Risk Management Evaluation within a Hospital

Risk Management Evaluation within a HospitalBy David John VidanesA WRITEN REPORT ON RISK MANAGEMENTEvery organization that has been put up will go through disparate ch tout ensembleenges, problems and encroach that could expose to different lay on the lines such as interruption in its operation or worst the risk of closing down of a business. This event could demote from the biggest or to the smallest and simplest organization in each industry, be it on Business, Agriculture, Information technology and/or Health flush. divers(prenominal) risks are not only present in organizations but withal to personal level. Risks are everywhere and beca physical exercise of this Risk Management come into picture.Ive been part of Howard Hubbard Memorial Hospital back in the Philippines for devil years. It is a 98 bed capacity industrial hospital and manages by DOLE Philippines. DOLE is a multinational company that mainly produces exports of different support fruits and besides complies w ith different international standards organization like ISO or the International Organization in Standardization in its operation including its policies and procedures pertaining to risk Management. Risk guidance specific to safety in the rangeplace in my organization is done by group of people composed of high-level managers and mid-level managers (safety committee). They make necessary policies and procedures concentrate on eliminating if not reduction of identified risk. Risk management has proved its importance in the institution over the span of clip that I work at that place. Risk management is the same as securing the future or it is a helping great deal in attaining the goals and objectives set therefor when one organization go for the risk management this will result in progress and development. For instance, an employee who neglects or skips a certain safety protocols has a higher risk of facing an apoplexy that could shine on his or her productivity which also r esult in the loss of a company, while on the other hand, a worker who adheres to all safety procedure have a lower percentage of facing work related accidents therefor he/she is an efficient worker and that is always considerably for a company.Risk management stresses its importance by its benefits and contribution it brings to an organization. Obvious benefits of risk management in my previous organization arePrevention of any possible undesirable eventThe belittle in the probability of an mishap to happenReduction of the most probable seismic disturbance or effect of an incident that could happenHence, this make known will focus with different risk in my previous workplace specifically on safety.Prevention of harmful event is the honey oil benefit since risk is defined as some social occasion that could happen in the future and leads to a loss of something of value, so managing risk is essentially prevention. One good example is the simple procedure done in the hospital I wo rk is the Hand washing. Hand Washing before and after caring for a affected role will Prevent Nosocomial Infection or the hospital acquired infection. It will safeguard the patients in the hospital and also the nurse who is caring for them.The managers cannot control everything at bottom the organization same is true with the elements outside the organization that could affect a business such as the Community and Politics. Thus, risk management can decrease this probability of uncontrolled accidents or events by identification and assessment of different risk, their causes, and formulation of enlistment measures and protocols basing on the identified causes this steps will aid greatly on minimizing the likeliness of an incident. Example, in the community that I am in, cases of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever is increasing over a short span of time everyday each month there is prominent escalation of cases in the hospital. To decrease the incident of the sickness, the hospital conducte d Health teachings or Education to the community which contains the causes, mode of transmission, signs and symptoms and how to delicacy the disease. As a result, the community gains k outrightledge and awareness regarding the disease thus helped in the reduction of possible casualty.Components Affecting Risk ManagementA. Review activities and internecine environmentThe hospital that I work back in the Philippines is the only facility in my town located at the foot of Mt. Matutum an active release that is varaned by DOLE Philippines and the local government. The hospital have all the basic services required for it to operate such asLaboratories to take and test wrinkle samples from patientsImaging and Radiology for conducting X-rays and Ultrasound imagingPharmacy for all the medication needs of the patientsIntensive care units, Neonatal intensive care unitsOperation Theater, compulsion DepartmentAmbulance servicesMedical and Surgical wardsPediatric wardsOB-GYNE wardsOut-patien t departmentIsolation Rooms for infectious patientsIndividual private rooms complete with a tv set and RefrigeratorCanteen or cafeteriaThis given facilities and services comprise the 98 bed capacity industrial hospital. Staffs are all hard working(a) and friendly although sometimes conflicts in different departments is unavoidable but this minor conflicts are easily solved by the management. The facility is backed by DOLE Philippines in its finances this includes the bills from electricity, water and tele chat. Although the hospital is assisted by DOLE it still has a negative effect like, before we can purchase or request medical exam supplies for the day to day operation, it needs to be check and approved by a certain department in DOLE thus making thing complicated that sometimes result in the delayed in the resupplying of our stocks. The hospital mainly caters DOLE employee and their families since we are an industrial hospital of DOLE Philippines, aside from that we also take clients from the community. These clients keep the hospital ply busy from Monday to Sunday, day and night. The hospital staff encounters different people with different cases all throughout the day, especially in the hand brake department where I am delegate. Most of the emergencies I handled are drunken patients who encountered vehicular accidents, a gunshot wound from an assassination attempt, heart attacks, patients with