Educational Program on Risk Management

Educational Program on Risk Management

Slips, trips, and falls

Employees in the healthcare sector are exposed to the hazard of falls, trips, and slips, which have the potential to cause serious injuries. This hazard not only injures employees but also limits their working capability, leads to lost working days, causes costly claims for workers’ compensation, and reduces the quality of patient care significantly. In 2009, the U.S Bureau of labor Statistics established that the incidence rate for lost working days due to falls, trips, and slips was 38.2 percent for every 10,000 healthcare workers (Bell, 2011). In comparison to other private sector players, this incidence rate was at least 90 percent higher than the average (Bell, 2011) It is ranked as the second hazard after overexertion in relation to loss of working days. The feet, ankles, and knees are exposed to dislocations, sprains, tears, dislocations, bruises, or strains due to falls, trips, and slips. The most common areas for such accidents include food service areas, entrances to the facility, decontamination areas, soap dispensing, and drinking fountains. These areas tend to have grease, water, and other fluids that make the floors slippery. Interestingly, the risk of falls does not only affect healthcare workers but also patients (Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, 2021). However, slips, trips, and falls are avoidable.

Rationale

Apollo Hospital Enterprises Limited is a health facility that acknowledges the risk of falls, trips, and slips for both patients and healthcare workers. The presence of this hazard is inevitable due to the common areas where such accidents may occur and the vulnerable patients in the facility. The need to come up with preventive measures is important in driving down the current incident rates. It also promotes the safety of patients and healthcare workers, reduces lost working days, and lessens the claims that employers are compelled to pay to staff members (Bell, 2011).

Support

Patients and healthcare workers sustain minor and serious injuries due to falls, slips, and trips. However, facilities such as Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Limited are faced with possibilities of lawsuits such as medical malpractice and premises liability claims. Such claims place the burden on hospitals to dispute in court the evidence that a plaintiff provides to prove their negligence (Justia, 2021). The process is not only time-consuming but also costly.

Implementation

• Conducting an environmental safety analysis
• Recording data on patient and healthcare workers’ falls, trips, and slips
• Monitoring the risk
• Recording the injuries sustained during the accident
• Maintaining an accurate description of events leading to specific falls such as environment, drug dosage, health condition, shoe wear, presence of water or grease on the floor, and areas within which the accident occurred.
• Monitoring the cost of any litigations that arise from these accidents
• Taking employees through training to reduce falls and proactively cater to vulnerable patients
• Training staff on the improvement of their personal safety at work, especially in high-risk areas

Challenges

• Resistance from employees and stubborn patients
• Failure or inconsistency in record keeping
• Inaccurate records that interfere with data analysis
• Challenging physical environments

Solutions

• Conduct intensive training on the risk and the record-keeping process
• Involve employees in the risk management process
• Highlight the common impacts of such a risk to the employees and the facility
• Collect feedback from employees regarding the process
• Inform the staff on the goals to be achieved through the process
• Inform patients and their families on the same

Evaluation

Data collection

To evaluate the process, data will be collected before, during, and after the implementation has begun. This data will be retained for analysis at the end of the program.

Data analysis

Analysis of the recorded data will reveal the changes in accident rates, the effectiveness of various prevention strategies, and the need to review the entire process.

Opportunities

• Providing good lighting in all areas
• Changing hazardous floors
• Introducing non-slip materials such as mats to high-risk areas
• Placing patient alarms in accessible areas
• Introducing handrails for support
• Clearing all obstacles in pathways
• Providing all workers with appropriate shoewear
• Conducting training on related aspects(Justia, 2021).

References

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited. (2021). Reducing the Risk of Falls in the Hospital – Apollo Hospitals Leads the Way.

Bell, J. (2011). Slip, Trip, and Fall Prevention for Healthcare Workers. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2011-123/pdfs/2011-123.pdf

Justia. (2021). Slip and Fall Accidents.

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Educational Program on Risk Management

The purpose of this assignment is to create an educational program that supports the implementation of risk management strategies in a health care organization.

Educational Program on Risk Management

In this assignment, you will develop an outline for an “in‐service”‐style educational risk management program for employees of a particular healthcare organization that will then form the basis for a PowerPoint presentation in Topic 5. Select your topic for this educational session from one of the proposed recommendations or changes you suggested in the Risk Management Program Analysis – Part One (ATTACHED) assignment to enhance, improve, or secure compliance standards in your chosen risk management plan example.

Create a 500‐750-word comprehensive outline that communicates the following about your chosen topic:

1. Introduction: Identify the risk management topic you have chosen to address and why it is important within your health care sector.
2. Rationale: Illustrate how this risk management strategy is lacking within your selected organization’s current risk management plan and explain how its implementation will better meet local, state, and federal compliance standards.
3. Support: Provide data that indicate the need for this proposed risk management initiative and demonstrate how it falls under the organization’s legal responsibility to provide a safe health care facility and work environment.
4. Implementation: Describe the steps to implement the proposed strategy in your selected health care organization.
5. Challenges: Predict obstacles the health care organization may face in executing this risk management strategy and propose solutions to navigate or preempt these potentially difficult outcomes.
6. Evaluation: Outline your plan to evaluate the success of the proposed risk management program and how well it meets the organization’s short-term, long-term, and end goals.
7. Opportunities: Recommend additional risk management improvements in adjacent areas of influence that the organization could or should address moving forward.

You are required to incorporate all instructor feedback from this assignment into Educational Program on Risk Management Part Two ‐ Slide Presentation assignment in Topic 5. To save time later in the course, consider addressing any feedback soon after this assignment has been graded and returned to you. It may be helpful to preview the requirements for the Topic 5 assignment to ensure that your outline addresses all required elements for submission of the final presentation.

You are required to support your statements with a minimum of six citations from appropriate credible sources.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.