A nurse is concerned that an agency's policies are inadequate. Which understanding about the relationship between substandard institutional policies and individual nursing practice should guide nursing practice?
a. Agency policies do not exempt an individual nurse of responsibility to practice according to professional standards of nursing care.
b. Agency policies are the legal standard by which a professional nurse must act and therefore override other standards of care.
c. Faced with substandard policies, a nurse has a responsibility to inform the supervisor and discontinue patient care immediately.
d. Interpretation of policies by the judicial system is rendered on an individual basis and therefore cannot be predicted.
ANS: A
Nurses are professionally bound to uphold standards of practice regardless of lesser standards established by a health care agency or a state. Conversely, if the agency standards are higher than standards of practice, the agency standards must be upheld. The courts may seek to establish the standard of care through the use of expert witnesses when the issue is clouded.
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