Quality and Safety in Healthcare - Essay Example

QUALITY AND SAFETY IN HEALTHCARE Name Institution Date Quality and Safety in Healthcare Introduction Quality and safety in the healthcare involves both patients and staff in the healthcare environment. For instance, there is adverse exposure to microorganisms in the health care environment. Moist organic environments are likely to be more exposed than dry environments. According to Curtis (2008), it is the duty of workers in the social and healthcare facilities to practice infection control management to ensure the safety of patients. However, performance of healthcare staff is also likely to be affected by human factors and such as design of equipment, human behavior and interaction with the environment. Sensitization of medical professions and parties within the medical environment will help minimize negative effects of such factors and improve quality and safety in the healthcare environment. This paper provides a critical appraisal regarding human factors and work performance in the healthcare industry. The paper establishes relationship between human factors and the quality and safety in healthcare. Concept of patient safety and quality in healthcare Quality in healthcare and patients safety cannot be distinguished. According to Pamela (2007), quality involves a prime balance between a context of norms and values in a healthcare setting and realized potentials. However, quality in such settings cannot be attained without being measured through interactions among parties responsible for formation and implementation of the standards comprising of values and norms and the possibilities. The American academy of nursing expert panel on quality health consider a high quality care to be characterized by demonstration of behaviors that promote health which is vital for nursing input. Attaining an appropriate level of self-care, patient satisfaction of nursing care and appropriate criteria for symptom management are also other indicators of quality as stated by AHRQ. Safety for patients involves protection of patients from any kind of harm by entities in the nursing environment. Nursing professions must ensure that they install appropriate systems that prevent medical errors, learn from mistakes or errors and construct a safety culture in the medical world that incorporates firms, patients and the professionals. AHRQ considers patient safety to involve liberation of patients from preventable or accidental medical care incidences. For instance, preoperative hair removal in reducing surgical infection and use of coated catheters to impede micro-organic infection in urinary tract are safety procedures in the healthcare environment (Savage & Ford, 2008). Nursing as a profession defines quality and is considered among the main concerns of medical professions. The nursing responsibility to minimize mortality by employing hygiene and organizational practices is provided by both nursing standards and other settings of care. Nursing professions must therefore coordinate and balance both the safety standards. Communication of previous errors and successful care is important for improving efficiency in healthcare by reducing errors (Duthie, 2010). Impact of human factors and their influence on staff performance Human factors involveaspects within or outside the healthcare environment which has an impact on the behavior and well-being of people in the nursing setting. Carayon (2011) states that,environmental factors influence people’s behavior and performance, other than job factors, organizational factors and characteristics of individuals. Communication, culture in health care environment, situational awareness, metal workloads and teamwork are some of human factors affecting staff performance in healthcare settings. Distractions of staff while caring for patients affect their performance and compromise the safety of patients. Attending to patients require attention and degree of keenness. Metal workload might also cause distraction and fatigue which is likely to compromise a patient’s safety. The designs of devices and products of used in clinical incidences is another human factor that influences performance of staff in question attending to a patient. Awareness of situations improves efficiency in performance of staff. Training non-technical nursing skills is therefore important such as communication and coordination and training on teamwork (McCulloch et al, 2009). The culture of the organization will influence behavior and characteristics of staff. According to the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (2009), an open culture allows staff to raise issues concerning the safety of their patients to workmates and their seniors since they will be free to discuss incidences of patient safety. A just culture allows fair treatment of patients, staff and care givers and therefore issues raised by them are considered. This gives staff and care givers confidence and boosts their performance. Embracing a reporting culture by the organization improves staff confidence in the local reporting framework and reports all incidences including errors they detect in the process of attending to patients. Staff should not be punished as a result of reporting patient incidences so as to improve their performance in adhering to organization systems or frameworks (National Patient Safety Agency and NHS Confederation (2008). Relationship between management issues and healthcare safety Management issues in medical centers influence the safety in healthcare. Organizational behavior management in medical fields improves safety in both the medical and behavioral perspective by correcting errors through an analytic and critical examination of errors, establishment of reasons for errors and giving evidences to improve such situations. Management issues like risk management procedures determine levels of safety in a medical center. Well instituted risk procedures for operations and normal patient treatment