Background: Nurse practitioners’ role is always expanding. The Japanese Nurse Practitioner (JNP) system was initiated in 2015 to shift some aspects of doctors’ work to various other healthcare professionals, including nurses. JNPs’ fulfillment of their roles was shown to have a certain degree of efficacy and provide positive outcomes for patients (e.g., shortening hospitalization period). Nurse practitioners are considered legally liable for their medical practices because they are performed on doctors’ behalf; however, in real life, there is ambiguity regarding such practice. It is necessary to clarify nurse practitioners’ legal liability in order to ensure the safety of their medical practice and protect them in medical procedures performed on physicians’ behalf. This study aimed to clarify how JNPs understand their own legal liability in medical practice.
Methods: A qualitative, inductive research design was adopted to record participants’ opinions. The survey was conducted from October 2017 to February 2018. Participants were nurses working as JNPs at general hospitals in eastern Japan. We recruited participants via snowball sampling.
Results: With regard to JNPs’ legal liability in their medical practice, three themes understanding were observed: “determining whether the JNP has the ability to perform the assigned medical procedure,” “exercising caution when performing medical procedures on a doctor’s behalf” and “an urge to follow up with appropriate medical practice until the end of care.”
Conclusions: We demonstrated that JNPs recognized their own legal liability in medical practice. They had to protect themselves because their legal position was ambiguous. Furthermore, JNPs accepted that diagnosis and drug prescription could be performed (even if not within the 38 procedures JNPs are qualified to perform) on behalf of doctors if trusting relationships had been previously established.
Loading...
Posted 26 May, 2020
On 09 Jul, 2020
On 01 Jul, 2020
Received 27 May, 2020
On 25 May, 2020
On 20 May, 2020
Invitations sent on 20 May, 2020
On 19 May, 2020
On 14 May, 2020
On 17 Feb, 2020
Received 13 Feb, 2020
On 29 Jan, 2020
Received 20 Dec, 2019
On 13 Dec, 2019
Invitations sent on 08 Dec, 2019
On 29 Nov, 2019
On 28 Nov, 2019
On 28 Nov, 2019
On 14 Aug, 2019
Posted 26 May, 2020
On 09 Jul, 2020
On 01 Jul, 2020
Received 27 May, 2020
On 25 May, 2020
On 20 May, 2020
Invitations sent on 20 May, 2020
On 19 May, 2020
On 14 May, 2020
On 17 Feb, 2020
Received 13 Feb, 2020
On 29 Jan, 2020
Received 20 Dec, 2019
On 13 Dec, 2019
Invitations sent on 08 Dec, 2019
On 29 Nov, 2019
On 28 Nov, 2019
On 28 Nov, 2019
On 14 Aug, 2019
Background: Nurse practitioners’ role is always expanding. The Japanese Nurse Practitioner (JNP) system was initiated in 2015 to shift some aspects of doctors’ work to various other healthcare professionals, including nurses. JNPs’ fulfillment of their roles was shown to have a certain degree of efficacy and provide positive outcomes for patients (e.g., shortening hospitalization period). Nurse practitioners are considered legally liable for their medical practices because they are performed on doctors’ behalf; however, in real life, there is ambiguity regarding such practice. It is necessary to clarify nurse practitioners’ legal liability in order to ensure the safety of their medical practice and protect them in medical procedures performed on physicians’ behalf. This study aimed to clarify how JNPs understand their own legal liability in medical practice.
Methods: A qualitative, inductive research design was adopted to record participants’ opinions. The survey was conducted from October 2017 to February 2018. Participants were nurses working as JNPs at general hospitals in eastern Japan. We recruited participants via snowball sampling.
Results: With regard to JNPs’ legal liability in their medical practice, three themes understanding were observed: “determining whether the JNP has the ability to perform the assigned medical procedure,” “exercising caution when performing medical procedures on a doctor’s behalf” and “an urge to follow up with appropriate medical practice until the end of care.”
Conclusions: We demonstrated that JNPs recognized their own legal liability in medical practice. They had to protect themselves because their legal position was ambiguous. Furthermore, JNPs accepted that diagnosis and drug prescription could be performed (even if not within the 38 procedures JNPs are qualified to perform) on behalf of doctors if trusting relationships had been previously established.
Loading...