Risk Management Program Analysis
Summary of the risk management plan
Patient safety plan is an essential program that ensures that healthcare organizations meet the right standards required by the Joint Commission together with the federal regulatory agencies. The plan was constructed with the main intention of facilitating good communication, consistency and effectiveness in regards to delivery of healthcare services to reduce or eliminate any potential risks. The main people who are responsible for ensuring that the patient safety plan is adhered to and operate as required are the healthcare institution managers, the patients, the Joint Commission and the federal government (Islam, 2013). It means that the plan require collaborative efforts for it to turn out effective. The executive managers ensure that the staff members follow the right procedures and adhere to the healthcare standards involving patient safety. On the other hand, patients are the key stakeholders because they are the ones who determine whether the institution applied health standards of patient safety or not.
However, accountability is important from the major stakeholders especially from the healthcare providers. They should be ready to accept that they placed the patient at risk. It is the role of healthcare providers to ensure that all the people whom they have employed are responsible. In case they feel that some of the employees are limited in regards to knowledge, they can decide to take the employees through training (Islam, 2013). It is the best way in which they are also showing their level of responsibility towards the patients and also the community which they serve. The government should also show their responsibility by ensuring that all organizations that are not meeting the ethical standards of maintaining patient safety should be punished heavily to act as a warning to everyone. It is also one way in which they can ensure that all organizations follow the legislation on patient safety.
Role of Joint Commission
Joint Commission is an independent and non-profit organization whose aim is to seek the right ways in which it can help every healthcare institution to identify risks that are associated with patient safety or poor quality delivery. They identify the risks that are already known to the organization such as unavailability of the right technology or machines to conduct an operation or provide the right services (O’Leary, 2016). At the same time, they help the organization to identify risks which are unknown to them by helping the healthcare institution to assess their current operations to identify the risks that they are exposed to that may minimize them from maintaining patient safety. It is their role to inspire the company to make the necessary improvements in terms of care and treatment of the patients to maintain the patient safety standards. Through this, the joint commission is able to achieve their mission of improving health care in the public sector. They collaborate together with the stakeholders to evaluate all the sectors that may seem as a threat to delivering quality services (O’Leary, 2016). The joint commission, therefore, ensures that highest quality care and value is sustained in the healthcare organization.
The joint commission has played an important role of ensuring that people especially patients experience the best valuable healthcare. They have also aided in provision of safety by educating the healthcare organizations particularly the employees and the staff members on how to uphold patient safety at all time (O’Leary, 2016). The other way in which the joint commission has aided in patient safety plan is by setting the right expectations for the organization in regards to performance. It is through these standards that they have set that they use to determine if the manner in which the company operates is reasonable to be considered right to ensure patient safety. In most cases, they use technology to conduct survey with healthcare institutions to determine if they maintaining the right standard of patient safety. At the same time, the joint commission utilizes their website to publish important information that can be used by organizations as source of reference on the best and current ways to maintain patient safety.
There is a survey in the joint commission website that is consistence to current standards of operations that can be used by healthcare organizations to determine the ways in which they are operating (O’Leary, 2016). They help the company or healthcare provider who is interested in providing better services to understand whether the methods that they are using are right or wrong. They help them to trace the kind of care which the healthcare institution or provider delivers to the patient, individual or community. They also help them to review the information provided by the organization to determine whether they are maintaining patient safety. There are occasions when they interview the staff members face-to-face to ensure that they are complying with the right patient safety standards.
Roles of different levels of administrative personnel
One way in which healthcare organizations ensures that patient safety is provided by the employees is by coming up with policies and procedures that involve risks management. The policies in most cases are steps that are written down to be followed by all the employees to ensure that they operate with minimal risks while handling the patients. The procedures outlined as part of the policies may entail equipment use, training of employees after a specific period of time or provision of a better work environment for everyone (Islam, 2013). Some of the administrative personnel that play a crucial role in the establishment of operational policies include human resource department. They evaluate the roles of the employees hence during the employment process they are all informed about the risks that they are expected to manage in the company (Islam, 2013). They detail the right kind of skills that every employee must possess to aid them in minimizing all forms of risks that are associated with guarantying patient safety. They also organize employee training as a way to equip them with the right knowledge to minimize error at work that may place the patient safety in jeopardy.
On the other hand, the management also plays an important role in coming up with organizational risk management policies. They set the right amount of capital that is to be used to purchase the right equipments that would ensure patient safety at all time in the organization. At the same time, they have the power to instruct the employees on the measures that they need to take to minimize risks. They outline to them what they need to do, where they are supposed to go in case they detect any form of error while handling patients and also who to call in case of emergency (Islam, 2013). Through this, they are able to minimize any potential risk in the organization.
Relationship of risk management programs
The reasons healthcare organizations come up with risk management programs is because they want to comply with ethical standards of operation. By coming up with a culture of safety, the healthcare institution is able to minimize workplace injuries. A culture of safety is a clear indication that the institution cares about their patients and employees at large which means that they are complying with the ethical standards of operation. When the managers show concern towards the employees and the patient’s safety, it shows that they are concerned about having an institution where safety is a priority for everyone (Westex, n.d). Care is one way that shows that one has a moral obligation towards others. Through this, the managers become part of risk management in the organization.
However, effective communication is paramount for an understanding to be achieved between the major stakeholders who are involved in managing risk in the company. The programs can only work properly when there is an understanding in the company especially on what roles that each individual needs to play to ensure safety. When everyone understands their roles, it also becomes easy to comply with the ethical standards that are necessary for managing risks. The scope of managing risks and complying with ethical standards involves identifying and evaluating the hazardous conditions and this can only be possible when there is effective communication and understanding between the employees and the employer (Westex, n.d). It is through this that new policies and measures can be identified to help in minimizing risks. Through this, all the stakeholders are able to manage risks in a professional way.
References
Islam, M. (2013). Patient Safety Plan. Suny Downstate Medical Center. Retrieved from http://www.downstate.edu/patientsafety/pdf/psp13.pdf
O’Leary, D. (2016). The role of the joint commission in health care quality. Retrieved from http://www.ehcca.com/presentations/qualitycolloquium4/oleary_2.pdf
Westex. (n.d). Safety professionals conference 2015. Retrieved from https://www.necanet.org/docs/default-source/2015-nspc/neca-hrandsafetypresentation-may2015.pdf?sfvrsn=4