improve patients’ safety if well implemented. Most organizations dealing in healthcare consider merging risk management and quality initiatives to one common department to improve such practices (Acton, 2013). Another management issue is the hierarchical arrangement and coordination with the organization. Attending to patients especially in cases of surgical procedures require teamwork and maximum coordination and cooperation. Lack of a team leader to issue instructions might result to confusion through random leadership and unspecific instructions that compromises efficiency and quality in ensuring patient safety. The management is responsible for creating a culture in the medical organization operations, setting organizational goals and quality levels. Less organized management affect quality of the organization systems and therefore healthcare safety will be affected. Misleading instructions from senior management will affect safety and cause disorganization. Elements of approaches for managing quality and safety A successful management of safety and patients’ health in clinical settings require implementation of a well-organized framework. According to a publication by the Health and safety executive (2008), one of the approaches for managing quality and safety involves institution of viable plans for health quality and safety. Another approach is the investigation of any incidents accidents or errors that occur in the health centers. After investigation, auditing of the entire health system and the incidents for quality and safety is important so as to detect areas that need to be improved and corrected. Key elements for successful management of health quality and safety can be represented in a diagram as shown below: The arrows represent information and control links. Feedback loop to improve performance Impact of a safety and risk management culture in healthcare A safety and risk management culture has a great positive impact in healthcare. Risk management procedures minimize risk through viable risk control procedures that save lives of critical patients. According to report by the common wealth of Australia (2009), emergency responding arrangements fundamentally save lives and reduce mortality rates. Principles for effective emergency response and recovery include subsidiarity and an appropriate information management system for an agency of response or responder. Decision making is disintegrated to all suitable levels at the lowest hierarchy and high level of co-ordination be ensured at the highest possible level. Emergency response and recovery requires information as a vital element so as to execute control plans (Wilkinson, 2007). The nursing body in Australia is governed by a number of standards defined by the Australian Nursing and midwifery Council. The nursing and midwifery regulatory authorities (NMRAs) also provides national standards that guide nursing practitioners, enrolled nurses and midwives in observing ethics and their professional conduct codes (ANMC, 2007, p.1). According to Emslie (2008), nurses and doctors are expected to employ these standards in carrying out their duties such as patient presentation, nurse assessment, doctor diagnosis and nursing care.Other than nurses, these standards are used to inform customers under medical care of their expectations from the medics and in schools; it is applicable in assessment of nursing student performances Conclusion The quality of healthcare settings and safety of patients in such environments is inseparable. The concept of safety of patients involves ensuring that they are out of danger with respect to their health. Organizations therefore embrace systems that improve quality and ensure safety of their patients. Human factors also influence performance of staff and as a result their attention to patients. Human factors involve distractions to medical attendants, teamwork failures, mental workload and physical demands. These affect the ability of the staff to function properly and therefore quality of performance. Management issues can have a great impact on healthcare safety since the management is responsible for setting culture and quality goals in health centers. Non pharmacological techniques include aspects such as ventilation and cleanliness of surfaces and hands. References Duthie, E. A. (2010). Application to human error theory in case analysis of wrong procedures. Pubmed Salvendy, G. (2012). Handbook of human factors and ergonomics. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Pamela, H. M. (2007). Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses. National center for biotechnology information (NCBI). Carayon, P. (2011). Handbook of Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care and Patient Safety. CRC Press Savage, G. T., & Ford, E. W. (2008). Patient safety and health care management. Bingley: JAI Press. Acton, Q. A. (2013). Issues in Healthcare Management, Economics, and Education: 2012 Edition. Scholarly Editions. Emslie, S., Hancock, C. P., & Healthcare Governance Limited. (2008). Issues in healthcare risk management. Oxford: Healthcare Governance Ltd. Common wealth of Australia.(2009). Australian emergency management arrangements. Common wealth of Australia Curtis, L. T. (2008). Prevention of hospital-acquired infections: review of non-pharmacological interventions.Elsevier Ltd. Journal of Hospital Infection. Agency for healcareresearcg and quality (AHRQ) PSNet. (2007). Patient Safety Network: Patient safety. AHRO .http://psnet​.ahrq.gov/glossary.aspx#P. McCulloch, P., Mishra, A., Handa, A., Dale, T., Hirst, G, Catchpole, K. (2009).The effects of Aviation-style non-technical skills training on technical performance and outcome in the operating theatre. Quality and Safety in Healthcare 18, pp. 109-115. NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (2009).Saving lives in Surgery: A guide for chief executives in implementing the WHO surgical safety checklist. 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