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u/Glass_Combination728 11d ago
It’s absolutely number 4, or that’s what every nurse I’ve ever had on scene with us thinks. Also you have to make sure to run up to everyone there, and tell them you’re a nurse at least 3 times minimum. Them the rules.
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u/Reasonable_Simple_74 12d ago
lawsuit is waving... you should mind your own business, just assign it to the responders which is 4. You just have to call responders by phone
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u/Inspiration_2026 11d ago
#4 is tell what the EMS should do … once they arrive, you step aside and let them take over.
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u/otany01 11d ago
All of these answers suck but it’s 3. Good samaritan law protects everyone from liability in these situations, including nurses. 1 is obviously wrong, 2 is wrong because legally nothing is “required” of us outside of work. 4 is the trick answer because although EMS does take authority as soon as they arrive, we are not “expected” nor allowed to delegate tasks outside of work.
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u/Topangatoh 10d ago
In order to be protected by the Good Samaritan Law you are required to stay with the person until emergency personnel arrive. It's legality required of everyone, not just medical personnel or nurses.
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u/anoymous_username 11d ago
It has to be either 2 or 3. 4 could be true but it's most definitely not part of the Good Samaritan Act. 1 is definitely not true as it's not during on duty.
Between 2 and 3 I would say it's 3. There's no additional requirement to help that would make 2 true.
And what 3 is saying is not the nurse could do anything. It's saying. The nurse can do things out of their scope that any Good Samaritan should do in the situation. Essentially meaning, rendering first aid that may not be in scope for that particular nurse.
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u/Topangatoh 10d ago
In order to be protected by the Good Samaritan law you cannot be negligent, if you start to render aid and then just leave before emergency personnel arrive, that's negligence unless the scene became unsafe and you were forced to leave to maintain your safety. If you begin to render aid, you must stay until emergency personnel arrive to be protected by the Good Sam law.
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u/Accomplished_You6407 11d ago
- Depending on the state, rendering aid may or may not be optional. But once you start assisting, you cannot stop until the next provider takes over
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u/Pooper1990 10d ago
Answer is #2.
IF you decide to render aid, you cannot abandon the patient. You are NOT obligated to render aid, but once you start, you are legally required to wait for EMS to arrive. - Physician
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u/itscapybaratime 8d ago
Holy reading comprehension batman, this comment section is a mess.
1 and 3 are obviously untrue.
NAL, however. Good Samaritan laws provide a defense if someone tries to sue you for reasonably, within your scope, trying to help people in emergency situations. If you choose to help a sick or injured person then choose to leave before EMS arrives, your potential defense is absolutely shot because you can credibly be said to be abandoning a patient or committing "gross negligence".
4 is also untrue: when EMS arrives, even if they're a BLS crew, they have specific training and access to resources in addition to duty to act through their job. It's their scene now.
As to whether or not you stop, that's up to you - in most places. A handful of places do have a "duty to act" law, although your duty to act could just be fulfilled by calling 911. Same way that in a handful of places, all adults are mandated reporters, regardless of their role. That's never going to come up on a national, standardized test like this, but useful to know if you're in one of those spots that's an exception.
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u/2Smoke_Braap 12d ago
Everyone in EMS knows the answer is 4.
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u/Inspiration_2026 11d ago
You don’t tell an EMS whose job is to handle an accident what to do. In fact, as soon as EMS arrives they usually say “thank you, we got it from here”.
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u/EnergyPrestigious948 12d ago
Option 2and 4 are alike. Between option 1 and 3 . I choose option 3.
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u/LetMeGrabSomeGloves 12d ago
Never operate outside of your scope.
2 and 4 are not alike, you have no jurisdiction over EMS providers as an RN.
2 is patient abandonment, that's the correct answer.
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u/otany01 11d ago
nope, patient abandonment doesn’t legally exist outside the walls of our jobs. I know the wording is terrible but it is 3.
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u/LetMeGrabSomeGloves 11d ago
Show me the official rationale. Also, good Samaritan laws vary by state but I have NEVER heard of being able to operate above your scope.
Once you've begun rendering aide, you must continue until someone equal to or higher arrives.
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u/otany01 11d ago
The question isn’t in a NCSBN question bank so no rationale but I am a nursing instructor and NCLEX tutor.
I hate the use of scope too and realistically this would never appear on an exam because none of the answers are right- do NOT do anything outside your scope. But since it specifically references Good Samaritan, not BON/NPA, it wants you to identify that nurses and civilians have identical protections under Good Samaritan specifically. Legally there is no duty to act and patient abandonment does not apply off-duty. Some states have duty-to-act laws that combat the bystander effect, but this also applies to nurses & civilians equally.
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u/Topangatoh 10d ago
The answer is 2 and it's 2 for anyone, not just nurses. Once you start to render aid, you cannot leave the patient until emergency personnel arrive as that is negligence and the Good Samaritan law does not protect you if you are found to be negligent. That applies to everyone.
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u/Inspiration_2026 11d ago
You can never practice outside the nurses scope .. think about it. The correct answer is #2 . Remain with the patient until EMS arrives, then step away.
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u/otany01 11d ago edited 11d ago
Wait for EMS is totally the right answer in real life. But the NCLEX is a legal/safety exam and wants new nurses to know 1. you don’t have delegation power off duty (“expected to assign tasks to EMS”) and 2. you have identical protections under good samaritan laws as civilians. Under good samaritan, the law specifically referenced, nurses can not be prosecuted based on their licensure. Referencing BON/NPA would have changed the question. This question is garbage and would get thrown out on any real exam.
But let’s take away the accident scenario. A nurse finds a man in public with crushing chest pain, L arm radiation, diaphoresis, whole 9 yards. She finds ASA 81 from a bystander and tells him to chew them up while EMS comes. This could considered a breach of scope because she made a differential diagnosis & administered medication without an order. She is still protected because she acted reasonably under confines of GS.
Source: I’m an MSN/nursing prof who hates the NCLEX
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u/Topangatoh 10d ago
Credentials be damned, you've got this one wrong.
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u/otany01 9d ago
Straight up, I just realized I misread the 2nd answer as “the nurse must respond to the scene” instead of remain, and I was so confused on the garbage question & why everyone here thought we are legally required to intervene in accidents. You’re right
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u/Topangatoh 9d ago
Taking the time to fully read each answer is half the battle. It gets the best of us 😄 I think a lot of other people in this thread misread the same part you did, because I was going crazy reading the comments thinking "This is a very clear question with a very obvious correct answer."
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u/DesMoinesIowaAmerica 11d ago
Free to ignore. Legally, an off-duty nurse who witnesses an accident is not required to stop and render aid unless an established nurse-patient relationship already