Risk management is a crucial part of any organization as it aids businesses in identifying and dealing with possible future risks before they occur. The interview was conducted in an assisted living facility, and the interviewee was the head of the risk management program in the medical facility. From the interview, the risk management head stated that the organization held in high regard its risk management strategies as they helped in attaining the strategic goals of the facility as well as promote patient wellness (Shi et al., 2021). The role of the risk manager, as discussed during the interview, is to make certain that the necessary risk mitigation strategies are implemented and followed up to gauge their success. This paper aims to discuss the manner in which risk management is employed in the assisted care living facility using the information provided by the risk manager during the interview.
Risk Management Strategies Used
The first query of the interview was about some of the risk management strategies the organization used in its risk control program. Seeing as the setting was an elderly care facility, the risk manager noted that some of the risk factors they counter include patient falls, medication side effects, increased health issues, and chronic pain (Dhargave & Sendhilkumar 2016). Regarding these risk factors, therefore, the risk manager went ahead to state that some of the risk management strategies employed in the risk control program of the health facility included risk avoidance and risk reduction. Under risk avoidance, the risk manager stated that this was mainly in relation to falls. Instances of employing risk avoidance include removing obstacles from pathways and having guardrails on walls to help patients as they walk. As for risk reduction, the interviewee noted that the health facility used instances such as ensuring environmental cleanliness such as cleaning surfaces with disinfectants to avoid issues of the spread of infectious diseases.
Addressing Key Professional Legal and Ethical Uses
According to the issue of how the educational risk management program of the organization addresses major professional topics such as vicarious liability, negligence prevention, and malpractice litigation, the risk manager informed that there are various ways in which these are handled. For instance, regarding negligence avoidance, it is achieved through employee sensitization. Employees are constantly reminded of the importance of upholding the professional code of conduct in their service provision to patients. Furthermore, continuous training of employees is also done in an effort to avoid medical errors or other instances that could reduce the health outcomes of patients. Regarding malpractice litigation, the program states that in order to avoid this, employees are required to maintain complete records and documentation and be up to date with current standards (Shi et al., 2021). Lastly, pertaining to vicarious liability, the interviewee informed that in order to prevent this, the program provided that health practitioners should always ensure they attained consent for any medical procedures to be performed, from the patients themselves or their relatives.
Policies Implemented Addressing High-Risk Areas
The risk manager noted that, in regards to policies that the medical facility has put in place to address emergency triage in high-risk areas, one of the policies implemented is the presence of an emergency risk management program that states how to identify the early warning signs of hazards. These signs could include increased cases of a certain illness which could seem abnormally high. The other policy adopted is the HIPAA policy (Cooke et al., 2022). This set of regulations makes it an obligation of the healthcare facility to provide each patient with the right set of healthcare practices required in an effort to improve patient outcomes.
Challenges Faced
Considering the setting of the elderly care facility, most of the risks these individuals face include loneliness, falls, medication side effects, chronic pain, and increased physical health issues (Dhargave & Sendhilkumar 2016). Owing to this, therefore, the risk manager noted that some of the challenges the organization faces in managing and controlling high risk include patients’ low immunity and deteriorating senses of patients. Because of their low immunity, the risk of being susceptible to infections is high for this population, and as such, it becomes easy for infectious diseases to attack their immune system. The other challenge pertains to a reduction in the senses of the patients in question. Some senses, such as seeing, tend to become weaker as one grows older, and because of such an instance, patients become more prone to suffer incidences such as falls since they are not able to see clearly and hence can bump into obstacles and fall.
Monitoring, Evaluating, and Maintaining Compliance
To monitor, evaluate, and maintain compliance with the risk management program employed, the risk manager noted that the health facility employs different strategies such as auditing and employee training. The auditing strategy is carried out in two parts continued reviews by external bodies and benchmarking of the organization’s current risk management program against internationally accepted standards. Under continuous outside institutions review, the assisted living facility reviews the elements of its program against those of regulatory bodies which are responsible for monitoring the safety of patients in the country (Debra Cascardo 2016). As for employee training, employees are continuously trained on how they can ensure compliance with the risk management program in place.
Assessment of the Organization’s Risk Management Program and Steps to Improve one Area
Following the information acquired from the risk manager, it is clear that the risk management program employed by the assisted living facility has made certain to include provisions whose outcomes will be to ensure enhanced patient outcomes, particularly to high-risk healthcare concerns such as infections. One major strength of the risk management program employed by the health facility is the implementation of policies that are compliant with patient safety regulations. Despite it being effective, the program had one limitation, which is that in the education risk program, it does not have a provision for major stakeholders such as the patient and their families. To improve this, I would recommend that the hospital employ methods such as printing pamphlets that contain information about the risk management program being used. The reason for this suggestion is that these pamphlets will enable patients and their families to understand what program is being used to mitigate risks, thus giving patients a chance to be involved with their care.
References
Cooke, E., Perkins, M. M., Doyle, P., Kinlaw, K., Wack, K., & Vandenberg, A. E. (2022). Ethics of Health Information Sharing and Social Relationships at End of Life in Assisted Living. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 41(4), 1153-1166.
Debra Cascardo, M. A. (2016). Compliance challenges facing healthcare providers in 2016. The Journal of medical practice management: MPM, 31(5), 276.
Dhargave, P., & Sendhilkumar, R. (2016). Prevalence of risk factors for falls among elderly people living in long-term care homes. Journal of clinical gerontology and geriatrics, 7(3), 99-103.
Shi, C., Xu, Y., Chen, Y., Pu, H., Yu, Q., Wu, X., & Zhang, Y. (2021). Perceptions and experiences of risk management by managers of residential aged care facilities: a qualitative study from Hunan Province, China. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 16(1), 1978724.
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