Risk Management in Healthcare - Free Essay Example

Health Care Management Task 1 Background of the organization Healthcare has been an important aspect in people’s lives throughout the centuries but as we all know our human resources are starting to deplete. Medacs Healthcare provides healthcare related jobs for foreign or local professionals with proper training and experience. Medacs provide exceptional service and good healthcare service by hiring highly trained professionals to fill in absences and understaffing of different hospitals or rest homes all around Auckland. Medacs Healthcare is one ofthe top international employment agencies for Healthcare related jobs here in New Zealand. Every year hundres of people coming from different countries come to New Zealand and are given opportunities to enhance and improve their skills in healthcare management. Healthcare professionals that are being entertained by Medacs healthcare are nurses, doctors, healthcare assistants and others allied health professionals. Medacs Healthcare offers a variety of fields in healthcare that professionals may engage into. These professionals may take on but not limited to Forensic Medical, Prison health, Primary care and Occupational Health. Purpose of Risk Management in this Organization Risk Management’s purpose is to recognize possible, impending, imminent problems and conflicts before they even occur so activities that are risky may be considered and planned. Risk management should also assess and tackle issues that may cause danger or hinder achieveme nt of objectives set by the institution to control any uncertainties. A regular risk management should be done to diminish and anticipate the risks that may have a direct effect on the organization and the way it functions. Risks to patient/clients, hospital staff, and the organization itself are common in healthcare. Risk management focuses on eliminating or preventing these risks involving healthcare such as negligence, malpractice, miscommunication, events that may lead to patient harm and others. Having no risk management plan in this healthcare institution may lead to serious problems, lawsuits, and long term consequence that may compromise how we care for our patients and in the long run may lead to financial losses. Benefits of Risk Management in this Organization Having a good risk management plan in this institution limits conflicts and problems encountered during the operation of activities. Risk managements also limit repetition or errors, eliminate risks that ma y snowball to a bigger problem and analyze conflicts inside the institution. Achieving compliance with regulations is also one of the key benefits of risk management in this institution because once risks are identified and eliminated; standardization will follow by limiting errors previously identified, consistency in how employees work and regularity of processes inside this institution. Performance of employees may also be improved due to awareness in such risks that may lead to different negative effects towards this organization. Identification and elimination of risks can also lead to good feedback from our clients/patient which they interpret as good service. Also, some key benefits of implementing good Risk Management includes less surprises or untoward events, effective use of resources such as facilities and human resources, and reassurance of stakeholders on their stocks in this organization. Accepting opportunities and preventing issues to happen can make a difference in this organization’s well being. Effective risk management helps this organization to be prepared for them. This preparedness and readiness may save an organization time, money and other key items that may help an institution improve and grow. Effective risk management may include untimely and aggressive risk identification through the teamwork and participation of stakeholders, leaders and employees of this institution. Good risk management leads to good service. Good service means satisfied clients/patients. Satisfied clients mean less profit losses. Components of Risk Management and their Relation to the Overall Rate of Risk management A review of activities and internal environment of the organization. Medacs nursing is located at Level 6, Ferncroft Street, Grafton Auckland. Medacs nursing employs professional staffs that may serve as a temporary, reliever or substitute due to lack of employees in a rest home or hospital. They provide opportunities to reli eve the said slots but no guarantee of work during a week. Medacs nursing requires hired professionals to call the main office weekly for them to know the availability of each person. When clients hospital/ rest home needs a reliever, they phone medacs consultants and request for a substitute employee that has the same skills, experience and knowledge on their assigned position. The consultant then processes the request and checks the system who met the criteria set by the client institution. Once set, the consultant then calls us employees if we are going to accept the shift or not. That is the reason why we need to send our availability weekly to them. Once we accept the offer the consultant then provides the client institution our personal data especially our name. We are then submerged in a healthcare setting which we then do routine cares and assist New Zealand registered nurses and other healthcare assistants. So our organization is Medacs healthcare but our workplace and envi ronment is hospital or rest home setting. After our shift, we let our senior healthcare assistants or nurses sign the time sheet provided by Medacs as a proof that we completed the shift. Setting of objectives The main objective of the organization is to be the principal provider of highly trained healthcare professionals in different healthcare institution in New Zealand by giving our clients good service, quality of care and professionalism. Also, this organization aims to assist healthcare professionals find a suitable position that may give them a new lifestyle, personal growth and professional development. Event identification As we all know, unexpected events may occur throughout the day to day activities of an organization. These unfortunate events or condition affects the mission objective of the organization when it happens. These events may be related to different aspects inside the organization and we may categorized but not limited to as operational, empowere d, information technology, organization’s integrity and its financial undertakings. Risk assessment with particular reference to the impact and likelihood of risk Identification of hazards and prioritizing what risk to take into consideration first is an important aspect for this would be the initial contact in risk assessment. Identifying hazards and deciding who may be affected by these hazards is a good starting point in the process Risk response plan Risk response planning is the method of budding options and identifying actions to improve good opportunities and eliminate issues or threats to the company’s goal and objectives. Risk response planning must be SMART as we all say in the nursing field.