The healthcare professionals have a role in ensuring safety and quality care is rendered to patients at all times. It is, therefore, the responsibility of medical care workers to report any safety or quality care issues within their health institutions. For instance, suppose there is spillage of water on the floor, and a healthcare staff comes across the spillage, one should report the incidence to prevent future accidents within the medical facility. However, since most healthcare providers disregard this role, more than 200,000 persons are victims of medical facility safety errors that could have been thwarted (The LeapFrog Group, 2016). The victims are usually coworkers and patients. This paper will focus on a particular scenario involving Mike, healthcare personnel, the impacts of his actions on the hospital, and the patient. The paper will also explore how managers of medical facilities can prevent the same mistake in the future.
Failing to report safety concerns has adverse effects. When Mike failed to report the spillage, at first, it did not seem like a big issue to him because he was not only late for work, but he also assumed that the incident is in another department, housekeeping. Since he was running late to check in at work, his thoughts were mainly on securing his job since he is the sole provider of his wife and child. Since Mike had a bad reputation of clocking in late, Mike only thought of securing his job before the safety of patients and his coworkers. Later during his working hours, he comes along an injured woman, and while taking down her report on her injury, he discovers that it is related to the water spillage. Mike feels guilty because of the patient’s lamentation that such incidents should not exist in health care centers where there are safety guards to warn anyone using the path. He then realizes the consequences of his actions on patients. Besides, anyone, including his coworkers, could be victims of his negligence. Another consequence of Mike’s response is that the cleaning department may lose their contract after the medical center incurs a loss of litigation. Mike may also be on the verge of losing his job if the incident is analyzed well by the hospital.
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The hospital was on the verge of experiencing litigation because of lacking safety precautions that the patient believes is the role of the hospital. The spillage could have caused a worse accident compared to the one incurred. The patient also risks spending more time in the hospital, thus jeopardizing her income as well as a high medical bill. Besides, she may be physically impaired, thus affecting her walking ability and reducing the rate at which she attends to her work and daily routines. In other words, suppose the patient takes the hospital to court; her case is justified because it was due to the hospital’s negligence. The patient could, therefore, choose to sue the healthcare facility for its recklessness because it was the cause of her accident. Such incidence affects the hospital’s reputation because it will be recorded under negative quality metrics by the medical quality assessment department. In this case, Mike’s decision/action may cost the hospital litigation cost and its reputation.
Both human resources and health and safety departments might get involved in this situation due to Mike’s action. The human resource department plays a critical role in hospitals in ensuring quality customer-oriented service (Oppel et al., 2017, p. 53). Since Mike jeopardized the part of the human resource sector, HR might be answerable to the incident because it is related to the hospital’s standard. The health and safety department might also be included in this issue because it has the role of maintaining and fostering the health and safety of all persons within the health facility (Sanner et al., 2018, p. 47). The health and safety department plays a significant role in the prevention of such incidents within the hospital by a timely response. Thus, the department may be held accountable for the event.
As Mike’s manager, first, I would make him understand that the safety of patients and coworkers comes before his job. Hence he could have reported the spillage to save the hospital’s reputation and prevent accidents. Since he disregarded the spillage to secure his work, I would penalize him for negligence because the incident might ruin the hospital’s reputation. Besides, the health care facility might also face litigation. I would then notify other staffs of the penalty on Mike and the reason for it, to avoid a repeat of the same incident. I would then encourage employees always to put the safety of the hospital before any matter, and with a proof of the preventive action, one will not be penalized for lateness.
In conclusion, patient’s safety should be fostered above every subject in hospitals. Such action will prevent dilemmas in employees when they encounter safety concerns in the future. Despite the situation that staff may have such as lateness issues, the main concern should be the safety of hospitals because the negligence of safety leads to detrimental repercussions such as litigation and a negative reputation. Health care professionals should also be reminded of their primary role, which is to always ensure the safety of patients by making better decisions at all times. Medical care facilities should also promote a non-punitive volunteer reporting approach for both quality and safety incidents to encourage better care and a safe environment for not only patients but also workers within a given health center. In other words, suppose such as a system was available in the hospital; Mike would have reported the water spillage and saved the hospital and the patient from the negative consequences.
References
The LeapFrog Group. (2016, October 31). Fall 2016 leapfrog hospital safety grades out now . Leapfrog. https://www.leapfroggroup.org/news-events/fall-2016-leapfrog-hospital-safety-grades-out-now
Oppel, E., Winter, V., & Schreyögg, J. (2017). Evaluating the link between human resource management decisions and patient satisfaction with quality of care. Health Care Management Review , 42 (1), 53-64. https://doi.org/10.1097/hmr.0000000000000087
Sanner, M., Halford, C., Vengberg, S., & Röing, M. (2018). The dilemma of patient safety work: Perceptions of hospital middle managers. Journal of Healthcare Risk Management , 38 (2), 47-55. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhrm.21325
