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Digital Seminar

APRN Legal Risks

$249.99 Standard
Available Now for Pre-Order - This item will be available 4-6 weeks after the event has taken place.
Also Available: Live Webinar
  • Top legal and malpractice risks facing APRNs right now – with case studies
  • Employment contracts: Compensation breakdown, productivity expectations, and more
  • Proactive in the exam room: A missed diagnosis, failure to refer, expanding scope-of-practice
  • Prescribing safeguards: Prescribing errors, polypharmacy, and controlled substances
  • Liability answers on AI, telehealth, and emerging technologies
  • Ready to use checklists for your everyday risk reduction

 

Every prescription you write, every note you close, and every referral you make – or don’t make – carries legal weight that extends well beyond the exam room.

Diagnostic uncertainty, medication errors, incomplete documentation, and expanding scope-of-practice questions can turn an ordinary clinical decision into a malpractice claim, a licensing board investigation, or a professional liability exposure. Add in employment contract provisions, malpractice coverage distinctions, AI-assisted documentation, telehealth across state lines, and a regulatory landscape that changes fast, and it’s easy to see why so many APRNs feel like they’re practicing defensively instead of confidently.

This presentation is built as a practice guide, not a lecture series. Knowing the law isn’t the same as knowing what to do with it in the middle of a patient encounter. Rather than reviewing statutes in the abstract, you’ll work through key risks in APRN practice today and the proven strategies that hold up under scrutiny – all anchored in real legal cases and clinical scenarios you’ll recognize from your own practice.

Learn directly from Kristene Diggins, DNP, JD, CNE, FAANP, MBA, a nurse practitioner and healthcare law scholar licensed across ten states, who brings a rare dual lens to this material. She will support your knowledge to:

  • Top legal and malpractice risks facing APRNs right now
  • Employment contracts: Compensation breakdown, productivity expectations, and more
  • Proactive in the exam room: A missed diagnosis, failure to refer, expanding scope-of-practice
  • Prescribing safeguards: Prescribing errors, polypharmacy, and controlled substances
  • Defensible documentation and electronic communication
  • Liability answers on AI, telehealth, and emerging technologies
  • Ready to use checklists for your everyday risk reduction

You’ll leave with frameworks, tools, updates, and new ways to protect yourself – during the next patient visit, contract renewal, or conversation with risk management. Sign up today … you are guaranteed to experience an absolutely essential training for your career and practice!

Here's What You'll Learn


Legal Foundations, Scope of Practice & Professional Liability

This module covers the standards, licensure requirements, and decision-making patterns that most often lead to APRN malpractice exposure.

  • Common legal risks and malpractice claim trends
  • Expanding scope of practice, licensure, competency, and credentialing
  • Consultation, referral, escalation, and continuity of care
  • Diagnostic errors, cognitive bias, and clinical decision-making
  • Case study review: Missed diagnosis, failure to refer
  • Legal cases: Brody v Bassett Healthcare Network, Hee-Sook Cheon, NP v Knowles (diagnostic error/clinical judgment/monitoring, NP liability)

Documentation, Communication & Patient Rights

This module connects documentation and communication practices, with key protection strategies for both the patient and the APRN.

  • Defensible documentation and electronic communication
  • Informed consent and informed refusal
  • Professional boundaries and social media
  • Telehealth and interstate practice considerations
  • Communication strategies following adverse events
  • Case study review: Informed consent, confidentiality, and documentation
  • Legal cases: Canterbury v Spence (informed consent/disclosure of material risks), Cruzan v Director, Missouri Dept of Health (patient autonomy/refusal of treatment/advance directives)

Pharmacology, Prescribing & Medication Safety

This module highlights prescribing safeguards, with particular attention to controlled substances and high-risk medications.

  • Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, medication reconciliation, polypharmacy, drug-drug interactions, high-alert medications, special populations, limitations of research and potential risks of pharmacologic therapy
  • Prescribing errors, electronic prescribing, monitoring, patient education, adverse drug events
  • Controlled substances & regulatory requirements: Prescribing practice, DEA requirements, drug diversion
  • Case study review: Prescribing errors, polypharmacy, and controlled substances

Proactive Protection: Malpractice Insurance & Employment Contracts

This module moves to the business side of practice, examining how every APRN should protect themselves before a dispute arises, not after.

  • Professional liability insurance: Coverage, exclusions, policy limits, employer provided vs individual plans
  • Claims-made versus occurrence policies
  • Tail coverage and prior-acts coverage
  • Board of nursing and licensing defense
  • Employment contracts and restrictive covenants: Compensation, productivity expectations, and termination provisions
  • Scope of responsibilities, credentialing, and privileging
  • Outside employment, moonlighting, and professional activities
  • Case study review: Evaluating insurance coverage and employment contract risks
  • Legal cases: Wickline vs State of California (professional liability/healthcare system decisions)

Emerging Technologies & Contemporary Risks

This module answers liability questions on artificial intelligence, telehealth, and other emerging technologies that are reshaping clinical practice.

  • Artificial intelligence in clinical practice: Benefits, risks, and limitations
  • AI-assisted diagnosis, documentation, and clinical decision support
  • AI accuracy, bias, privacy, and accountability
  • Electronic health records and technology-related risks
  • Telehealth and evolving regulatory requirements
  • Professional responsibility when using emerging technologies
  • Case study review: AI, telehealth, and technology-related liability

Everything You're Getting


  • Approx 6 Hours of video content
  • CE information to come

Meet Your Experts


Kristene Diggins, DNP, JD, CNE, FAANP, MBA

Toggle speaker biography

Kristene Diggins, DNP, JD, CNE, FAANP, MBA, is a nationally recognized nurse practitioner, healthcare law scholar, and educator whose career bridges advanced clinical practice, regulatory compliance, and national NP leadership. Licensed across ten states, Dr. Diggins has extensive clinical experience in primary care, family practice, geriatrics, urgent care, palliative medicine, behavioral health, telehealth, and hospice.

She currently serves as a clinical trials sub-investigator for CVS MinuteClinic and has led multi-state clinical initiatives and directed national behavioral health programs throughout her career. As an adjunct faculty member, she has trained thousands of NPs through academic appointments and fellowship development.

Dr. Diggins holds the Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) credential and is an inducted Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), one of the profession's highest honors. She was recently elected to the AANP Selections Committee for Fellows, reflecting her continued leadership within the organization.

Widely published, Dr. Diggins serves as an editor and reviewer for major NP journals and has contributed to national policy, scope-of-practice advocacy, and health equity initiatives.
Dr. Diggins holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), a Juris Doctor (JD), and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), a combination that uniquely positions her as an authoritative voice on malpractice prevention, documentation standards, and legal risk management in modern NP practice.


Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Kristene Diggins has employment relationships with United Healthcare, SteadyMD, and Chamberlain University. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Kristene Diggins serves on the AANP Fellows Selection Committee, serves as the AANP National Convenient Care Co‑ Chair, and works as an ANCC Pathway to Excellence Appraiser. She is a fellow of American Academy of Nurse Practitioners.

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Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Also Available:
Live Webinar
Product Code:
POS078999
Duration:
Approx 6 Hours
Copyright:
Nov 30, 2026 Available Now for Pre-Order

ADA Needs


We would be happy to accommodate your ADA needs; please call our Customer Service Department for more information at 1-800-844-8260.

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