Health Policy and Economics: Ensuring Patient Safety in Hospitals

This article discusses the various aspects of health policies and the measures taken by hospitals to ensure the safety of patients' health. It highlights the interdependence of different departments in hospitals and the role of the Joint Commission in controlling the various responsibilities related to patient health. The article also emphasizes the importance of communication and the responsibilities of the chief nursing officer in ensuring proper treatment and care for patients.

Running head: HEALTH POLICY AND ECONOMICS
HEALTH POLICY AND ECONOMICS
Name of the Student
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Author’s Note

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The factors associated with the safety of the health of the patient's plays include certain
principles and associated with many departments. Other than the various involvement of the
department in the hospital for the maintenance of the health of the patients there are also several
strategies ware adopted by the management of the hospital. The artifact is an account of the
various aspects of the health policies and the measures taken by the hospital in order to ensure
the safety of the patients' health. It is understood that there are several departments in the
hospital that work together, to meet the requirement of the patients. As per Shivan (2014), I can
understand the housekeeping department plays an important role in maintaining the sanitation
and the sterility control in the hospitals.
The safety of the patients starts with the housekeeping department whose main duty is to
maintain the sterility and the total load of the air under control. For certain sections of the
hospital, it is crucial for maintaining sterility so that the infections are not transmitted from one
patient to the other. Thus in this case both the departments including the housekeeping
department as well as the central sterilizing unit will work together so that the sterility and the air
load within the different zones of the hospitals can be maintained. In addition, the involvement
of the department of catering and food services highlights how they are inter-dependent on each
other. The doctor asks the patients to follow a diet for a specific illness or disorder and the diet is
provided by the dietetics. The catering and the food service department of the hospital ensure
that the food is prepared as per the patients required and the strict controls prescribed by the
dietetics.
In hospitals, in order to handle specific categories of patients two department work closely
together. The casualty department and the Critical department categorized patients on the basis
of emergencies and patient conditions. From the study, it can be understood that there is a
situation when a patient may need to be shifted from the casualty department to the critical care
in situations where the patients face a life-threatening situation. The collaborative activity of both
the department is essential as per Disabled World (2016), so that the patients can be provided
with immediate attention according to the situation and emergencies.
The study allows me to have a picture of the serial steps adopted by the hospital in order to
measure the condition of the patients. The steps are several reporting and verification so that the
hospital management is aware of what needs to be done so that the life of patient does not get

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threatened. Reporting of the adverse events and routine collection of the body fluid and data
related to the patient health will assist the patients to monitor the patient’s health conditions.
According to Slawomirski et al, (2018), the information which is collected is not only used for
the system management but also assist in the measurement of the extent the patients’ illness
situation. Additionally, the satisfaction with the type of service provided by the hospital
facilities and the management plays an important role in measuring the safety procedures in the
hospital.
The Joint Commission of the hospital controls the various role and responsibility related to
patient health. It is crucial that the hospital follows all the rules stated by the joint commission
for maintaining the safety of the health of the patients and also provide quality care to the
patients (The Joint Commission, 2018). In addition, the joint commission departments provide
certification to the health care on the basis of the measures and the quality of care of the patient
provided by them. Thus for the promotion of the patient's health safety, there are certain
activities which I need to adopt for the promotion of the safety of the patient health. These steps
include establishing a proper network of management ensuring proper decision making by the
management of the hospital. Secondly, the employees of the hospital should be equally aware of
the safety measures in the working area. The management of the hospital should create a
compliance plan in order to maintain the safety of the patients. The compliance plan will ensure
that surveillance of hazardous and contagious disease can be identified and quarantined.
One can understand that the safety measures adopted by the hospital in just the responsibility of
the hospital management only. It is also important for the employees and the patients to be
equally aware of the quality services required in health care facilities. For such condition,
communication plays an important role so that the error in providing services to the patient can
be completely eradicated. According to the American Nurses Association (2018), it is the
responsibility of the management and the employee of the hospital to report the situation of
certain patients so that Research and development can be done on a particular illness so that the
health safety of the individual can be increased.
It is vital for the chief nursing officer to follow her/ his duties related to patient health. This will
ensure proper treatment and care are been taken for the patients. According to HADP (2019),
there are certain responsibilities which the chief nursing officer should monitor. This includes

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maintaining the standards of the treatment of the patients, maintaining the administrative
responsibilities and provides advisory roles to the patients. Especially in case of operations and
in case of the evaluation of the reports and the results obtained from the test conducted in the
patients. It is crucial for the Chief Nursing officer to plan the treatment beforehand to avoid
aggravating the illness or failing in providing proper treatment of the patients. In certain
situation, the chief nursing officer is found to take the role of a leader in driving and promoting
the various functionalities in health care. It is also the responsibility of this individual to provide
adequate compensation to the staff in addition to motivation.

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Reference List
American Nurses Association (2018). Patient safety: A shared responsibility [online]. Retrieved
from:
http://ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/
OJIN/TableofContents/Volume82003/No3Sept2003/PatientSafety.html
Disabled World (2016). Hospital departments list and section definitions [online]. Retrieved
from: https://www.disabled-world.com/definitions/hospital-departments.php
HADP (2019). Five job duties of a chief nursing officer [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.healthcare-administration-degree.net/lists/5-job-duties-of-a-chief-nursing-
officer/
Shivan, R. (2014). Different departments required in a hospital [online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.slideshare.net/rheashivan/different-departments-required-in-a-hospital
Slawomirski, L., Brownwood, I., Fujisawa, R., & Klazinga, N. (2018). Measuring Patient safety:
opening the black box [online]. Retrieved from: https://www.oecd.org/health/health-
systems/Measuring-Patient-Safety-April-2018.pdf
The Joint Commission (2018). Benefits of joint commission accreditation [online].
https://www.jointcommission.org/benefits_of_joint_commission_accreditation/