and studying.
This course is self-paced, with one-to-one faculty mentoring. You have 10 weeks to complete this course. Extension of time may be granted according to university policy and faculty approval. This course is formatted for 12 semester hours of credit. This course also provides an excellent means to obtain an education credential in legal nurse consulting and meet continuing education requirements for re-certification as a legal nurse consultant.
All assignments for this course on provided inside of the online classroom.
This course of study requires the use of a text book. The text for the course is below:
Book 1: Nursing Malpractice (3rd edition). By: Patricia W. Ayer, RN, MSN, LNCC, and Barbara J. Levin. Lawyers & Judges Publishing Co., 2007. ISBN-10# 1933264209.
You have many avenues of access to me. You may contact me anytime you have questions, would like clarification, etc. Your interaction with me is one-on-one and this is highly beneficial as you proceed through the course. You may contact me anytime you need to. Full instructor contact information is provided inside of the online classroom for this course.
Dominick L. Flarey, Ph.D., MBA, RN,CS, CNAA, FACHE - is President of Dominick L. Flarey & Associates, a health care consulting firm, and The Center for Medical-Legal Consulting. He has held positions as a certified nurse practitioner, associate administrator of patient care, chief operating office and administrator in acute care hospitals. He is a faculty member for Learning Tree University. He was an executive consultant to a national "big 6" accounting firm's health care practice and was a service line administrator and consultant for case management for another national consulting firm. He holds a BSN, an MBA, and Doctorates in nursing administration and management.
Dr. Flarey is certified in nursing administration advanced and as an adult nurse practitioner by the American Nurses Association Credentialing Center. He is a board certified health care executive by the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is a Fellow in the college. He also holds national certification in managed care from the Professional Education Institute. He is a Certified Medical-Legal Consultant.
He is the past editor-in-chief of JONA's (Journal of Nursing Administration) Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation. He is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Nursing Administration, Seminars for Nurse Managers, Case Management: Managing the Process of Patient Care, and Nursing Outcomes. He has authored over 50 published articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Flarey is editor/author of the book, "Redesigning Nursing Care Delivery: Transforming Our Future," published by Lippincott/Raven publishers. He is also co-editor/author of the following books by Aspen Publishers: "Reengineering Nursing and Health Care: The Handbook for Organizational Transformation," winner of a 1995 AJN book of the year award, "The Handbook of Nursing Case Management: Health Care Delivery in a World of Managed Care," "Case Studies in Case Management," "Health Care Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Cardiovascular Outcomes: Collaborative, Path-Based Approaches," and "Process-Centered Healthcare Organizations."
He lectures nationally on the topics of Case Management, Critical Pathways, Reengineering, Redesign, Organizational Transformation, Managed Care, and Legal Issues in Health Care. He is owner and president of his own consulting firm located in northeastern Ohio . He currently practices as a medical-legal nurse consultant. He has consulted for numerous attorneys across the country on medical and nursing malpractice cases, personal injury cases, product liability cases, workers compensation cases, and has served as an expert witness in nursing malpractice cases.
There are two examinations for this course. Both examinations are online examinations consisting of objective-type questions.
You will also develop two comprehensive learning portfolios. The first learning portfolio is due before taking the midterm examination, and the second learning portfolio is due before taking the final examination. Full instructions for developing the learning portfolio's are provided upon your enrollment. Each learning portfolio is graded as equivalent to one examination in the course.
90-100% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
Below 70% = Fail
You must score at minimum of 70% on all examinations in order to pass this course and receive credit.
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:
1). Prepare practicing legal nurse consultants to enhance their practices of Legal Nurse Consulting with sufficient knowledge for practice at an advanced level of practice and consultation.
2). Prepare legal nurse consultants to practice in a variety of practice settings as a legal nurse consultant including; medical and nursing malpractice, expert witness role, toxic torts, product liability, insurance industry, law firms, health care related organizations, and as an entrepreneurial legal nurse consultant.
