Discussion post

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EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON RISK MANAGEMENT-PART ONE

Educational Program on Risk Management

Educational Program on Risk Management

All forms of risk cannot be avoided, but there is always a way to manage them. Risk management emerges as the best possible way or mechanism for managing these risks. Today, the healthcare infections problem is one of the top critical issues facing healthcare organizations (Fineschi, 2019). Therefore, hospitals, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare organizations must have a plan for managing this risk. In addition to keeping patients safe and secure, the risk management plan will help the facility minimize potential losses and keep operational costs down.

The current risk management plan, without a doubt, has played a pivotal role in minimizing cases of infections in the organization. However, when closely assessed, it lacks in some areas. For example, when a risk assessment is completed, beyond sharing the number of risks the facility has experienced within a specific period to the top management, the plan is not promptly. It takes an unnecessary huge amount of time before the risk management team responds effectively. The plan is also not flexible in terms of adapting to the changing care environment. If the plan is re-modeled and shaped to be flexible enough, it will be easy to meet the state, federal and compliance standards. New laws and regulations related to compliance are often being instituted (Basile et al., 2020). Thus, if a risk management plan can easily be modified to accommodate these standards, the organization can reduce care costs and avoid legal issues.

According to Haque et al. (2018), 1.7 million hospitalized patients acquire infections yearly, and about 98,000 patients die due to hospital-related infections. Furthermore, the Patient Safety Act requires healthcare organizations to always adhere to patient safety standards. Failure to which a facility may face license revocation and a penalty of up to $11,000 (Department of Health and Human Services, n.d). Suppose the organization decided to implement this plan. In that case, it will also improve the working environment as the employees will be acquitted with ways of preventing the burden of harm resulting from infections. Clients will even have a reason to seek medical assistance in the future since they will view the organization as a safe facility.

Implementation will be a step-by-step process involving four steps. The first step is committing, where all the identified stakeholders are directed to show their commitment to the plan. The second step is assigning responsibilities, where every member of the implementing team gets to understand and identify their tasks depending on their specialization. The third stage is resource and authority planning. Financial instruments will play a pivotal role in proportioning the existing organization's resources to the project budget during this stage. Lastly, the team will gather and distribute information to employees regarding the plan. The information will help the staff understand their role in this management plan.

The main obstacles that may emerge while trying to institute this plan are resistance and reluctance to discuss sensitive information. Some of the staff may not see the value of the strategy, and hence they might resist. Communicating its significance in weekly meetings through pamphlets, group sessions, and other related platforms within the facility may help mitigate this challenge (Perregrini, 2019). Assuring patients and even the employees that their sensitive information will not be misused might help solve reluctance.

The evaluation process will involve a number of strategies and activities. These strategies will include quality review, cost-effectiveness analysis, assessing stakeholder satisfaction and its efficacy in meeting the initial goal. Data will be collected, processed, and analyzed that correlate with the above strategies. Engaging the stakeholders during this phase is necessary to assess how they feel about the plan and gain more insight (Sadeghifar et al., 2017). Outcome and impact evaluation will also form the basis of the evaluation process since impact evaluation will help comprehend if the plan effectively achieved the organization's ultimate goals.

Regardless of the situation, the organization should have a good risk management plan covering patient safety, mandatory state and federal regulations, and legislation impact. Plus, finances should not be the priority, but rather, safety should be the first priority. After all, if safety is neglected, injuries occur; in turn, lawsuits and compensatory damages arise. Thus, moving forward, I suggest that the organization monitors its risks periodically, for example, monthly but in an informative manner, and periodically updates its plan.

References

Basile, J. L., Gaia, J., & Sanders, G. L. (2020). Who Has My Data? Factors Contributing to HIPAA (Non) Compliant Behaviors. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 15(2), 83-108.

Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d). Patient Safety and Maximum Penalty 2013. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/patient-safety/maximum-penalty-2013/index.html.

Fineschi, V. (2019). Healthcare-Associated Infections: Antibiotic Poly-therapies, Antibiotic Prophylaxis and Appropriate Policy for the Risk Management to Fight Adverse Events. Current pharmaceutical biotechnology, 20(8), 606-608.

Haque, M., Sartelli, M., McKimm, J., & Bakar, M. A. (2018). Health care-associated infections–an overview. Infection and drug resistance, 11, 2321.

Perregrini, M. (2019). Mitigating Resistance to Change in the Workplace. Creative nursing, 25(2), 154-156.

Sadeghifar, J., Tofighi, S., Roshani, M., Toulideh, Z., Mohsenpour, S., & Jafari, M. (2017). An assessment of implementation and evaluation phases of strategic plans in Iranian hospitals. SAGE open medicine, 5, 2050312117736227.