Nurses' reactions to colleague's conviction

Kaiser Health News published an article that captured some nurses' reaction to the recent case in which a former nurse was charged and convicted of felonies for a medication mistake that she admitted to. Not being in the profession, it is difficult to assess how badly a nurse needs to perform in order to administer the wrong drug. On one hand, someone who was living is no longer living because a professional made a mistake that s/he was trained not to make. On the other hand, I have heard how difficult some software for healthcare providers has been, causing "alert fatigue" by overwhelming providers with too many warnings.

The rise in tension comes at an unfortunate time when many healthcare institutions are short of nursing staff. At the same time, I do not know of a great policy approach to handle these types of mistakes. Physicians, for example, can be disciplined by medical boards, which are often comprised of fellow physicians who might be reluctant to discipline colleagues. Physicians can be sued for malpractice, but those decisions might be made by juries who have little exposure to clinical matters beyond the testimonies presented. At the same time, physicians have also complained about very expensive malpractice insurance, due in part to frivolous lawsuits. In the end, it does seem that some medical expertise will be needed to assess how negligent a provider might be, so perhaps nursing will undergo a similar transformation that the physicians previously experienced.