Risk and Quality Management in Hospitals - Essay Example

Risk and Quality management in hospitals al Affiliation The hospital setup is an organization that provides healthcare services to members of society or any other interested party. Maintaining standards in the hospital industry is important and necessary. Standards can be set to maintain quality management and reduce probable risks that are common during its normal operation. The hospital itself is composed of staff on different qualified levels (Bandura, 1990). The hospital is also differentiated into departments that handle health problems depending on their complexity and urgency. There is a department for out and in patients while there is a department for the in patients. The differentiation of these departments is to make management easier and also to establish quality in control and offering standard services. Minimizing risks in the hospitals is important as it improves the safety, security and the welfare of the patients. Safety in hospitals is an assurance of better services to potential customers and the staff. Risk and quality management in hospitals is important and should be effected timely to make the running of hospitals smooth. The primary purpose of risk and quality management in the healthcare is to improve the quality and efficiency of health care. Risk management itself is important in hospitals is important as it helps control risks and improve the chances of achieving set objectives by the management. Quality management as its name suggests is effective in establishing standards of operations related to hospitals. Quality management aims at achieving customer satisfactions and reducing the number of reported complaints. It will in turn will improve the image of the hospital and place it at a better position in business. The purpose of risk management in relation to the hospital is to gear all operations in order to achieve the objectives. A hospital can target to purchase new equipment at a certain set date. It will be the duty of the management to determine the source of funds for the purchase and in turn finance the operation to achieve its objectives. The preparation to achieve objectives is what is being referred to as risk management. The purpose of quality management, on the other hand, is to maintain operation standards and ethics. Quality management mainly focuses on quality service delivery and customer satisfaction. Although there are variations between quality and risk, all address the issue of change and improvement. Concepts of risk and quality management in the hospital are established in order to enable proper and timely achievement of objectives. Risk management concepts include; risk identification, risk analysis, risk evaluation and risk treatment. All these concepts are procedural in order to achieve the target and objectives. The first step in risk management is to identify the probable risks which may hinder of slow the process of achieving your objectives. Categorizing the risks after identification will make it easier for you to understand them and the effective solutions to apply on each. Identification of risks will enable you to categorize and differentiate the minor from the major risks. Conducting a risk list will put you on a better position of eliminating them. The classification and classification of these risks will also make them easier to be managed. After identifying these risks and listing them, the next process includes risk analysis. Analyzing a risk is the process of assessing all the listed risks and researching on their causes and prevention. The assessment of these risks is important as it enhances the development of preventive measures that are important in reducing the chances of risk occurrence or reoccurrence. Analyzing a risk will also enable effective management of future objectives of the company. After assessing the risk, the next step is to evaluate it and if possible treat it. Evaluation of risk involves weighing the degree of every risk and separating the minor risks from the major ones. Evaluating risk is important as it favors the development of precautions and preventive measures that are effective in risk treatment. Risk evaluation targets to identify the appropriate solution to each risk and correct or control it through the process of risk treatment. Risk evaluation in the hospital industry is geared at minimizing all the risks and controlling those which cannot be eliminated this in turn will improve the rate of customer satisfaction by potential customers. Managing risks in a hospital is important for both the welfare of the staff and customers. The first step to managing all risks is to identify the hazards within the organization. Hazards are always indicators of existing risks in an organization (Cummings, 1980). Identifying these risks is important as it gives a detailed probability of how much damage the risk can create in future. Identifying these problems and the risks related to them is an important step in controlling the risks. Identifying these problems will help you to know the risks associated with them. Measuring the severity of a potential risk will also help in identifying the severity required to control or eliminate it. The measurement of severity of a potential risk is also important in that it helps you to estimate the urgency required in handling potential risks. Managing risks requires dedication and proper research in order to realize positive results and meet the objectives. Te next step is to develop the most appropriate solutions to the problem and step it to the risks. This step normally involves identifying which solution to use and put into practice. After these, the last procedure is to monitor the results and the immediate result after effecting procedural solutions to the risk. Quality management in the hospitals is very important. Health care is regarded as a vital aspect and service that requires to be provided in the highest standard. Quality in healthcare included both the equipment and the ethics of handling clients. Possible factors that