Description of Scenario
Mike is faced with a situation that is familiar with most healthcare practitioners. The hospital has various safety rules, which ensure patients and staff are safe. As a lab technician, Mike is required to report the spill as a precaution measure. Although the spill is in an area of work that he does not work in, he must report the spill for it to be cleaned up, if he cannot manage it on his own. As he awaits the response, he is also supposed to secure the area to avoid causalities that may not be aware of it. If the spill is manageable for one person, he is supposed to soak up the spill in absorbent pads and dispose of them in a bio-hazard bag ( Tsakona, Anagnostopoulou & Gidarakos, 2017) . However, due to the threat he has received from his boss about being laid off, he has to debate if the spill is likely to cost him his job. He knows the consequences of failure to report it, but he fears to get late once again.
Consequences of a Failure to Report a Spill
Failure to report is an offense, as dictated by the code of ethics by the Human and Health Service provision department. If the regulation body gets the information, Mike faces charges of negligence that endangers patient and staff safety. Negligence is punishable by being laid off or having his license withdrawn. If the act does not cause any injuries, he is likely to receive a warning from his manager. Given that Mike already has a record of cases with the manager; however; he also faces a danger of more severe punishment. However, if the spill causes injury, he faces a risk of having his license withdrawn if a patient sues the facility. As a laboratory technician, he has been trained to ensure the safety of the work environment; thus failure to report the spill is counted as a severe offense ( Tsakona, Anagnostopoulou, & Gidarakos, 2017) . Depending on the injury the client suffers, Mike also faces a risk of being laid off. He might also not be able to secure employment in another healthcare facility since he cannot practice without a license.
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Impact on patient safety, on the risk for litigation, on the organization's quality metrics, and the workload of other hospital departments
The public expects that a hospital is generally a safe place and thus, in case a patient suffers harm due to the spill, they could sue the facility for negligence. The spill poses a danger to patients who may not be aware of it. Mike will not be sued as an individual, but the hospital is. It means the hospital has to hire lawyers to represent it in court. The facility will also have to compensate the individual for any injuries or incapacitation ( Vincent, Phillips & Young, 2014) . For instance, if the injured person is a breadwinner and can no longer go to work, the facility will be forced to compensate the family for the days that their breadwinner will not be working. That would mean extra costs for the facility and a reduction of reputation. The situation will also be worse if the customers learn that one of the staff has seen the spill but ignored it, which would lead to the loss of loyal customers.
The quality metrics of the organization are likely to drop significantly due to the actions of one person. Besides posing a danger to fellow employees ( Vredenburgh, 2014), Mike’s failure to manage the spill also increases the workload of other departments. If managed at the start, it is easier to contain the effects as compared to managing the consequences. In the case that an accident occurs, the administration, finance, and public relations departments will have to be involved in the process of litigation. The admissions and care providence department will also have to take care of the injured parties. That would mean extra costs for the facility and a reduction of reputation. The situation will even be worse if the customers learn that one of the staff has seen the spill but ignored it, which would lead to the loss of loyal customers. Customers will lose trust since the place they came to seek help has become the source of pain and more problems. Mike’s failure to manage the spill also increases the workload of other departments. The spill also poses a danger to his fellow staff, which is a threat to their safety.
Addressing the Issue
The manager takes up the responsibility of his junior's actions by reprimanding them and preventing a repeat of the same. Being in the position of manager requires patience, agilty, expertise, and good relations ( Gopee & Galloway, 2017) . In the case of Mike, the manager should not be biased based on his past experiences of Mike reporting to work late. Objectivity in leadership demands that the manager reprimands Mike solely for not securing the spill. To prevent a repeat of the same by other staff, the manager will also have to carry out sessions to remind employees on precautions, requirements by law, and the consequences that surround spills in a healthcare facility. The manager should also remind the employees of the precautions that the facility has taken to manage such dangers in the future, which every employee must familiarize with. During the sessions, the manager should also reinforce the need for empathy in medical care, the need to provide holistic care for all patients, and not just treating sickness.
References
Gopee, N., & Galloway, J. (2017). Leadership and management in healthcare . Sage.
Tsakona, M., Anagnostopoulou, E., & Gidarakos, E. (2017). Hospital waste management and toxicity evaluation: a case study. Waste Management , 27 (7), 912-920.
Vincent, C., Phillips, A., & Young, M. (2014). Why do people sue doctors? A study of patients and relatives taking legal action. The Lancet , 343 (8913), 1609-1613.
Vredenburgh, A. G. (2014). Organizational safety: which management practices are most effective in reducing employee injury rates?. Journal of Safety Research , 33 (2), 259-276.
