Improving the Quality of Patients Policy - Coursework Example

Clinical Governance Student’s Name: Learning Institution: Paper outline 1. Introduction 2. Policies in H ward in Jacaranda Hospital 2.1. Improving the quality of patients policy 2.2. Partnerships between all stakeholders Policy 2.3. Complaints policy 2.4. Smoke Free Policy 3. Clinical Governance 4. Accreditation details 5. Quality and patient safety 6. Managing risks and infection control 7. Multidisciplinary team structure 8. Conclusion 9. Reference List Introduction In the modern world, the decisions people make pertaining health care have to be at equilibrium between clinical, community and the corporate governance. This balance is becoming important each day because the services rendered to the community by the health officials is constantly changing. There has been some effort from various governments across the world to improve clinical governance in health institutions. It has been established that clinical governance has to involve distributed leadership and people, who are dedicated to providing adequate care to patients with a clean heart. Although many countries have managed to implement the clinical governance in most health care institutions, there is still a major challenge to change clinical governance and make it a daily reality. To achieve this, all the health care providers are required to have good hands to implement this initiative. As Cathy (2007) points out, clinical governance is a framework that assists medical practitioners to improve quality and safeguard standards of care to patients. Policies in H ward in Jacaranda Hospital According to Sullivan (2008), whenever a company or an institution is being set up, the directors are required to formulate certain policies that will help in the growth and progress of such a company. These policies are the guidelines that set the extent of company’s operations. Therefore, in the management of H ward in Jacaranda Hospital, a number of policies have to be formulated to make sure that patients from all walks of life feel comfortable when nurses are attending to them. Some of these policies include:- Improving the quality of patients policy Perkins (2006) has observed that when patients go to various hospitals, their main objective is to receive medical care. However, he laments that some of these health care institutions are profit minded and thus would offer low quality services at the expense of the patients. Therefore, in the H ward in Jacaranda Hospital, more emphasis will be put to ensure that patients receive the utmost care. This will not only improve their confidence in the hospital but will also improve the reputation of the hospital across the country. Freeman (2006) justifies that in order to improve the quality of the patients, health care providers need to undertake refresher courses that will keep them up to date with the current events in the medical field. As a result, the personnel involved in the management of the H ward at Jacaranda Hospital will be required to attend these courses to help them improve their service delivery to patients. As a result, patients will at ease while sharing their experiences with the nurses attending to them. Partnerships between all stakeholders Policy According to Gurbutt (2011), patients are the backbone of any health care institutions. Therefore, whenever new policies are being formulated it is very important to include their input on specific matters. He points out that the policies in a hospital mainly affect the patients. It is for this reason that he demand that all the stakeholders such as nurses agree on the way forward to improve the operations in a hospital. He argues that a hospital that operates as a one man show has difficulties in addressing patients’ needs. It is for this reason that H ward at Jacaranda Hospital would be set up on the background of involving all the stakeholders including the patients. This hospital will place suggestion boxes at strategic points where patients can fill and drop them in a particular area. This will help the hospital management identify the pressing issues amongst patients so that such can be addressed as fast as possible. Complaints policy Joanne (2008) argues that, an effective organization sets up an office where clients can report complains. According to him, this is one of the ways through which service delivery to clients is enhanced. He points out that the nurses and other employees of such institutions have to attend their customers with utmost politeness because if such isn’t the case, customers can report them to the seniors. In addition, Meakins (2011) says that all employees are required to hang their job cards around their necks for identification by clients. He has noted that this is an effective and efficient way to make sure that a customer gets to know the employee who served him or her. In line with this policy, H ward in Jacaranda Hospital will establish a complaints section where patients can report complaints they may have against the hospital or any of its employees. Furthermore, all employees of this hospital will be required to have their job cards around their necks all the time they are at work. In the application of this policy, patients will feel that the hospital has put their interests first. As a result, more patients may prefer Jacaranda Hospital to other hospitals with no such policies. Smoke Free Policy Jacaranda Hospital will strive to make it and its environment smoking free zones. Hospitals are places where people from all walks of life frequent to access medical care. Amongst these people are the smokers and the non smokers. In order to protect the non smokers, the hospital will introduce this policy so that the environment within the hospital is friendly to all the people. According to Gask (2008), in some countries across the world, smoking in public areas is a criminal offence. Furthermore, he laments that smoking affects both the smoker and the person close to him or her. The affected person is commonly referred to as the secondary smoker. As a hospital, we will try and put posters on the hospital walls informing the public the dangers associated with smoking and the merits of quitting smoking. This will not only reduce the number of smokers, but also bring down the diseases associated with smoking. Clinical Governance According to Smith (2006), an effective and efficient clinical governance should embrace the following principles to achieve its objectives; Enabling administrative of clinical reviews, building different ideas to achieve a successful initiative, embedding a transformative partnership which will enable better outcomes for patients, each clinician to have a goal of maintaining high levels of quality and safety in his or her work. As the leader of this hospital, decisions affecting the hospital will be deliberated upon prior to approval. This will help bring consensus amongst those people who might think that their ideas have been ignored or disregarded. In addition, professionalism in handling of patients’ records will be introduced. Swanwick (2011) has observed that there are health institutions that are still filing patients’ records. He says that in case of a fire outbreak, such records can be lost. As a result, the hospital loses the data and hence not in a position to follow up the progress of their patients. In order to improve on this weakness, there will be an introduction of computerized