Discuss the most common legal liabilities are understaffing and violence in the workplace (Turner 2018).

Discussion 1:The most common legal liabilities are understaffing and violence in the workplace (Turner 2018). Another potential legal liability for a nurse manager can be if a nurse under your charge commits a form of negligence you can be brought into the lawsuit since you were on shift and in charge of that nurse (Turner, 2018). The liability for the nurse manager would be viewed differently in a claim if they were not providing the care to the patient but just managing the staff (Brent, 2013). The nurse manager’s liability is not a higher form of liability but just a different form (Brent, 2013). Some management thinks they are above getting into trouble but if they do dangerous things they can get in trouble too- I have worked with many nurse managers that acted like they were better than everyone and could not help you with anything you were doing.The nurse manager can make sure new nurse staff members are trained and oriented to the unit to minimize potential liability (Brent, 2013). Making sure that staffing is correct for the nurse to patient ratio and that nurse can receive their breaks without coming back to the unit to rush to care for patients when breaks are over (Turner, 2018). The manager can be active and consistent on the supervision of the unit (Brent, 2013). I have worked in places where the manager would not help and basically hid the whole shift in their office. Other places I have worked the manager would help any way they could and I think it made the staff happier. I have been an interim manager and helped out as much as I could but I realized that I did not want to be the manager full time since I worked long hours and my son was young at the time so it took away time from him.Nurses have been in the top 5 jobs where there is violence in the workplace (Turner, 2018). Nurse managers can provide training on a semiannual basis if the workplace has a high rate of violence like in ER’s and provide security in those areas (Turner, 2018). Nurse managers can have a no-tolerance policy on a nurse to nurse bullying which can lead to workplace violence (Turner, 2018). I worked in corrections for many years and have seen inmates attack the guards but never the nurses. I know it is always not the case in some correctional facilities but I think it depends on where you work and if you work with good people that look out for one another.Discussion 2:Nurse managers have a legal obligation to ensure that competent and safe care is given to patients in their work environment. They are liable for hiring incompetent staff, keeping incompetent staff on the schedule, not properly assigning nurses to areas of care, not adequately supervising staff, not properly educating and training, and not warning potential employers of “problem” employees (Guido, 2014). Nursing managers and supervisors are in charge of their licensed and unlicensed staff and ultimately responsible for negligent acts. Managers need to hire qualified nurses that are competent and have an unencumbered license to practice nursing. Nurses that are not competent with certain knowledge or skills need to be trained and their skills evaluated. If they are still found incompetent, they need to be reassigned to an area they are competent or let go. Some managers feel bad about terminating a nurse, but they need to protect the patients and maintain the standards of care for nursing practice. By keeping incompetent nurses on the payroll, they are increasing their risk of negligence and potential lawsuits. Charge nurses usually pass out the daily assignments to floor nurses. They need to make sure they know each nurse’s skills and competency levels before assigning patients because if they assign a patient to a nurse and he/she is not familiar with doing the procedures necessary, that patient is at risk of harm. This is a common dilemma at my hospital. We have a lot of new nurses that just graduated from nursing school and don’t have the skill set or level of expertise needed to effectively care for complex patients. Adequate supervision of nursing staff is vital especially when working with new nursing graduates. They need to be properly oriented to the nursing unit, need adequate and appropriate training, and ongoing evaluation. We have nursing preceptors who are assigned to new nurses for several weeks. They are seasoned nurses who know the standards of care, policies & procedures and work side by side with the new nurse and provide the training, supervision, and evaluation. Nurse managers need to make sure the staff are following the facility’s policies & procedures and maintaining the standards of care (Pate, 2017). Pate (2017) goes on to say the best way for nurse managers to avoid liability issues is to minimize/prevent risks and practice risk management. Another area of concern is using temporary staff, such as float nurses or agency nurses. These nurses generally don’t know the workflow on that specific unit, may not be familiar with the policies, procedures, and protocols, and may not have the skills necessary to care for patients on that specific unit. This can be a very tricky situation because float nurses or agency staff are called in when they can’t fill the schedule with the usual staff. They are helping to fill the schedule, but may end up being just a “warm body”, which can potentially cause harm to the patients. The nurse manager or charge nurse needs to make sure to assign the most basic care to the float or agency staff and the more complex care to the regular nurses who are familiar with the level of care and have the skills needed (Pate, 2018). Pate (2018) recommends when working with agency nurses to make sure and provide an adequate orientation to the unit, have the charge nurse supervise the agency nurse closely, assign basic duties only, and make sure the agency nurse knows if they are practicing in an unsafe manner, they will be sent home.