Genesis Healthcare world-renowned heath care provider

Genesis Healthcare is a world-renowned health-care provider with locations all over the world. The following article will discuss the findings of an interview conducted at the Waugh Chapel Centre, one of Genesis Healthcare’s facilities. In addition, the report will include an analysis produced from an interaction with a respondent from the management team at Genesis Healthcare-Waugh Chapel Centre.

Genesis Healthcare, like most healthcare institutions, encounters several issues in its infection control department. Infection preventionists are experts that are concerned with preventing the transmission of infectious diseases at Genesis Healthcare (Weinbaum et al., 2008). However, they face challenges such as; tedious reporting requirements along the chain of command, limited time when handling the spread of diseases, inefficiencies of disease surveillance, increased scrutiny from the public due to the visible nature of infectious diseases and financial constraints that come with acquisition of appropriate equipment necessary for disease prevention efforts.

O. Which risk management strategies aroused in the organization’s infection control program?

E. Genesis Healthcare’s infection control program employs several strategies to minimize and manage risks to all stakeholders. Prime among these strategies is the drafting of policies for every infectious disease (Weinbaum et al., 2008). These disease specific protocols may include actions such mandatory isolation and quarantine for anyone, patient or care provider, who is suspected of being in contact with the disease in case of a disease like Ebola.

Another strategy the hospital uses to manage risk is the demonstration of due diligence by training of healthcare personnel and support staff on how to handle an outbreak of a disease or how to prevent one. The staff should therefore have skills that make them useful in containing these diseases. Examples include knowing the symptoms of these diseases and being able to reduce risk of infection to them. Another strategy is maintenance of vigilance. This is often achieved through intervening where lapse of process, procedure, or policy is identified.

O. How does Genesis Healthcare addresses key professional issues, such as prevention of negligence, malpractice litigation, and vicarious liability to its staff?

E. The healthcare facility uses certain strategies so as to prevent legal issues such as negligence, malpractice litigation and vicarious liability. The first strategy is the avoidance of faulty communication by medical personnel. The personnel is regularly trained on communication skills so as to avoid the use of language that may hurt patients, as most patients are emotionally vulnerable and can be quick to take offence and consequently file for a lawsuit (Weinstein, 2006).

The other strategy is to make sure that, as a medical professional, one asks for the patient’s consent before subjecting the patient to any procedure. This informed consent can prevent suits such as malpractice and negligence. The undertaking of enough follow up is also another strategy so as to avoid lawsuits such as negligence.

O. What policies address management of emergency triage in high-risk areas of health care service delivery?

E. The health care centre is prepared for management of emergence response in high-risk areas of healthcare provision. Aside from the large number of medical personnel who are in the health centre ready for emergency responses, the centre is also prepared for surge capacity in the event of large numbers of patients. Moreover, the organization benefits from the many healthcare professionals working in other branches of Genesis Healthcare, who as the terms of their employment dictates, will be called to other branches of the organization to provide expertise as a policy of disaster preparedness (Hick et al., 2004). The hospital also makes sure that emergency rooms are always clear and stocked with medical equipment that could cater for a variety of medical emergency scenarios.

O. Which strategies the facility utilizes to monitor and maintain its risk management program?

E. The facility believes that it is only through monitoring of its risk management program that effective management of risk can be achieved. Thereby, to achieve this, the facility conducts random emergency response drills to assess its disaster preparedness and risk management (Weinbaum et al., 2008). After the drills, a team analyzes the effectiveness of the program by giving score to sectors such as infectious diseases, fire emergencies, and hazardous material preparedness and among other types of emergencies. The team then assigns the poorest performing sector to the entire program so as to motivate stakeholders to improve on their risk management.

Conclusions and Recommendations

To sum up, the risk management program of health facilities is relatively effective. However, as with any program, it has merits and demerits. Among the merits of the program is the preparedness of the facility in the case of an infectious disease outbreak. This is because the facility’s program is in line with the general policy of the Centre for Disease Control for handling infectious disease outbreaks (Weinbaum et al., 2008). However, the emergency response policy may not work as taking medical personnel from another medical facility only decreases the power of the risk management program in the other branch. I would like to recommend an action that may help strengthen the emergency response strategy of the program. The action involves the facility outsourcing willing medical professionals from the entire medicine industry when dealing with their surge capacity.

References

Hick, J.L., Hanfling, D., Burstein, J.L., Deatley, C., Barbisch, D., Bogdan, G.M., & Cantrill, S. (2004). Health care facility and community strategies for patient care surge capacity. (Annals of Emergency Medicine), 44(3), 253-261. Retrived on September 2004 from http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(04)00420-2/fulltext

Weinbaum, C.M., Mast, E.E., & Ward, J.W. (2008). Recommendations for identification and public health management of persons with chronic hepatitis B virus infection. (Hepatology), 49(5), 1-20. Retrieved on April 27, 2009 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hep.22882/pdf

Weinstein, L. (2006). A multifacited approach to improve patient safety, prevent medical errors and resolve the professional liability crisis. (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology), 194(4), 1160-1165. Retrieved on April, 2006 from http://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(05)02722-5/fulltext