3). Gain the knowledge and skills required to comprehensively analyze cases for attorney clients, or other types of clients, at an advanced level beyond basic preparation.
4). Learn effective report writing skills and presentation skills for analyzed cases.
5). Understand and practice legal nurse consulting with regards to high ethics and adherence to standards of practice.
6). Pepare practicing legal nurse consultants to increase their body of knowledge related to the practice of legal nurse consulting for personal and career growth.
7). Prepare legal nurse consultants to successfully achieve certification in Advanced Legal Nurse Consulting.
8). Provide legal nurse consultants with a college level credential for the practice of advanced legal nurse consulting.
Nursing Practice and Documentation
The Foundations of Nursing Practice
Standards of Care
Standards of Care: Locality Rule or National Standard?
Standards of Care versus Practice Guidelines
Evidence-Based Practice
The Roots of Patient Injury
Errors in Health Care
Sentinel events
Staffing
The Nurse: Roots of Patient Injury
An Inside Look at Today's Health Care Environment
Hospital Nursing Delivery Systems
Standards of Care
Theories of Liability
The Nursing Chain of Command
Staffing Issues
Assignments and Change of Shift
Competency and Staff Development
Discharge Planning
Advanced Practice Nursing
Nursing Practice Settings
Nursing Documentation
Obtaining Medical Records
Components of the Medical Record
Other Sources of Information about the Patient
Organizing Medical Records
Nursing Charting Systems
Common Areas of Nursing Liability
Obstetrical Nursing Malpractice Issues
Deviations from the Standards of Care
Screening Cases
Areas of Specific Nursing Liability
Identification of High-Risk Patients
Defenses
Neonatal Nursing Malpractice Issues
Standard of Care
Scope of Practice
Common Causes of Liability
Issues Related to Informed Consent
Pediatric Nursing Malpractice Issues
Initial Review of the Pediatric Case
Five Litigation Issues in Pediatric Nursing
Standards of Care for Pediatric Nursing
Scope of Practice Emergency Nursing Malpractice Issues
Importance of Standards of Care in Litigation
Critical Care Nursing Malpractice Issues
Scope of Practice
Standards of Care
Sources of Liability
Trends that Influence the Liability of Critical Care Nurses
Screening Critical Care Cases
Perioperative Nursing Malpractice Issues
Perioperative Standard of Care
Legal Theories
Nursing Errors
Post anesthesia Care Unit Liability Issues
Screening the Perioperative Case
Nurse Anesthesia Malpractice Issues
Common Potential Sources of Liability
Analysis of Malpractice Claims
Safety in the Operating Room
Policies
Analysis of the Medical Record
Potential Defenses
Identifying Potential Defendants
Psychiatric Nursing Malpractice Issues
Expanding Liabilities
Standards of Care for Psychiatric Nursing
Advanced Practice
Screening the Psychiatric Nursing Malpractice Case
Medical Surgical Nursing Malpractice Issues
Factors that Contribute to Malpractice Claims
Deviations from the Standard of Care
Defense of medical surgical nursing malpractice cases
Sub acute and Long-Term Care Nursing Malpractice Issues
Screening the Long-Term-Care Case
Liability Issues Associated with the Assessment and Care Planning Process
Common Liability Issues
Sources of Liability in Long-Term Care
Scope of Practice Issues
Risk Prevention
Defense of the Long-Term-Care Case
Managed Care Liability Issues
Financial Issues and HMOs
ERISA
HMO Liability and Fiduciary Duty
Home Health Care Nursing Malpractice Issues
Managed Care Issues
Home Care Standards
Anatomy of the Home Care Medical Record
Potential Areas of Liability
Defense Strategies
Case Studies
Case Screening
Medication Errors
Types of Errors
When the Five Rights Go Wrong
Additional Types of Medication Errors
Error Categorization by Severity
Category III Errors
Beyond Malpractice to Health Care Fraud-Nurses at Risk
What Is Health Care Fraud and Abuse?
