You’re looking forward to graduation. You’re doing your clinical rotation in some different departments, and you’re glad you’ve chosen nursing. If you’re only a student, why do you need malpractice insurance? You don’t even have your own patients yet! Sadly, as society gets more and more litigious, nursing students may find themselves held accountable for mistakes. What are the best companies to obtain malpractice insurance from? Let’s take a look.
- The 5 Best Malpractice Insurance Companies for Nursing Students
- What is Nursing Malpractice Insurance?
- How Much is Malpractice Insurance for Nursing Students?
- Why do Nursing Students Need Malpractice Insurance?
- Occurrence vs. Claims-Based Insurance
The 5 Best Malpractice Insurance Companies for Nursing Students
We crunched the numbers to find the 5 best malpractice insurance for nursing students. For every quote below, we said we were a nursing student set to graduate in January, residing in Connecticut.
- Simply Business: Best for finding cheap coverage by comparing several quotes online
- NSO (Nursing Service Organization): Specialized in all types of insurance for nurses
- Berxi: Best malpractice insurance for nursing students with additional free legal defense service
- Proliability: Best malpractice insurance for nursing students with high review rating
- CPH & Associates: Cheapest malpractice insurance premiums for nursing students
- HPSO: Best malpractice insurance for nursing students with additional medical coverage up to $25,000
Simply Business: Best for finding cheap coverage by comparing several quotes online
Simply Business is a small business insurance brokerage. They work with many carriers with a focus on helping you find low-cost coverage that your business may need, including medical malpractice insurance. They specialize in finding good low-cost carriers to partner with. They vet the carriers that they work with to ensure that all of them have excellent financial ratings.
Pros:
- Easy to get and compare several quotes online
- Able to get quotes from A-rated carriers which you may not be aware of
- Knowledgeable agents are available to help you along the process
- Good consumer satisfaction rating on trustpilot
Cons:
- Quotes online are available for general liability and professional liability only
- Have to file a claim directly with the carriers
NSO (Nursing Service Organization): Specialized in all types of insurance for nurses
NSO insures nurses and only nurses. They have malpractice insurance for when you’re a student, and you can upgrade when you graduate and receive your registered nurse (RN) degree. You can easily get a quote online, and the whole process takes less than ten minutes. They also offer life insurance, disability insurance, and health and dental insurance for nurses.
>>MORE: Nursing Service Organization (NSO) Review
>>MORE: The 5 Best Malpractice Insurance Companies for Nurse Practitioners
Berxi: Best malpractice insurance for nursing students with additional free legal defense service
Berxi is part of Berkshire Hathaway. They provide legal defense outside your liability limit. That means if you’re sued for $1 million dollars in damages, your lawyers’ fees won’t be deducted from your liability limit and you’ll still have a million dollars to pay claims. They also have flexible deductible options, from $0 on up. You can save your quote and come back to it later, making the quoting process even easier.
Proliability: Best malpractice insurance for nursing students with high review rating
Proliability is a subsidiary of Mercer. They provide liability insurance for many industries, not just healthcare. They offer discounts if you’re a member of a nursing organization, and once you’re insured by them as a student, it’s easy to upgrade as a professional. They have an average score of 4.7 (out of 5) stars on over 10,000 reviews on Trustpilot.
>>MORE: Nursing Malpractice Insurance: Top 4 Providers, Cost, and Coverage
CPH & Associates: Cheapest malpractice insurance premiums for nursing students
Nursing students and other students will find fast, affordable coverage from CPH & Associates. This coverage follows you, so if you work part-time somewhere while going to school, you’re covered. They mostly offer malpractice insurance for healthcare workers, but they do have some business insurance as well. You can save 5% by completing the application online, and another 10% if you complete your state’s Legal and Ethical CEU requirement.
