Patient Safety, Quality Improvement, and Risk Management

PATIENT SAFETY, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT 1
PATIENT SAFETY, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, AND RISK MANAGEMENT
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PATIENT SAFETY, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT 2
Table of Contents
Patient safety, quality improvement, and risk management.......................................................................3
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Patient Safety........................................................................................................................................4
3.0 Building a patient safety culture............................................................................................................7
4.0 Quality improvement of the health care system...................................................................................7
5.0 Quality improvement process...............................................................................................................9
6.0 Risk Management................................................................................................................................11
7.0 Risk Management Process...................................................................................................................12
8.0 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................................................16
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PATIENT SAFETY, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT 3
Patient safety, quality improvement, and risk management
1.0 Introduction
The health care system in any country has the responsibility to ensure patient satisfaction by
embracing accountability in the provision of medical care. This can be realized through engaging
in risk management for patients by availing high-quality medical care aimed at ensuring patient
safety. Carroll, (2009) explains that in the recent years, the healthcare system has been using
patient safety, quality improvement and risk management as vehicles towards establishing safety
and reliability is the patient care system. The integration of these disciplines, risk management,
quality improvement and patient safety, into the patient care system, not only results into safe
and reliable patient services but also support in ensuring efficient use of the healthcare resources
towards achieving the desired outcomes.
This paper aims at discussing the healthcare issues relating to patient safety, quality
improvement, and risk management. It defines patient safety, quality improvement and risk
management considering the factors that constitute these aspects of modern health care system. It
further provides suggestions on how patient safety, quality improvement, and risk management
could be ensured in the healthcare organization. Finally, it highlights the various processes of
implementing these suggestions, before devising an appropriate conclusion regarding the major
issues discussed in the paper.
In the current society, health care system, aiming to achieve patient satisfaction through delivery
of high-quality healthcare services, could ensure proper healthcare risk management and patient
safety. Risk management, in the context of health care, entails those programs that are oriented
towards identifying and minimizing the liability exposure of the health organization, while
quality improvement refers to the process of ensuring that the services provided by the health
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PATIENT SAFETY, QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND RISK MANAGEMENT 4
care system are in line with the requirements of the Joint Commission that is responsible for
accrediting organizations. These programs are aimed at enhancing the health care’s process,
structures and outcomes. Risk management programs help in maximizing the quality of patient
care by complementing quality management programs in minimizing the liability exposure of the
healthcare organization (Barash, Cullen, Stoelting, Cahalan & Stock, 2009).
2.0 Patient Safety
It is a basic need of the health care professionals to provide all people with safe care. Healthcare
nurses are responsible for creating a safe environment for the patient through delivering
professionally high-quality nursing care pertaining to human hygiene enhancement, infection
control, and safety precautions. Medical errors were historically seen to result from incompetent
negligence behavior of the patient. However, current reports reveal that these most of these
medical errors result from fundamental mistakes in the health care delivery systems, not from the
carelessness of the patient (Delaune, 2013). These, therefore, create the need for patient safety
practices within the health care system.
Current healthcare organizations have the challenge to create a culture of patient safety and focus
on changing the risks to patients within and without the healthcare facility, rather than blaming
the patient for medical errors. The Australian government, through the National Health and
Medical Research Council (NHMRC), assists in ensuring a patient safety culture through
developing clinical practice guidelines to help physicians in taking care of people. Moreover, the
Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) has the responsibility
to promote patient safety. This body has, for instance, developed goals for personal safety within
the health care system (Delaune, 2013).
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