Quality Improvement through Risk Management

Risks to healthcare providers, organizations, and patients are common in healthcare facilities. Therefore, it is essential to have a risk management plan to minimize exposure and for high-quality care/better patients outcomes (Adibi et al., 2012). In developing a plan to reduce exposure to litigation in the long term care facility, information on the historical information of risk management systems in the organization, analysis of the current systems, and the unique factors of the organization that expose it to the risk of litigation. Project stakeholders include nurses, physicians, and other employees involved in healthcare in the facility, patients, administrators, and the risk management team. The CQI is an approach meant to assess the present practices and processes and improvements to realize the desired outcomes. The long term care facility offers a high quality of health care to patients according to DHS surveys. Quality care is the outcome of the facility’s CQI, which aligns with the present litigation prevention systems whose ultimate goal is quality improvement. 

When considering higher quality results in nursing units, it is imperative to consider factors such as nurse staffing and working conditions for nurses. Vigilance among nurses is important in their ability to provide patients’ safety and, in turn, quality care. In addition, the working environment has a direct impact on patient outcomes, which is a key factor in quality care (Adibi et al., 2012). The factors to consider in nursing units when assessing lower litigation adverse activities and operational impact are the mature of nursing, which is a high-risk profession, high levels of stress as a result of excess work and interruptions. Moreover, the possibility of burnout and understaffing in nursing units increase the likelihood of adverse actions occurring. Therefore, to reduce litigation, the stated factors should be considered. An appropriate patient-nurse ratio should be ensured and improvement of working conditions in the facility’s nursing units to realize the respective directive. 

Reference 

Adibi, H., Khalesi, N., Ravaghi, H., Jafari, M., & Jeddian, A. (2012). Development of an effective risk management system in a teaching hospital.  Journal of Diabetes & Metabolic Disorders ,  11 (1), 15. doi:10.1186/2251-6581-11-15