system where all patients’ data will be stored. A backup of this data would be kept separately to ensure that, if the original data is corrupted, a backup will be available. Davie (2009) argues that effective clinical governance is paramount; to make sure that a health care institution continues improving the quality and care it offers to its patients. In addition, helpful clinical governance will ensure that there is accountability besides creating an environment that will provide a room for others to improve. He says that clients are central to identifying safety and quality issues and solutions that must be implemented within an organization or an institution. Accreditation details Chambers (2007) argues that hospital endorsement is very important. According to him, this is one of the indicators that a heath care institutions is operating in the set standards. He says that the set standards may include such things as ensuring patient safety and overall service delivery to a patient. Meya (2012) points out that there are two types of accreditations in the health sector. One of them is home based accreditation. This accreditation takes place within a country. The second one is the International health care accreditation. This is given to hospitals that meet the international standards. Therefore, attaining accreditation will be an objective that H ward in Jacaranda Hospital will strive to achieve. This will only be achievable if patients and other stakeholders give a positive response in terms of hospital performance. Jacaranda Hospital, will make sure that patients are given utmost care, and their needs are addressed accordingly. Quality and patient safety Whenever patients are accorded high quality services and utmost care, the reputation of the hospital amongst the patients goes up. According to White (2010), poor performance and practices in a hospital need to be gotten rid off. Therefore, H ward in Jacaranda Hospital will endeavor to create a sense of achievement amongst the nurses and other workers. Although quality assurance has been an issue amongst many health institutions, motivating these workers can help the hospital achieve what others have failed to achieve. The patient’s record will be confidential and not accessed by anyone else rather than the doctor attending to the patient. Managing risks and infection control According to McSherry (2011), Clinical risk management is part of an institution risk management system. He points out that, the risk management may include other departments in an institution to cover financial, occupational, plant and equipment risk. He has argued that risk management revolves around five key components. These are; putting in measures that will reduce risks, making sure that there is a quick response to prevent an imminent risk, getting to know the factors that are bringing the risks, using the past risks as a lesson of dealing with future risks and singling out what went wrong during a patient’s care. With this information in mind, H ward in Jacaranda Hospital will be free from the risks because all the possible risks associated with patient care will be thoroughly addressed. In order to achieve this, different employees will be assigned various sections that will handle different aspects of patient care. This will help in identifying sections with a higher risk while administering care to patients. In the infection control, nurses handling patients will be equipped with all the necessary tools of the trade. This will go a long way in promoting and motivating the morale of these people. As a result, patients will be comfortable with the services being rendered to them. On the other hand, there are patients suffering from communicable diseases, and therefore, hospital management will allocate a specific room for them to avoid the transmission of diseases as tuberculosis. Multidisciplinary team structure It is important to realize that achieving the above stated objective is not an easy job. As a result, it is necessary to incorporate the opinions of other people rather than make a unilateral decision that may have negative implications in the future. It is for this reason that all senior nurses and co-workers will be consulted in implementing the envisaged changes. Hospital management will be informed through writing of their opinions and in order to achieve the envisaged objectives. This will not only demonstrate leadership skills but will also promote communication from the hospital management to other employees. In the long run, every member of staff will feel as part of the hospital fraternity. Conclusion The existence of health care institutions depends on the availability of patients. Therefore, when a patient visits any of them, he or she should be accorded utmost service and care. Hospitals should develop a mechanism through which patients do not have to wait for long hours before being attended. The government on the other hand, should make sure that it employs adequate medical personnel to cater for the increasing number of patients. The amount of money paid to the medical personnel should be raised to prevent the departure of qualified medical doctors to other countries. Moreover, communication from the management should be open so that people with ideas can bring them forth to be addressed. Reference list Cathy, B. (2007). Strengthening Clinical Governance through Cultivating the Line Management Role. Australian Health Review, Vol. 29(3) pp. 350-364. Chambers, R. (2007). Clinical Effectiveness and Clinical Governance Made Easy. Oxon: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Davie, M. (2009). Understanding Care Homes: A Research and Development Perspective. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Freeman, T. (2006). Measuring Progress in Clinical Governance: Assessing the Reliability and Validity of the Clinical Governance Climate Questionnaire. Journal of Health Services Management Research Vol. 16(4) pp. 234-250. Gask, L.(2008). Beyond the Limits of Clinical Governance? The Case of Mental Health in English Primary Care. BMC Health Services Research, Vol. 8, pp 10-13. Gurbutt, R. (2011). Decision Making and Healthcare Management for Frontline Staff. London: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Joanne,T. (2008). An Overview of Clinical Governance Policies, Practices and Initiatives. Journal of Australian Health Review, Vol. 32(1) pp. 12-22. McSherry, R. (2011). Clinical Governance: A Guide to Implementation for Healthcare Professionals. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Limited. Meakins, J. (2011). Introduction to Clinical Governance: A Case study. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Limited. Meya, P. (2012). Clinical Safety, Quality and Governance. New York: MacMillan. Perkins, R. (2006). Quality Improvement in New Zealand Healthcare Part 7: Clinical Governance - An Attempt to Bring Quality into Reality. New Zealand Medical Journal, Vol. 119 (1243) pp 22-36. Smith, G. (2006). Clinical Governance in the 21st Century. New York: Routledge. Sullivan, M. (2008). Shifting Clinical Accountability and the Pursuit of Quality: Aligning Clinical and Administrative Approaches. Journal of Healthcare Management Forum, Vol. 21(3) pp. 8-12. Swanwick, T. (2011). ABC of Clinical Leadership. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Limited White, T. (2010). A Guide to the NHS. Oxon: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd. Read More