1980 Volume 11 Issue 4 Pages 443-451
Recently in the United States there has been a tendency to expand the scope of professional nursing practice. This expansion of nursing practice is carried out by means of the amendment of state nurse practice acts or other measures in order to compensate for the shortage of physicians in some particular areas. In this case, the expansion of practice by professional nurses centers around diagnosis. However, this tendency of expansion has caused some legal problems, e. g., (1) what the relation between the diagnosis by the nurse and that by the physician is, (2) what the content of diagnosis by the nurse should be and (3) how the nurse's negligence is to be judged in a malpractice case occurring in connection with the practice as provided by the new legislations. It is said that social situations in relation to the nursing practice in the United States are by no means favorable to professinal nurses. This thesis surveys the present development of American legal doctrines concerning the above-mentioned three issues whose solutions are now strongly demanded. This will furnish us with helpful information in investigating what the future nursing practice of our country should be.
