Q What is the nurse’s duty to the patient?

A The duty of a trained nursing professional is to have the knowledge ordinarily possessed and to exercise the care and skill ordinarily used in similar situations by trained and skilled members of the nursing profession practicing in the same or similar locality and under similar circumstances.1 Consequently, your duty as a nurse is simply to practice your profession as any ordinary, reasonable, and prudent nurse would do. The terms same and similar locality mean that when a nurse is on trial, the standard used to define his or her duty in a specific situation will be the same or similar situation. If you are a CCRN employed by a large metropolitan medical center with many resources, the standard you will have to meet will be that of a CCRN employed in a similar locality (a large metropolitan medical center...

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