NURS 3244 Case Study 2

Mary Matheny, 82 years old, is hospitalized for a left knee replacement. When she was 2 days postoperative, she rang the call button to ask for assistance in getting to the bathroom because she had an IV in her arm, which made ambulating even the short distance to the bathroom difficult. After waiting 2 hours, she attempted to get out of bed to go to the bathroom and fell. She lay on the floor for several hours until the nursing assistant found her, complaining of pain in her left knee and right arm. Her physician was called immediately and ordered x-rays of her left knee and right arm. The physician determined that she had a right wrist fracture and consulted the orthopedic surgeon to treat the fracture. Ms. Matheny was told that she would have the cast on her left arm for at least 8 weeks, making her recovery more difficult because it would hamper her progress with the physical therapist, who was teaching her to ambulate using a walker. Ms. Matheny, who highly valued her independence, became depressed because her recovery was likely to take longer and she was going to need someone to help her at home, now that she had a broken wrist in addition to a knee replacement.

Questions (Do not include the questions in your paper)

How could this fall have been prevented?

What are the implications for Ms. Matheny’s recovery?

Should an unusual occurrence or incident report be completed for any patient falls?

How should the risk management nurse respond to this incident?

Should Ms. Matheny or her family decide to file a lawsuit because of this incident, what violation of the law might the suit allege (e.g., negligence, malpractice, gross negligence, criminal negligence)?

Who might be held liable for Ms. Matheny’s fall and therefore named in the lawsuit?

Identify a BSN essential related to your topic and give a rationale to support the BSN essential

Identify one concept from QSEN competencies that best supports your topic with rationale.

This paper must be written according to 7th edition APA (American Psychological Association) format. You may use the APA website, and the guides from the COM library as a resource for APA guidelines. This paper must be at least 3 to 4 pages but may not exceed 5. Remember neither the cover page nor the reference page will count as part of the 3-4 page minimum.

You must use a minimum of 4 references in your paper. Only one of the references may be from websites such as “.org”, “.edu”, and/or “.gov”. A reference from “dot.com” or “dot.net” or “WebMD” or Wikipedia will not be accepted, and points will be deducted. At least 3 of the references must be from reputable nursing journal articles. Reference must be published within the last 6 years.

You must provide “in-text” citations throughout your paper. Citations are important when you are asserting a fact, and it makes your claim reliable.

You must submit your paper through the assignment dropbox/Turnitin and have a similarity percentage no greater than a 25% match, (the similarity color must be green).

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric before beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

Do not post a pdf or attachments to the discussion board. Do not repeat or include the assignment questions in your paper. Do not use the assignment questions as headings/subheadings. To maintain academic integrity,  using any Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools is prohibited.