Nurses are often the first provider seen by patients, particularly in the hospital setting. Unfortunately, nurses make mistakes that cause serious harm or death. These mistakes can include failing to properly monitor a patient post-operatively, failing to give necessary medication, failing to prevent a patient from falling, and failing to properly communicate important clinical findings to doctors and other nurses.
At least in Eastern Washington, the courts have determined the standard of care to be applied to medicine provided to patients may differ from everyone else in the U.S.
Health care providers in the US are bombarded with hundreds of alarms throughout their workday, which can result in becoming desensitized to them and possibly endangering patients.
Poorer outcomes occur in surgeries performed on the weekend and holidays. A recent study hopes to remedy this situation.