護理人員注意義務之個案研究

A Case Study on Duty of Care in Professional Nursing

背景：由於護理工作的專業性，護理人員在執行業務中應正確履行注意義務以避免發生醫療過失。但國內護理人員醫療過失之相關文獻只有三篇，且護理人員在醫療過失中注意義務之議題缺乏研究探討。目的：(1)確認護理人員注意義務的內容；(2)探討案例中護理人員犯罪事實的認定及爭議；(3)了解案例中護理人員違反注意義務的違法行為；及(4)從法律面探討護理人員違反注意義務與犯罪結果間之法律因果關係。方法：採文獻分析法及個案研究法，解析最高法院99年度台上字第5550號刑事判決之內容。結果：護理人員注意義務內容有七種；實務中，依據不同的護理行為來對應護理人員具體的注意義務內容。本案之產科護理人員因未及時告知值班醫師前來緊急處理，違背應履行之專科護理中的注意義務，導致實害結果發生，因而被科以徒刑。結論：期望護理人員能明瞭注意義務之重要，並正確履行注意義務以避免觸犯刑法。

Background: Nurses are expected to discharge their duty of care effectively and professionally to prevent medical negligence. Only three articles have previously focused on medical negligence. Duty of care and medical negligence in nursing are topics that have been neglected in Taiwan.Purpose: (1) Classify the duty of care of professional nurses; (2) Investigate the facts and disputes in the current case; (3) Clarify the legal issues involved with regard to duty-of-care violations in the current case; (4) Explore the causal relationships in a legal context between nurses' duty-of-care violations and patient harm / injury.Methods: Literature analysis and a case study are used to analyze Supreme Court Verdict No.5550 (2010).Results: Duty of care for nursing professionals may be classified into seven broad categories. Each category has its distinct correlatives. In nursing practice, every nursing behavior has a corresponding duty. In this case, the case study nurse did not discharge her obstetric professional duty and failed to inform the doctor in a timely manner. Negligence resulted in prenatal death and the case study nurse was found guilty.Conclusion: In order to prevent committing a crime, nurses should gain a better understanding of their duty of care and adequately discharge these duties in daily practice.