Risk Management Policy & Procedure & Analysis

Purpose Statement

The risk management plan aims to aid the organization in progressing its strategic objectives linked to safety and high quality (Yue et al.,2020). The business wishes to proactively pinpoint, analyse, and decrease possible risks by executing a powerful approach and exercise for risk management. This mediation will boost patient protection, slicing adverse incidents, and bettering the all-around high quality of health care services furnished by the organization.

Key Risk Management Terms

Risk prevention: Risk prevention focuses on proactive steps and plans to stop or reduce the chance of bad occasions and potential hurt to individuals, employees, or the organization. Dangers may be circumvented by identifying potential hazards, assessing their severity, and taking steps to eliminate or reduce those risks before their actualization.

Risk reduction: Risk reduction involves various strategies and actions to narrow the likely effects of identified threats (Yue et al.,2020). This includes the execution of security principles, the supply of worker preparation, and the improvement of procedures to decrease the seriousness of unfavourable incidents.

Regulatory compliance: Regulatory compliance within risk management pertains to conforming to all relevant rules, regulations, and industry benchmarks to safeguard patient well-being and shield the business from potential legal and financial ramifications.

Patient safety: The concept of patient safety comprises a comprehensive range of endeavors that are directed toward the prevention of harm to patients throughout the entirety of their healthcare journey (Yue et al.,2020). The process entails the identification and mitigation of potential hazards, as well as the cultivation of a safety-oriented culture across the entire business.

Adverse event: An adverse event can be defined as an unplanned and unwanted occurrence arising from medical care or therapy. The term encompasses occurrences that result in adverse effects on patients or can do so.

Near miss: The term “near miss” in healthcare relates to a situation in which an occurrence or mistake nearly stays clear of inflicting harm on the patient or other persons involved. The discovery of system shortcomings and strengthening patient safety actions offer an important chance to learn and have valuable meaning.

Risk Categories and Risk Identification Techniques:

Financial:

Economic risks within the healthcare sector encompass threats to the organization’s financial stability, earning potential, and resource allocation. The hazards discussed in this context might arise from various factors, including alterations in reimbursement schemes, fluctuations in healthcare costs, errors in billing and coding, and inadequate financial planning.

Risk Identification Technique: Retrospective Financial Audits

The risk management department is advised to perform fiscal historical assessments, which involve a thorough review of previous financial data and transactions to uncover errors, discrepancies, or areas of insufficiency. Organizations can identify potential fiscal hazards through retrospective analysis of financial archives and billing procedures and implement remedial measures to mitigate future challenges.

Human Capital:

Employee turnover, job openings, skill gaps, and problems with employee implementation and satisfaction are all examples of human assets threats. Due to these threats, the organization’s ability to provide high-quality care and keep a skilled and dedicated staff may be compromised.

Risk Identification Technique: Incident Reporting and Staff Surveys

Incident notification mechanisms permit staff to reveal unfavourable happenings, near misses, and insecure circumstances. Analysing these notifications can assist in recognizing human capital threats, like staff shortages, training requirements, and likely regions for worker discontentment. Additionally, performing staff questionnaires and feedback sessions can offer helpful insights into personnel matters and pinpoint likely human capital threats.

Clinical:

Threats that pose hazards to patient safety, quality of care, and the business’s strategic objectives can be categorized as clinical and strategic risks (Asante-Duah,2020). The hazards encompass potential medical errors, technological malfunctions, inadequate strategic planning, and an inability to adapt to evolving healthcare trends.

Risk Identification Technique

Risk identification concurrently and trend examination formerly involved observing and judging medical processes and strategic plans continuously and accurately. By carefully analysing the ongoing clinical and functional activities, the organization can discover probable dangers when they happen and apply prompt interventions to reduce bad outcomes in time.

Risk Manager’s Role in Program Implementation and Compliance

One of the significant roles of risk managers is policy development (Chen et al.,2020). The function of the risk manager is crucial in developing and updating procedures for risk management. The organization’s medical staff, administrative staff, and legal professionals must work together to do this. The director of risk ensures that the guidelines are comprehensive, up-to-date, and in line with the association’s strategic safety and quality advancement goals by soliciting and considering a wide range of perspectives.