How Is Fraud Committed?
How a Nurse Contributes to Fraud and Abuse
How the State Nursing Board Would Become Involved
Nurses with UPINs
Schemes
Attorney-Client Issues
Qui Tam
Fraud in a Medical Malpractice Case
Case Summaries
Litigation of Nursing Malpractice Claims
Common Nursing Breaches of the Standard of Care
Examples of Nursing Malpractice Cases
Sources for Medical Malpractice Cases
Elements of Negligence
Investigation of the Potential Claim
Filing in State or Federal Court
Coverage-Professional Liability Insurance
Who Should be a Defendant
Setting Up the File
The Contract
Medical Records
Expert Witnesses
What Do You Have to Prove?
Discovery Tools
Interrogatories
Request for Production of Documents and Things
Tips for Requesting Appropriate Documents in Requests for Production
Admissions of Fact
Physical Examinations
Depositions
Legal Doctrines and Liability
Damage Caps
Settling a Claim
Preparing the Case
The Defense Perspective
Initiation of the Case
Investigating the Claim
Meeting with the Client and Answering Interrogatories
The Deposition
The Impending Trial
The Legal Nurse Consultant: An Essential Team Member
Legal Nurse Consultant versus Paralegal
Roles of the LNC
Confidentiality of Work Product
Limitations of the Legal Nurse Consultant's Role
The Independent Legal Nurse Consultant
The Legal Nurse Consultant Employed as a Risk Manager
The Legal Nurse Consultant Employed by a Law Firm
The role of the in-house LNC
Summary of a Nursing Malpractice Case
Medical Record Review
Analysis of a Case
Questions Prepared to Depose a Defendant Nurse
Working with Nursing Expert Witnesses
Use of an Expert Witness in a Nursing Malpractice Case
Qualifications of the Nurse Expert Witness
Finding the Nurse Expert Witness
Preparing the Documents
Ethical Aspects of Preparing the Case
Evaluating the Opposing Expert's Curriculum Vitae and Report
Communicating with Nurse Expert Witnesses
Additional Services of the Expert Witness
Preparing the Expert for Deposition
Deposing the Opposing Expert
Preparing the Expert for Trial
Cross-Examination
Cross Examination of the Opposing Expert
Life Care Plans
Use of Life Care Plans
Steps in the Preparation of the Life Care Plan
The Components of the Life Care Plan
Evaluation of a Life Care Plan in Preparation for Testimony
Ethical Issues
Vocational Damages
Reasons for Using a Vocational Expert
What Are the Areas of Expertise of the Vocational Expert?
Materials Desirable for Vocational Assessments
The Role of the Forensic Economist in Nursing Malpractice Actions
Ethical Dimensions of Using an Expert Economist
Dimensions of Economic Damages
Pain and Suffering
Pain as an Element of Damages
Suffering
Pain and Suffering Testimony
Format for the Pain and Suffering Report
12 Case Examples
Testimony at Trial
Demonstrative Evidence
The Courtroom as a Classroom
Preservation of Evidence
Evidentiary Considerations
Types of Trial Exhibits
Basic Considerations for Use of Exhibits at Trial
Authentication of Exhibits
Commonly Used Types of Demonstrative Evidence in Nursing Malpractice Cases
Considerations in Selecting an Approach to Presenting Demonstrative Evidence
Design Principles of Presentation Software
Trial Consulting
Purposes of Trial Consulting
External Validity Testing
Trial Research
Are the Focus Group and Its Results Discoverable?
Use of the Internet for Trial Consulting
Crafting Effective Themes for a Nursing Malpractice Case
Common Defenses
Trial Techniques
Voir Dire
Opening Statement
Witnesses
The Nurse as a Defendant
Closing Argument
Jury Instructions
If you have any questions regarding this program, you may address
them to adm@breyerstate.com.
An administrative faculty member will respond to all questions.
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