HPSO: Best malpractice insurance for nursing students with additional medical coverage up to $25,000
Healthcare Providers Service Organization (HPSO) offers professional liability coverage for both students and professionals. They provide you with a defense attorney, and legal fees are covered even if you lose your case. If you are assaulted, they provide up to $25,000 annually to cover medical expenses. You can pay online, and they offer discounts for professional memberships.
>>MORE: Top 10 Malpractice Insurance Companies
What is Nursing Malpractice Insurance?
It may come as a surprise to you, but nursing students can be held liable for mistakes in patient care. There’s a case where a nursing student dropped a patient (who was unsteady on her feet) and that student was named as a defendant in the court case when the family of the woman sued. You may think the hospital liability insurance will protect you, but that insurance protects the hospital, not you. The hospital will do what it takes to protect themselves, and if they have to throw you under the bus to do that, they will.
Malpractice insurance will protect you and your interests in case you are named as a defendant in a court case. Nursing students are responsible if they do something considered negligent. You’ll want your own insurance just in case something happens.
>>MORE: The 5 Best Providers of Medical Malpractice Insurance
How Much is Malpractice Insurance for Nursing Students?
Malpractice insurance for nursing students is pretty inexpensive. You may be able to get a year’s worth of coverage for roughly the cost of a parking pass. For the 5 quotes we got above for a nursing student graduating in 3 months in Connecticut, the annual premiums are in the range of $24-$45.
How much you pay exactly will depend on where you live, where you go to school, and how close you are to the graduation. Things like clinical rotations don’t matter as much because it’s understood that you’ll be working in a variety of different departments.
>>MORE: Professional Liability vs. Malpractice vs. E&O Insurance: How Are They Different?
Why do Nursing Students Need Malpractice Insurance?
A sad reality is that nursing students are held accountable if they are negligent in patient care. How do you define negligence? That’s a good question, and it’s an excellent reason why you need malpractice insurance. If your nursing preceptor tells you to do something that makes you uncomfortable, do you have the right to refuse?
As a general rule, communication and documentation are key to keeping yourself safe and protected. If you’re uncomfortable, speak up, and then document the conversation. Even if you have malpractice insurance, getting sued is time-consuming and stressful. The school where you study does provide some insurance, but it’s to protect themselves from lawsuits, not you. Protect yourself and get insurance.
Learn more at Why Do Nurses Need Their Own Nursing Malpractice Insurance?
Malpractice Insurance for Nurse Practitioner Students
If you are in school to become a nurse practitioner, similar to other nursing students, you must have their own malpractice insurance to protect yourself. Nurse practitioner as a career choice has become more and more popular and is in high demand. Even while being still in school, you probably spend significant time in hospitals or clinics to practice your skills. Similar to nurse practitioners, nurse practitioner students must have their own malpractice insurance policy to protect themselves.
Even if the school where you study provide some coverage already, you should still have their own policy to protect yourself. The school’s policy’s main goal is to protect the school, not you.
Occurrence vs. Claims-Based Insurance
Claims-made insurance covers you while the policy is active. An occurrence policy covers you for any events that occurred during the policy period. It’s a little confusing, so here’s an example.
Margaret is a nursing student. She is named in a lawsuit because she accidently gave a patient, Beth, the wrong medication. Margaret has insurance that lasts from July of 2019 to July of 2020. This incident occurred in May of 2020. If Beth files her lawsuit in October of 2020, Margaret would be covered if she had occurrence based insurance because the incident took place when she had a policy. If she had claims based insurance, poor Margaret would be out of luck because her claims-based insurance expired in July. It doesn’t matter than the actual incident occurred when the policy was active.
Generally, occurrence based insurance is more expensive, but given that people tend to chew on things before they file lawsuits, it might be worth it.
Last Thoughts
Clinical rotations as a nursing student are an exciting time. You’re learning what specialty you’d like to go into, you’re gaining confidence and you’re going to help a lot of people. Don’t let some perceived mistake derail your nursing career. Get malpractice insurance as a nursing student and protect yourself and your career.