Description
This Continuing
Education course covers such issues as the Risk Management process,
Quality Assurance, Incident reporting, and Medical Records, The
legal process involving the medical system is also reviewed. Federal
and state guidelines are discussed and identified. Responsibilities
of Risk Management are thoroughly reviewed.
Objectives
1.
Describe the history of Risk Management and how it has evolved to
be what it is today.
2. Identify the Risk Management process.
3. Define the basic definition of Quality.
4.
Describe Total Quality Improvement (T.Q.I.).
5.
Describe how to implement a Risk Management Program.
6. Discuss the proper methods of medical record documentation.
7. Describe the sequence of events in a legal process.
8. Discuss the use of Advanced Directives and their differences.
9. Identify requirements for Medical Record Keeping.
10.
Describe an Incident Report and what information it must contain.
11. Identify the methods of Risk Treatment
12.
Describe the basic functions of the Risk Manager.
13. Define the goals of the Risk Management process.
14.
Identify the Code
15
Report requirement and its purpose.
16. Describe the legal ramifications and individual concerns with
regards to Sexual Harassment
Beginnings
of Risk Management
Imagine
oneself fifty years ago, and needing a sudden surgical appendectomy.
No high tech sophisticated electronics or wonder drugs such as antibiotics
were available. You were simply at the mercy of the physician attending
to you at that moment. Little, if any documentation was written,
later available or even preserved. Frequently poor sanitary conditions
caused many postoperative infections and many died as a result.
And although medical malpractice did exist, it was generally not
considered a consequence as it is today. The concept of Risk Management
had not yet been developed or conceived.
The
roots of Risk Management had its early beginnings during the post
WW II era. Many medical advances were beginning to occur. The development
of antibiotics including Penicillin probably caused the most dramatic
changes in the medical industry during post war time period. With
the ever-increasing number of hospitals during the forties and fifties,
patient expectations began to change. Greater outcomes were now
being expected from the healthcare provider by the patient population.
During the fifties,
increased technology spawned the rise of increased risks and the
advent of new Negligence acts. The patient with any adverse result
could now question the provider to assure they were working within
their scope of practice and that no adverse results were caused
by acting outside that scope of their legal practice. Increased
hospital liability now entered the scene causing many hospital administrators
to reconsider their prior methods and concentrate on methods to
reduce their risk of patient death and reduce their risk of financial
loss as well.
In the sixties,
dawned the era of consumer knowledge. New legal requirements demanded
hospitals establish policies and procedures to assure compliance
and patient satisfaction was delivered. The development of "Standards
of Care" occurred placing a real responsibility on the healthcare
provider to be accountable due to their scope of practice. No longer
was bliss or ambivalence accepted because of these new Standards
of practice now being in place.
In the seventies
and eighties more advancements in technology and more potent and
effective drugs became available, causing people to live longer
and thereby having more chances of adverse problems. The cost of
healthcare began to significantly rise. An increased number of malpractice
lawsuits began to cause a major medical financial crisis. Companies
now began to focus more on purchased outside corporate liability
insurance as a major risk protection for their financial losses
due to higher courts settlements. This trend caused all insurance
premiums to begin to escalate very rapidly.
Today in the
nineties, Risk Management has significantly developed. The scope
of the Risk Manager is to: identify, evaluate and treat the risk
of any financial loss. A formalized program is developed to reduce
the frequency of loss as well as the severity of loss both to the
patient and to the company. The Risk Manager attempts to minimize
the losses caused by any unplanned or uncontrolled occurrences that
result in loss of any type whether it be loss of life or health
to a patient, to an employee, loss of certification or accreditation
to the facility, or loss of a companyıs financial status.
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