Safety Measures
This is the single most important practice to prevent the spread of Infection.
What is hand hygiene?
This first step involves identifying relevant information from the patient's chart, labs, or physical assessment.
What is Recognizing Cues?
This foundational document, published by the ANA, outlines the non-negotiable ethical obligations of every nurse.
What is the Code of Ethics for Nurses?
This technique involves repeating the patient's main idea back to them to let them know you’re listening.
What is Restating (or Paraphrasing)?
This is the obligation to "do no harm," whether intentional or unintentional.
What is Non-maleficence?
PPE should be removed in this specific order to prevent self-contamination.
What is gloves, gown, goggles, mask?
This is the first action a nurse should take when they walk into a room and find a patient in distress.
What is Assess? (Always assess before you act!)
This professional attribute involves taking ownership of one’s own actions and the outcomes of patient care.
What is Accountability?
This four-letter acronym is the gold standard for standardized reporting between healthcare providers.
What is SBAR?
This is the legal and ethical requirement to keep a patient's health information private.
What is Confidentiality (or HIPAA compliance)?
This structured communication tool is used to standardize communication between healthcare team members.
What is SBAR (Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation)?
This cognitive bias occurs when a nurse fixates on the first piece of information found and fails to update their plan as new cues emerge.
What is Anchoring?
This term means "do no harm" and is a core requirement of professional nursing practice.
What is Non-maleficence?
A nurse uses this technique when they point out a discrepancy between what a patient says and how they are acting.
What is Confrontation?
This is the process of providing a patient with all necessary information so they can make a reasoned decision about a procedure.
What is Informed Consent?
These are the essential, standard items (e.g., patient, medication, dose, route, time) that must be checked before administration.
What are the Rights of Medication Administration?
This term refers to "doing good" or acting in the best interest of the patient during the intervention phase.
What is Beneficence?
This core value involves treating all patients with fairness and providing equal access to care.
What is Justice?
This non-therapeutic technique involves telling a patient "everything will be fine" when it might not be.
What is False Reassurance?
These are the state-level laws that define the "Scope of Practice" for nurses to ensure public safety.
What are Nurse Practice Acts?
This concept promotes a non-punitive environment for reporting errors to foster learning.
What is a "Just Culture"?
This is the "Right" of delegation that asks if the staff member has the proper training to perform the task safely.
What is the Right Person?
This practice involves looking back on clinical experiences to identify what went well and what could be improved.
What is Reflective Practice?
This is the term for a patient's inability to understand or act on health information, often due to a communication gap.
What is Low Health Literacy?
This "standard" is used in court to determine if a nurse acted as any other prudent nurse would in the same situation.
What is the Standard of Care? [1]