Final answer:
Establishing nursing malpractice requires duty, breach, causation, and damages.
Step-by-step explanation:
Nursing malpractice refers to the negligence or wrongful conduct by a nurse that results in harm or injury to a patient. Four criteria needed to establish nursing malpractice include:
- Duty: The nurse must have owed a duty of care to the patient, which means they had a professional obligation to provide competent and safe care.
- Breach: The nurse must have breached the duty of care by failing to meet the accepted standard of care.
- Causation: There must be a direct link between the nurse’s breach of duty and the patient’s harm or injury.
- Damages: The patient must have suffered damages, such as physical or emotional harm, as a result of the nurse's negligence.