The risk manager is responsible for ensuring that the institution follows all rules and regulations related to risk management and patient safety (Chen et al.,2020). The threat director ensures compliance throughout the company by keeping up with evolving rules and regulations. This involves keeping up with healthcare policy developments, privacy regulations, and certification standards. By following all applicable rules and regulations, the company may reduce legal and financial risks while still providing its patients with the highest standard of care.

The risk manager is accountable for overseeing the learning and development programs that educate workers on the essentials of risk management (Chen et al.,2020). These briefings also stress the value of incident reporting and how it contributes to the safety and well-being of patients and the organization. The chance director helps employees proactively identify and control risks by spreading better knowledge of risk management throughout the company.

Risk managers are responsible for regularly reviewing potential threats to the organization. The risk administrator reviews many aspects of the organization’s operations to identify potential sources of concern and exposure. Methods, tools, and personnel who might endanger clients’ well-being or the business’s success are assessed. The insights gleaned from hazard assessments provide the groundwork for creating risk-reduction plans.

Part 2 – Application of Risk Management Principles – Specific Incident

Risk Description

The specific event decided for the study is a medication mistake that came about in Vila Health. The occurrence involved the management of the incorrect medication to a patient, bringing about potential harm (Wang et al.,2020). The implications of medication mistakes can be severe, posing weighty risks to patient security and wellness. Medication mistakes can lead to unfavourable drug reactions, worsen the patient’s condition, and even cause life-threatening effects if not dealt with. Moreover, the potential for drug errors can increase stress and guilt among workers, especially if they had any hand in making the mistake.

Moreover, employees’ risk possible legal ramifications and damage to their professional reputations. Malpractice claims, increased insurance premiums, and the possible loss of the company’s reputation and trustworthiness due to a drug error can all have significant financial consequences (Wang et al.,2020). From a risk administration perspective, the occurrence highlights the need for solid systems and approaches to avoid and mitigate medication mistakes.

Evidence-Based Risk Management Strategies to Reduce/Eliminate

The organization can practice different strategies and ways to lessen the chances of medication mix-ups in the potential. Introducing a Computerized Doctor Order Input (CPOE) framework is one key approach. The CPOE system assists in limiting the likelihood of medication mix-ups by enabling healthcare providers to electronically enter medication requests, with built-in safety checks and alerts for possible medication interactions and incorrect dosing (Lok et al.,2020). This system ensures precise and legible requests, reducing the danger of errors throughout the remedy process. Another approach is using barcode scanning systems for medication management. By scanning the patient’s identification bracelet and the drug, the framework verifies that the right medication is given to the right patient at the accurate time and dose (Lok et al.,2020). This barcode scanning engineering functions as a safety system, decreasing the danger of medication mix-ups throughout the management process.

Getting Clinical Choice Assist (CDS) tools into electronic well-being records offers treasured evidence-supported direction to professionals (Lok et al.,2020). At the same time, the medicine prescribing approach causes a decline in problems and progress of most beneficial routines. CDS devices can easily caution healthcare providers concerning possible medicines interactions, allergic reactions, and unacceptable dosages, improving medicine safety (Lok et al.,2020). By leveraging genuine-time info and signs, CDS helps intelligent selection, empowering clinicians to produce more precise and satisfactory medicine choices, ultimately bettering patient outcomes and growing a lifestyle of secure and effective treatment.

