Nurses are accountable for their actions, decisions and the impact of their decisions. They are responsible for establishing, maintaining and ending therapeutic relationships with clients. Once a nurse has accepted an assignment, they have an ethical and legal duty to provide care for the balance of the assignment until the care has been transferred to another appropriate care provider. We developed the Abandonment Practice Guideline to help nurses understand their accountabilities related to their duty to provide care and provide examples of what is and is not considered abandonment. In addition, we identify obligations of the employer and special considerations for NPs.
Download the PDF File for this Practice Support Tool:
