New York Presbyterian Hospita

Health Security

Steven Janocha

IT 241

1/29/2017

Health Security

Introduction

Any health care organizations face various problems that can affect the quality of health services offered and reputation. Some of the problems include human errors, malicious human behavior, and organizational factors. Human medical errors can lead to death or suffering of patients. Malicious human behavior is a serious problem that can lead to conflicts in the workplace and litigation. On the other hand, organizational factors can limit delivery of quality health services. In this article, we explore how these problems can be addressed.

Preventing Human errors

There is a need to create an environment where patient safety is given priority to prevent human errors in healthcare organizations. A safety of culture implies developing systems that detect, prevent, and minimize the likelihood of error. Leadership is a fundamental element to ensuring accountability of every health staff for patient safety. This means safety systems have to be designed to monitor safety in healthcare organizations. It is also essential for organizations to adopt comprehensive safety principles such as avoiding reliance on memory, standardizing equipment, and designing working conditions for safety (Cronenwett, 2007). 

It is important for health care organizations to implement medication safety practices such as automated drug-ordering systems. Patients should be considered a safety check in healthcare organizations. They need to be informed about the medications they are taking and the side effects. Additionally, they should be encouraged to notify doctors of side effects or medication discrepancies.

Malicious Human Behavior

Malicious behavior among medical staff is a major problem that can cause havoc in healthcare organizations. Often, malicious employees have dysfunctional behavior patterns that influence their actions. It is critical for healthcare organizations to establish systems to detect these behavior patterns. Early detection can assist in making appropriate interventions. This is necessary to maintain patient safety and a conducive work environment. A team approach may be appropriate to resolve the issue by focusing on the behavior instead of the person.

To prevent malicious behavior among staff, a professional code of conduct should be implemented not only in a healthcare organization but also as part of medical practice policies (Murray, 2010). Rules make it easy to maintain discipline in the workplace. A disciplinary structure should be developed to ensure that the staff understands the repercussions of violating organizational policies.

Organizational Factors

Various organization factors such as working conditions and leadership influence the satisfaction and well-being of employees and ultimately the quality of care provided and patient safety. It is essential for management in healthcare organizations to provide adequate resources including financial resources to create a robust environment where the staff can operate optimally to improve healthcare quality and maintain performance. Effective management is a core element that can assist in improving quality, maintaining professionalism, and customer satisfaction (Swayne, 2012). Providing organizational support and fostering a positive culture can cultivate quality among healthcare team. Additionally, promoting cooperation and teamwork among the health staff is essential to improve the quality of health services and maintain patients’ satisfaction.

Conclusion

As discussed, healthcare organizations can implement various strategies to address problems affecting operations and healthcare improvement. Organizational management has to create a conducive work environment, foster a safety culture, encourage cooperation and coordination, and establish a professional code of conduct to improve patient safety and address quality issues. Additionally, management should focus on progressively implementing health quality improvement programs that maintain employee’s satisfaction and well-being as well as patient safety and satisfaction.

References

Cronenwett, L. R., Bootman, J. L., Wolcott, J., &Aspden, P. (Eds.). (2007). Preventing medication errors: quality chasm series. National Academies Press.

Murray, J. S. (2010). Moral courage in healthcare: acting ethically even in the presence of risk. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 15(3).

Swayne, L. E., Duncan, W. J., &Ginter, P. M. (2012). Strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

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