(systematic, measurable, attainable, realistic and time bound). Control and monitoring of activities Risks all around us can never be completely eliminated, but it can be managed. Controlling these risks may involve a different approach in strategie s, correcting some action that led to the risk itself or re plan the whole process or project. Monitoring these activities may also prevent risks and errors from happening again. As the organization matures, risks or challenges changes. The organization should adapt and improve the risk management process in it. Operational event Events that may alter the smooth daily routine of the organization such as early termination of duties or assignments, cancellation of assignment a few hours prior to actual duty, client organization refuses to accept substitute employee and others. Early termination of duty assignment means that your assignment ended earlier than the expected end time. Refer to table 1.1 for further depth, risk identification and risk response plan. Table. 1.1 Event Risk assessment Risk response plan Control of activities and monitoring For example, you were assigned as a watch (meaning to watch over) in community health work and your patient suddenly died for an expected cause in the middle of your shift. That means your work hours may be terminated early and you must contact any coordinators from the organization. It may cause risk not only to Medacs healthcare but also to the employee. It is a risk in the organization and employee because it may put the employee in harm. This event is unlikely to happen. It may happen but not all the time. Medacs healthcare briefed their client, they should always let the Medacs staff finish their assignment. They also made us aware that we should not exit our assignment area before our required time of finish. Medacs employees are instructed and are required to stay in their assignment area until the end of their shift. Staffs are given time cards where they put in the time of their shift and assignment area. These time cards are then collected weekly for collation and weekly paycheck. Another example is cancellation of duties/ assignments a few hours prior to the scheduled time where in employee is already on his/her way to the assigned area and suddenly it was cancelled due to some reasons We may also see this as a risk because unhappy employees and staff can also be harmful in an organization they’re in. We may see this event can affect this organization highly. This risk is also unlikely to happen. Medacs always make sure that employees are updated on their assignment areas and time of their shift thru phone calls and text. Medacs has a list of all the availabilities of their staff that are given weekly by themselves. If ever the assignment was cancelled the employee is informed right away and an explanation is needed from the client hospital/resthome is needed. Empowered event Events that relate inappropriate and inefficient assignment to as staff or employee. For example in a hospital setting, a newly hired employee was directly hired as a manager with no experience and no trainings at all. This is an example of empowered event risk because the management delegated a task to a subordinate incompetent of the job itself. In healthcare, this may affect highly as we are dealing with lives and patients here. Please refer to table 1.2. Table 1.2 Event Risk assessment Risk response plan Control of activities and Monitoring Another example in healthcare setting is what we (Filipino registered nurses) are experiencing right now. We are trained as nurses in the Philippines but not trained here in New Zealand. This may be a risk because we are not trained as nurses here in New Zealand. This may cause serious errors and problems in an institution. This event is unlikely to happen because this risk may be eliminated easily. This organization then assigns us to be Health care assistants in order for us to familiarize ourselves in some nursing processes here. We are then required to attend a competency assessment program if we really wanted to be registered nurses here in New Zealand. Trainings and other programs that help improve patient care is recommended in organizations like this. Upon hiring medacs healthcare requires us some certificates that proves we are trained to do such activities e.g. Basic life support certificate. These certificates are then collated and kept by the organization themselves for future reference. Environmental External events that may alter progression of company’s well being such as workplace hazards (fire hazard inside the institution), security, infection control, maintenance of facilities. These factors may cause harm or lead to serious effects once untreated and unnoticed. Healthcare facilities are prone to environmental hazard. Table 1.3 Event Risk assessment Risk response plan Control of Activities and Monitoring Take for example a sick patient. That patient came in contact with health care personnel, then that personnel came in contact with another patient sharing the microorganisms from the latter. The second patient who came in contact with the second patient has a tendency to acquire a new infection. And this risk is highly to happen in a healthcare instituiton Medacs healthcare focuses on handwashing for infection control. They even