affect quality outcomes in a health organization exist as internal factors and external factors. Most quality standards set in hospitals are because of either organizational objectives or personal passion in the urge to produce quality service. External factors that affect quality outcomes n the hospitals include the government and the competitors. Most hospitals will improve their quality standards as a measure to ensure that they stay ahead or in line with the competition. The government itself is also an institution that maintains quality standards in all hospital to ensure better and efficient services are offered at pocket-friendly standard. An example of an internal factor that will influence the quality outcomes in an organization is the availability of finance capital. The amount of capital a hospital has will greatly influence the rate at which it achieves its objectives related to quality management. The environment is also an important aspect in the hospital setup that greatly influences the quality of probable outcomes. Both internal and external factors affect the quality of outcomes in the hospital. Identifying these risks and the effective measures to control them is the best solution and strategy to maintain quality standards. However, it is possible to eliminate all barriers that hinder the effective service delivery in the hospitals. The absence of capital negatively affects the power of the hospital to improve its equipment or even hire qualified personnel. It also limits its capacity to maintain standards as per its objectives. A poor environment that is not equipped with adequate social facilities may also be a negative factor affecting quality outcomes for the organization. The government may also negatively affect the quality outcomes of many hospitals by regulating tax and management related procedures. These internal and external factors affect the quality outcome in hospitals depending on their ability to be controlled. Absence of funds, for example, will affect the hospital until it secures enough cash to meet its objectives. The best solution is to establish limits to these factors and control them before they get out of hand. These factors vary though and will differ from one hospital to another. While many internal and external factors are common, some exist due to situations created by the normal running of the business. The long-term missions of any organization are to achieve success and maintain it. However, in the hospital industry, various other long-term goals exist. One of the long-term goals is maintaining customer loyalty. An organization will always aim to satisfy all its customers in the end in order to maintain a good image. Maintaining a good image will place it better as compared to its competitors through offering better and quality services. Infrastructure and diversification in equipment is another long-term goal of each hospital (Stokols, 1992). Better and more advanced equipment will make it easier for the management to conduct al its services and medications. An example is the investment of equipment in the hospitals is the establishment and the installation of technologically advanced equipment. Long term goals mainly focus on increasing the efficiency of operation in the hospitals. Technological advancement also places better the effective handling of customer complaints through online platforms like emails and social sites. Short term goals of any company mainly focus on the present management and how to improve it. Long term goals are always the backbone of any organization as they propel it into the future. The short term goals, on the other hand, effect immediate running of the hospital and ensure that the daily operations of the hospital are successful. Short term goals are the reason behind customer loyalty and a good overall image of the hospital. The hospitals should implement policies that are in line with the goals of the organization. Various policies influence the outcome and image of any hospital greatly. They include the affordability policy, quality, and mortality. Affordability normally revolves around providing quality services at pocket-friendly price. Affordability is a policy that aims at attracting more patients to benefit from the services offered by a particular hospital. Mortality is another policy that is important to consider. The mortality rates of any hospital will affect its image and how individual relate it to handling health related issues. The mortality rate often measures the survival probability of cases handled by a certain hospital during a certain period. Hospitals with better survival rate relate well with the mortality policy and therefore fair well in competition and customer satisfaction (Maticka-Tyndale, 1991). The third policy is the quality policy. Quality matters most when it comes to health care as it deals with the delicate health of un-well individuals. All these quality policies and risk management policies are important in that they favor better operation of a business due to security and assurance. These policies enable the management to plan their operations well with the aim of achieving a specified target and objective. Risk management and quality management are closely related and normally constitute achieving set objectives. Risk management however deals with identifying probable risks and coming up with their appropriate solutions. Quality management, on the other hand, involves coming up with policies that will make the operation of an organization easier and more effective. Quality management also involves setting achievable standards and implementing them in time. These two disciplines however relate to each other in that they tackle and solve all existing problems n order to improve the image of the organization. They, therefore, complement each other as they are geared to achieve the same objective of achieving an organization’s target objectives. References Bandura A. (1990). Perceived Self-Efficacy in the Exercise of Control Over AIDS Infection. 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