RaDonda Vaught, a former Tennessee nurse convicted of two felonies for a fatal drug error, whose trial became a rallying cry for nurses fearful of the criminalization of medical mistakes, will not be required to spend any time in prison.
In 2011, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education limited first-year resident-physicians' work hours to no more than 16 consecutive hours after studies indicated that longer shifts may increase risk of medical errors and other adverse outcomes.
RaDonda Vaught, a former nurse criminally prosecuted for a fatal drug error in 2017, was convicted of gross neglect of an impaired adult and negligent homicide Friday after a three-day trial that gripped nurses across the country.
It is, as an essay in the American Journal of Nursing declared, "every nurse's nightmare." The reference is to the trial that got underway this week in Nashville.
Even with EHRs, notes are still written down on paper and some critical communication never happens between clinicians. To reduce medical errors, we need to keep improving our systems for collaboration.