strokes, ancestry related injuries from DOLE and all sorts of emergencies that one can imagine.B. Setting objectiveWith all the activities and the environmental hazards inside the hospital, the objectives for a risk management is clearly pore on the safety of the staff and the clients inside the facility. The objective covers all the population inside the hospital whatever the purpose and transaction one at hand as long as this person is inside the hospital premises.C. Event identificationEvery day has different situations and different scenarios or situation s to keep tract with the happenings in the hospital, we have all sorts of different log books in almost all the areas. Aside from that, the facility has its own CCTV cameras and security personnel who patrols every now and then. IR or the incident report is the most common one this is done by writing a report by the staff or staffs who are involved in an incident. Almost all of the activities in the hospital are recorded in the different log books by the staff to monitor this will help the review of the causes and effects of an event or incident. One good example is when a staff was punctured accidentally by a needle used in a patient, the staff needs to write an Incident report containing the following The nature of incident, place, time, date and on why did the staff think the incident happened. After which the staff needs to write in the log book specifically for all needle stick injuries.The most perceptible risk in the hospital that I work before areRisk for needle stick inju ry, Risk for acquiring infectious diseasesRisk for temblor and fire since we are literally at the foot of volcano and a very warm environmentRisk for physical injury for staff assigned at the emergency department.D. Risk AssessmentThe identified risk then will go through assessment prioritization and careful study as to its impact and on how often these incidents happen. The risk management firstly prioritizes on the risk of the staff to acquire highly contagious diseases because every day, staff nurses interacts and personally care for these infected clients. Its likelihood to happen is high without proper precaution and will not only affect the organization but also the community. In an instance, a staff nurse is caring for a patient with tuberculosis, after a few weeks the nurse try outs signs and symptoms and has acquired tuberculosis. The staff then is now capable of spreading the disease to his/her workplace and the community. The mentioned situation has immense damaging out come that it needs to be prioritize. Risk for needle stick injury is also common but controllable if safety procedures and protocols are followed. The same goes with the risk for injury in emergency department, the nurse can always ask for assistance to a security in uncontrollable situations. The fire, earthquake and volcanic eruption on the other hand have a much greater impact than the rest but the likelihood of the event is less than the other identified risk.E. Risk response planThere are different strategies and plans formulated after careful assessment, study and prioritization. Different strategic plan were formulated in response to the risks. These areTo counteract the risk of obtaining an infectious disease, the use of personal protective equipment such a gloves, mask, gowns and gape is strictly implemented. Hand washing every contact with a patient is also habitually done.For the risk of needle stick injury, the management posted several(prenominal) reminders and proced ures in proper handling and disposal of sharp objects such as needles and surgical knives all over the hospital, specifically at the nurse station.On the emergency department, nurses assigned are reminded and thought to assess signs of possible aggravation of drunk and drug patients, security officers also take their rounds every now and then at the area.There is a yearly fire, earthquake and evacuation drills in the hospital which involves all the staff and patients. Aside from that all of the staff is thought on how to use a fire extinguisher and to do a first aid. Safety orientation to the new employees and reorientation yearly to the old staff is a dogging routine. All of these are strictly followed and implemented in the hospital I that I belong to before.F. Control activitiesThe Safety committee had their regular meetings quarterly. In the meeting, they show reports of recent incidents that happen in the period. They check, verify and compare the data with the previous report s. They also held emergency or special meetings for emergency cases. Moreover the committee also sends personnel to different seminars and trainings to keep up to date in the different trends in occupational hazards and safety in general.G. Information and communicationInformation and communication is handled really well in my organization. Memos and new safety guidelines and organism communicated well through series of orientation and meetings with different departments to make sure the information is being understood and clearly discussed with the staff. Different signage and posters are posted in different areas within the facility and can easily be seen by the clients, like the arrows pointing to the different emergency exits and posters of new information concerning the safety of the clients and staff on the hospital.H. MonitoringSafety committee monitors these protocols and procedures by doing daily or weekly checks or preventive maintenance on the different safety equipment s uch as the fire extinguishers, sprinkles smoke detectors and others. A personnel assigned makes sure that they are working properly and ready to use in emergencies. Evaluation is done through surveys and suggestions are always welcome to improve the situation or consequently to decrease the different risks.Howard Hubbard Memorial Hospital is a small facility compared to other institute in the county, but I think even though we are just a small organization, the management has a clear understanding of different risk at hand and on how to manage those risk, sure there is still room for improvement but I can see that the management is open for suggestions and is capable of changing the situation. Risk Management in this report as I have said is focused on operational aspect specifically to safety risks since there is a negligible financial risk due to the financial support by a successful company.