gave us handouts during the induction phase for infection control. Evaluation forms were also given to us upon induction. These evaluation forms are completed by our immediate senior in the institution regarding our performance including patient care. Another hazard in healthcare environment is natural calamities such as earthquake, fire and the likes This can lead to patient injuries that may aggravate patient’s condition and the structure of the organization itself. Hazard themselves are likely to happen. Medacs healthcare has an emergency preparedness plan for their organization themselves and hospitals where we do our duties have one as well. Hospital make sure that their fire extinguishers are potent and checked up to date. Even escape plans are explained. Integrity Events that may relate to criminal and deceitful behavior that may influence both material and immaterial resources of the organization. In simpler words, these are events that may put the company’s name in lawsuits and decrease its reliability thru the eyes of client hospitals. This aspect of event identification affects greatly the organization because the name of the company is at stake. It may also affect the marketing and commercialization of the company. Table 1.4 Event Risk assessment Risk response plan Control of Activities and Monitoring An example of this is medication error that transpired inside the facility. Medication error can cause harm to the patient. Also, medication errors may aggravate patient’s condition or worse, may cause death. This event may put the staff involved and the organization itself to multiple lawsuits which we all don’t want. This is highly unlikely to happen because we healthcare assistants are not allowed to medicate. Employees of medacs healthcare are asked not to do jobs that aren’t yours that may cause harm to the patient or people around you. If a medication error or a mistake occurred in your assignment area and proven that you are involved, you are required to write an incident report to be passed in the institution and medacs healthcare. Investigation will then happen. Reporting these incidents may prevent this things to happen again. Other examples are sexual harassment in the workplace These behaviors may sprout complaints from employees, clients and patients from that organization. These event may be possible because of some demented patients or other sexually preoccupied staffs. Medacs gave employees a brief explanation on how to act in the hospital, grooming and proper uniform. Incident reports or formal complaints may be filed against the defendant and investigation will occur. Furthermore, behaviors like this is escalated to the management of the client institution Financial This aspect means any event that may involve monetary aspect of the organization. This event identification aspect may be related to lower incomes, money losses, and higher company expenses than expected. Money in a company is like oil in a machine. It makes everything run smoothly. No money means more corrosion will happen inside the organization that may lead to serious trouble such as bankruptcy and the likes. Table 1.5 Event Risk assessment Risk response plan Control of Activities and Monitoring Some examples are delays in payroll of employees and These may cause employees to be unhappy with their employer. This is event may happen but can be prevented. Medacs make sure payrolls are being disseminated accordingly because it is managed by another bub branch inside medacs (payroll committee) Staffs are given time cards where they put in the time of their shift and assignment area. These time cards are then collected weekly for collation via email of fax and for our weekly paycheck. lawsuit requires financial support to maintain the credibility of the organization. This event may happen but can also be prevented. Proper decorum, proper trainings and jobs description are some of the plans in the prevention of this risk. Whenever incidents inside the institution occur, we are obliged to make an incident report for the institution to know what happened. These are then collated and monitored the recurrences. Information system These aspect shows the risks linked to information systems and information technologies. It may also mean a good communication inside the institution. Good communication is important. That’s why in Medacs Healthcare, good communication is required. We are required to send our availabilities for the next week via phone call and assignments or duty areas are being said and shared via phone call as well by coordinators. Emails regarding trainings are shared between coordinators and employees as well. A good flow of communication system lessens the risk of miscommunication thus it an important aspect as well for it will greatly affect the outcome or evaluation of the organization. Some examples are as stated above and explained in a different aspect of event identification. Information and communication Dissemination of information and communication is important in an organization. If an employee sees a risk in the workplace, Medacs healthcare suggests that we should i nform them right away. Technology is a big help nowadays. Medacs healthcare make sure that they’re available for us employees. Upon induction they informed us about their contact numbers, emails and who to talk to whenever we wanted to ask for help or we wanted to share some problems in our assignment. They even offered us some one-on-one conversations whenever we feel like talking about problems and risks in our assignment areas. We are also required to report incidents that transpired in our assignments areas like falls and other injuries that happened to patient. Then an investigation will happen regarding the incident on what steps will be taken to eliminate or prevent the same incident to happen. Emails may also be sent in our accounts regarding proper training programs to enhance our skills to prevent recurrences of error and eliminate these risks. Keeping us updated regarding changes and what’s happening inside our organization is really helpful in the preventio n of issues and promoting more opportunities for the organization. Roberto S. Recto Jr. Health Care Management (Level 7) Risk Management