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ABSTRACT
Today's practicing nurse must be aware of nursing standards, legal issues in nursing, legal limits of nursing and legal liabilities. Otherwise, he or she could be the first person to be penalized from a legal standpoint. Legal responsibilities in nursing practice are growing in importance day by day. Legal accountability is an essential concept of professional nursing practice that can pose a threat to a nurse's career if he or she is uninformed of the law. Legal issues confronting practicing nurses today are legion. The nurse need not view the law not with apprehension but as a helpful adjunct to the practice of nursing.
Keywords: Standards, Legal, Accountability, issues.
INTRODUCTION
Standard is an acknowledged measure of comparison for quantitative or qualitative value, criterion, or norm. A standard is a practice that enjoys general recognition and conformity among professionals or an authoritative statement by which the quality of practice, service or education can be judged. It is also defined as a performance model that results from integrating criteria with norms and is used to judge quality of nursing objectives, orders and methods
A standard is a means of determining what something should be. In the case of nursing practice standards are the established criteria for the practice of nursing. Standards are statements that are widely recognized as describing nursing practice and are seem as having permanent value.
A nursing care standard is a descriptive statement of desired quality against which to evaluate nursing care. It is guideline. A guideline is a recommended path to safe conduct, an aid to professional performance. A nursing standard can be a target or a gauge. When used as a target, a standard is a planning tool. When used as a gauge against which to evaluate performance a standard is a control device.
Characteristics of Standard
* Standards statement must be broad enough to apply to a wide variety of settings.
* Standards must be realistic, acceptable, and attainable.
* Standards of nursing care must be developed by members of the nursing profession; preferable
* Nurses practicing at the direct care level with consultation of experts in the domain.
* Standards should be phrased in positive terms and indicate acceptable performance good, excellence etc.
* Standards of nursing...