Do you cringe when you hear this remark? How do you answer medical advice questions?  Do you answer or do you refer them back to a PCP? Do you worry about being sued for answering questions and giving advice?

I tell them here is what you can do and give them at least two options.  I make it very plain, I am not telling them what to do, nor am I giving advice, simply giving them options.  After this, it's up to whomever.

I just ask them what does your doc say?

bpark: I think that is a good answer. Too bad that we have to worry about being in court.

I don't understand that rule, why under the Good Samaritan Law, a trained person can assist a person in and emergency situation, and not get sued as long as that trained person doesn't accept money, but as long as you tried to save that person life, and you did it the best way you can, and in some strange event that person died, you can't get sued, but if you give medical advice to a healthy person, without refering him to a PCP , and in some strange event again, that person have a allergic reaction to some OTC that you recommended him, and he  dies, you get sued without accepting any money, that is so hypocritical to me. I guess that's how it is.

I always say, if it were me, or my family, i would do such and such, but check with your Dr. first.

Oh my....you are all scaring me. I haven't even become a nurse yet and I'm scared.

This is good info and I'll remember not to offer much input to the patient. Let them talk to the Dr.

I won't even say, "oh, you have a cut, let me give you a band aide". LOL

In order to clarify the misunderstanding about the Good Samaritan Law I offer this excerpt from Fundamentals of Nursing: The Art and Science of Nursing Care, sixth edition:

Good Samaritan laws are designed to protect health practitioners when they give aid to people in emergency situations. For example, a nurse at the scene of an automobile accident may give emergency care without fear of legal suit if such care appears necessary, unless care is given in a grossly negligent manner.

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have Good Samaritan laws, although the laws vary considerably. Nurses are covered in some states but not in others. Except in employment situations, no person has a legal obligation to help another, and a health practitioner, like any other person, may choose to help or to leave the scene of an emergency. In many situations, however, there would appear to be an ethical responsibility to assist. When health practitioners assist a person in an emergency situation and obtaining consent for the care is impossible, they are expected to use good judgment in determining whether an emergency exists and to give care that a reasonably prudent person with a similar background and in similar circumstances would give.

cuttie, Isn't the difference here between gathering data (for nursing diagnosis) and medical diagnosing? I try to chart indirectly when discussing a medical diagnosis, unless it was diagnosed previously by a physician. For instance, "I would chart that pt described pain in chest as" xyz (character, intensity, and pain scale). Personally, I try to avoid direct terms such as 'angina', because of the medical diagnosis line; unless the pt self reports a hx of angina. I don't know if that helps your thinking with studying for the PN and documentation?

But specifically, regarding documentation of a nursing diagnosis I read that one of the guidelines is to avoid using defining characteristics, medical diagnoses, or something that cannot be changed in the problem statement.

dmazment, I agree with you regarding the symptom tinnitus, but I thought angina was an actual medical condition. If someone says that they have ringing in their ears, I would have no problem documenting "reported tinnitus". However, unless a physician has determined angina as the root cause of the problem, couldn't you be jumping the gun to document angina if what they really have is chest pain from anxiety or a pulled muscle?

RN2B says ...

dmazment, I agree with you regarding the symptom tinnitus, but I thought angina was an actual medical condition. If someone says that they have ringing in their ears, I would have no problem documenting "reported tinnitus". However, unless a physician has determined angina as the root cause of the problem, couldn't you be jumping the gun to document angina if what they really have is chest pain from anxiety or a pulled muscle?

angina is chest pain, the problem would come in if you identified the type of angina without a medical diagnosis such as saying angina pectoris or unstable angina etc.

I just refer people back to their PCP's.  I don't think I need the added stress of  thinking if I told them the right answer or did they only hear what they wanted to hear.  I even tell my kids and grandkids, especially when they don't like what I told them, to get down to ER or go to their doctors.  I refer to ER because I work nights and the clinics are closed, I swear I am not using ER as an after hours clinic.

dmazment says ...

The good samaritan act protects you only if you do not identify yourself as a nurse, something I never do, nor do I give them my name EVER!

That actually is not true.  The good samaritan law protects you as a nurse as long as you do what any other nurse would do in your situation.  If it were to go to court and you did not announce you were a nurse you would still be judged as a nurse- because they would find out that you were a nurse.  Now if you talk or touch  the person in need and say you are a nurse and then walk away then you will be in trouble.  Just as in cpr once you start talking or touch the person you are obligated to stay until a healthcare provider of equal or greater value than you comes along.  Same as a regular guy who doesn't have a nursing degree but knows cpr- once he starts talking or touches  the patient he is obligated until someone of higher knowledge comes along.

So if you administer cpr to a patient and crack their ribs- you would be covered because that is a complication of cpr- now if you do cpr and break their leg- you are probably in trouble.

I'm not even done with school yet and I get this all the time from my family. They seem to think that I'm so 'enlightened' because I'm in school. I often have to remind them that I'm not even a nurse yet and that they should call their doctor. I'll recommend little things to my grandparents, like when my gmother is having 'bowel issues', to make sure she is drinking plenty of fluids or tell my mother to go to the doctor because her persistent cough is not getting any better and remind her of the dangers of being a 40+ year smoker (like COPD or emphysema) but never give medical advice. But....can you really get sued for giving advice?!?!?!