Risk Management and Quality Care in HealthCare - Research Paper Example

Risk Management and Quality Care in HealthCare Introduction Risk management refers to the coordinated activities to direct and control an organisation with regards to uncertainty. Previously the risk management and quality care system was run in the healthcare as two separate functions. Even the management system of these functions was operated separately. Presently, risk management and the quality care issues in the health organisation are working together to ensure the delivery of safe and high-quality care to the patients (ECRI Institute, 2009). Correspondingly, the essay focuses on the areas, which may instigate a risk at the healthcare and the loopholes that still exist in the management of the healthcare to provide quality care to the patients. Considering the above factors, the techniques to enhance the quality care has also been discussed henceforth. Discussion When a patient in a healthcare organization is harmed due to a medical error, the risk and the quality managers need to display immediate interest to identify the root of the error. A detailed curriculum is followed observing the different reasons, which have led to such litigation. However, it has been observed that both the quality managers and the risk managers have a separate set of investigation techniques and hardly share any information among them causing a gap in the rick control mechanism followed by healthcare organizations in general. Considering the fact that both the groups are working with the same motive, the groups have found a common ground upon which a collaborative model can be pursued to enhance their approach (WHO, n.d.). Risk management is a very popular practice in healthcare organizations, as it helps to provide a much developed care to the patients. The quality care to the patients can be provided through continuous monitoring of medical activity that is being organized for patients. Again, it can be also said that no two organizations are alike hence no single model of risk management/quality control can suffice the need of every healthcare. Every organization follows different sets of procedures to cover up the risks that the healthcare is exposed to. However, with the focus of quality management, the policies of the organizations are more or less stable, even when new tools and procedures are incorporated (ASHRM, 2007). Notably, the quality care is presently gaining momentum at the healthcare industry and covers the all-around care for the patients. This involves the medical safety of the patients and maintaining a proper grievance cell to adhere to the grievances of the patients. Proper handling of patients and prevention of accidents in the healthcare are also noted as the major areas of concern for healthcare organizations. Correspondingly, the risk management department of the healthcare sector, in order to provide quality care should enhance their patients’ reporting system to avoid discrepancies (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, 2011). To enhance the risk management systems in the healthcare organization, communication system within the organization should also be improved. The communication and consultation at each level of management would thus help to enhance the quality of the healthcare risk management. Considering that patients safety is one of the main motives of any healthcare organization, it can be said that the intervention programs should be practiced keeping the patients’ interests in mind. It is in this context that owing to the emotional attachment, the risks in handling patients are uncertain and sensitive. The major concern of risk management, in order to provide quality care in healthcare organizations is to ensure safety of the patients. This majorly revolves around the intention to safeguard patients from any medical hazard, accident while being diagnosed and while being proper monitoring on the medication provided to the patients (Horgby, n.d.). In order to enhance the risk mitigating techniques in the healthcare, facilitating quality care is essential based on detailed rules, policies and standards that need to be maintained. Correspondingly, proper workforce management is the foremost requirement in healthcare organizations to ensure a well-developed system of risk management. The risk management system should thus be efficient enough to react immediately to the management process failures and ensure that the risk gets mitigated at the earliest. Furthermore, aid provided by prompt response of the risk management team to the failures of the equipment or the apparatus operating in the health care would ensure better quality of care by the healthcare organization (Department of Health, n.d.). It is in this context that lack of proper integration of technology leads to the failure of the health organizations to meet the quality standards. Interdepartmental communication has always been a positive source of development for organizations, which mandates that effective steps should be taken in maintaining an efficient chain of communication to mitigate the occurrence of discrepancies. However, it has been observed that due to the lack of education within the workforce, the quality care provided by healthcare is hampered substantially. To prevent from further occurrences of risk, healthcare organizations should also be focused on developing the knowledge base of their workforce (Kenett & Raanan, 2011). As often argued, with the development of the medical facilities and technologies to monitor the operations within the organization, the healthcare sector has been successfully providing quality care to the patients. Further observing the recent globalization and the enhanced global economy, it can be asserted that healthcare organizations have been able to increase their efficiency to compete at the global healthcare arena. The phenomenon of global standards for providing a quality care at the healthcare has further forced the healthcare providers to develop their healthcare facilities and meet the global requirements (Ebel et al., 2012). Conclusion Risk has been defined as a danger arising from uncertainty. Management of such uncertain risk has always been a huge challenge, as planning for uncertain happenings is nearly impossible. However, the efficiency of the technologies and speculation of managers has mitigated the effect of risk to a certain level. When dealing with healthcare and sensitive issues, such as quality care of the patients the planning requirement becomes more crucial. Through the implementation of the technologies and proper planning of the risk management strategies, the healthcare has sufficed the need to provide quality care to the patients. However, observing the diversity of the healthcare organizations in providing the quality care, it can be concluded that each patient needs to be monitored separately to enhance the quality care. A proper integrated system should be assimilated and updated as per the requirement to ensure that the standard norms of providing quality care are maintained. References ASHRM. (2007). Different roles, same goal: risk and quality management partnering for patient safety. Monograph, 1-10. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. 2011. National safety and quality health service standards. Retrieved from http://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/NSQHS-Standards-Sept2011.pdf Ebel, T., George, K., Larsen, E., Neal, E., Shah, K., & Shi, D. (2012). Global standards: The system-wide benefits to patient safety and healthcare efficiency. Strength in Unity: The Promise of Global Standards in Healthcare, 28-40. ECRI Institute. (2009). Healthcare risk control. Risk and Quality Management Strategies 4, 2, 1-17. Department of Health. (n.d.). Pocket guide to clinical risk management. Retrieved from http://www.safetyandquality.health.wa.gov.au/docs/clinical_risk_man/50621_POCKET%20Guide%20Final.pdf Horgby, P. (n.d.) Risk management and health care. CEFOS Report 5, 1-15. Kenett, R. S. & Raanan, Y. (2011). Operational risk management: A practical approach to intelligent data analysis. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. WHO. (n.d.). Understanding and Managing Clinical Risk, 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/patientsafety/education/curriculum/who_mc_topic-6.pdf Read More