To Implement These Strategies, The Risk Manager Would Follow A Structured Approach

• Assess Current Practices: Completely evaluate the company’s medication administration methods, detecting susceptibility regions and potential medicine faults.
• Engage Stakeholders: Work with essential partners, like medical providers, pharmacists, IT personnel, and directors, to gain their backing and participation in the enactment method.
• Technology Procurement and Integration: Acquire proper technology answers (CPOE, BCMA, CDS) and incorporate them into the existing electronic medical records system to streamline drug procedures and improve safety.
• Training and Education: Devise a thorough coaching scheme to teach medical staff to utilize the new engineering competently and reemphasize the finest medication security methods.
• Performance Monitoring: Create a system for routinely monitoring drug mistake rates and unfavorable happenings. Analyze the info to pinpoint fashions, underlying causes, and chances for betterment.
• Continuous Improvement: Use data-backed understandings to create required changes to the medicine administration method regularly. Motivate a culture of never-ending progress and learning from mistakes to prevent upcoming incidents.
• Incident Reporting and Analysis: Motivate and assist in conveying medicine faults and near misses by an occurrence describing scheme. Analyse declared occurrences to spot designs and reoccurring matters for focused intercession.
• Feedback and Communication: Build a comments circuit with frontline employees to assemble their understandings and proposals for improving medicine safety practices. Disclose achievements and enhancements to the entire association to breed a civilization of straightforwardness and accountability.

Importance of a Risk Management Program

An important program for managing dangers is essential to healthcare organizations as it acts proactively to find, evaluate, and decrease threats that may impact patient safety, the quality of care, financial stability, and the performance of the organization in general (Wang et al.,2020) Some main parts of a danger management program comprise danger assessment, reporting and examination of incidents, staff education and training, development of policies, and continuous endeavors for improvement.

Elements of Risk Management

Risk Identification: The approach mechanically distinguishes possible risks across various corporation areas, including medical processes, human resources, and economic functions (Querstret et al.,2020). By conducting standard risk assessments and occurrence reporting, the organization can find regions of weakness and adopt correct steps to address them.

Incident Reporting and Analysis: A strong occurrence reporting approach permits workers to report near misses and unwanted events without dread of reprisal (Querstret et al.,2020). Incident analysis using underlying cause analysis strategies helps discover underlying components adding to incidents, giving important insights for executing precautionary activities.

Training and Education: A chance administration consists of recurrent coaching and instruction for all staff members, cultivating an environment of protection and liability (Querstret et al.,2020). Suitably qualified employees are more prone to adhere to excellent practices and security protocols, reducing errors and unfavorable happenings.

Regulatory Compliance: The program ensures the organization complies with all relevant laws, rules, and sector requirements linked to chance government and patient protection (Querstret et al.,2020). Conformity not just shields the organization from lawful consequences but moreover advances moral practices and patient trust.

The organizational effect of not having a risk management plan can be tough. Without an organized risk management method, the association is more exposed to bad events, medical errors, and lawful challenges (Chen et al.,2020). The absence of risk management can threaten patient safety, harm to the organization’s name, increased healthcare costs, and likely financial losses due to lawsuits and penalties. Moreover, the lack of a risk management program may inhibit the organization’s ability to locate and manage systematic issues, causing missed opportunities for improvement and quality growth.

References

Asante-Duah, K. (2021). Hazardous waste risk assessment. CRC Press.

Chen, H., Yang, D., Zhang, J. H., & Zhou, H. (2020). Internal controls, risk management, and cash holdings. Journal of Corporate Finance, 64, 101695.

Lok, C. E., Huber, T. S., Lee, T., Shenoy, S., Yevzlin, A. S., Abreo, K., … & Foundation, N. K. (2020). KDOQI clinical practice guideline for vascular access: 2019 update. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 75(4), S1-S164.

Querstret, D., O’Brien, K., Skene, D. J., & Maben, J. (2020). Improving fatigue risk management in healthcare: A systematic scoping review of sleep-related/fatigue-management interventions for nurses and midwives. International journal of nursing studies, 106, 103513.

Wang, C., Cheng, Z., Yue, X. G., & McAleer, M. (2020). Risk management of COVID-19 by universities in China. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(2), 36.

Yue, X. G., Shao, X. F., Li, R. Y. M., Crabbe, M. J. C., Mi, L., Hu, S., … & Liang, G. (2020). Risk management analysis for novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 13(2), 22.