Healthcare risk management is a critical subject in hospital administrations since the 1970s during the malpractice insurance crisis. There was the assumption that progress was taking place to manage risks that lead to patient harm but recently, there are questions coming up on the real results of risk management on patient harm (American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, 2009). It is important that healthcare organizations ensure that they have a risk management program to ensure quality services are provided. The main reason is that they lead to patient safety in that the healthcare practitioners ensure that the patient is always safe to avoid more harm to their health.
Risk management also ensures that it eradicates any potential medical error that may take place exposing the patient to harm or the healthcare environment. Through managing of risks, it is easier for healthcare practitioners to ensure that they provide quality services to the patients without exposing them to harm (Cohen, 1999). It will eradicate all possibilities of harm and the program will be able to prepare in a case where patients are exposed to harm. Such management program will prevent significant damage that may take place.
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There are values that a healthcare organization may experience through addressing risk management in a proactive manner unlike being reactive. A proactive reaction is where one prepares for a situation prior to experiencing unlike reactive where one responds to a situation. An example is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) where it recently carried out a research and concluded that the prolonged use of a urinary catheter is leading to exposer to the risk of contracting catheter-associated urinary tract infection (Cagliano, Grimaldi & Rafele, 2011). Hence physicians are advised to regularly evaluate the catheter before use to proactively avoid infections. Reactively means treating infections that could be avoided if the physician could observe the catheter and the patient could sue the organization.
References
American Society for Healthcare Risk Management. (2009). Risk management handbook for health care organizations (Vol. 30). John Wiley & Sons.
Cagliano, A. C., Grimaldi, S., & Rafele, C. (2011). A systemic methodology for risk management in healthcare sector. Safety Science , 49 (5), 695-708.
Cohen, M. R. (Ed.). (1999). Medication errors: causes, prevention, and risk management . Jones & Bartlett Learning.
