Unsafe Nursing Practice Policy

The faculty of the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing has an academic, legal, and ethical responsibility to prepare graduates who are competent in safe nursing practice to protect health of individuals and communities. It is within this context that students are disciplined or dismissed from the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing for unsafe practice or unsafe behavior that threatens or has the potential to threaten the safety of a client, a family member or substitute familial person, another student, a faculty member, or other health care provider. 

Practices or behaviors that warrant disciplinary action include, but are not limited to: 

• Excessive use of faculty time to ensure safe practice by one student to the detriment of other students in the clinical rotation. 
• Inadequate or poor preparation for or understanding of nursing care, patient’s medications, or patient’s nursing needs. 
• Acts of omission or commission in the care of clients including, but not limited to: 
  • physical abuse 
  • placing clients in hazardous positions, conditions, or circumstances 
  • mental or emotional abuse of others 
  • failure to rescue 
  • failure to use appropriate judgment in administering safe nursing care consistent with the level of nursing preparation 
  • violating or threatening the microbiological safety of the client, such as by breaking aseptic technique 
  • failure to use standard and transmission-based precautions in clinical procedures 
  • inability to apply previously learned skills and principles in providing nursing care 
  • failure to observe or report critical assessment results regarding patients in a timely fashion 
  • failure to assume responsibility for completing nursing actions 

Unsafe nursing practice is defined as any behavior determined to be actually or potentially detrimental to the client and/or to the health care agency. 

• A student may be removed from a clinical area immediately if, in the professional judgment of a faculty member, the student has demonstrated unsafe practice in a clinical area. 
• A faculty member who removes a student from the clinical area due to unsafe clinical practice during the clinical assignment is required to notify the course coordinator within 24 hours, and to consult with the appropriate Track Director or Executive Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. 
• The faculty member will identify and document in writing the student’s unsafe clinical practice, advise the student regarding the unsafe clinical performance and the requirements for addressing the deficiencies, and if appropriate, refer the student for remediation or assistance using the CON clinical learning contract. Students are expected to respond to the remediation plan within 48 hours by contacting the designated person who will assist them with remediation. Students need to be self-directed for remediation because unsafe practice involves skills that have been previously taught. This means that the independent use of class material, practice in lab, and use of recommended resources is expected. 
• The faculty member’s documentation of the student’s unsafe clinical practice and recommended remedial action plan will be provided to the course coordinator, Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education, Associate Dean, and the student’s file. 
• A student may be reinstated to the assigned clinical area only after the recommended action plan has been followed, successfully completed, and appropriately documented. 
• If, following the remediation plan completion, the student’s clinical performance continues to remain unsafe; the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Education or Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, in collaboration with the faculty member, may require additional remediation or may remove the student from clinical activities. 
• If the same student needs to be removed from the clinical area more than one time, the student may be dismissed from the program due to unsafe behavior.