The role of the nurse manager in maintaining quality and managing risk

Healthcare Delivery Institutions: Ensuring High-Quality Care and Minimizing Risks

Healthcare delivery institutions are tasked with sustaining high-quality care while also eliminating potential dangers to both providers and patients. The public has high expectations for the quality of care it receives, and administrators and other stakeholders in the care sector expect care providers to meet these expectations as efficiently as possible. The issue, however, is not in providing these services while maintaining high-quality standards; rather, it is when modifiers are added to the delivery of the best care (Schaag, 2001). In addition to this, despite the fact that care providers are highly trained and skilled, it is critical to remember that they are also human beings and are prone to make errors. When these mistakes happen, patients are often at the losing end and in the worst case scenario, it can result in criminal or civil liability for the institution and the one responsible for the mistake. Mistakes can also result from inappropriate guidelines or inadequate oversight when handling hazardous circumstances. It is then vital for care facilities to have risk management experts who have the responsibility of running root cause analysis to determine how, why, and what went wrong and offering strategies through which future incidents can be avoided.

Nurses: Advocates for Patients and Guardians of Risk Management

Nurses’ responsibilities are wide, reflecting their versatility and value across the healthcare system. One of their fundamental responsibilities is to advocate for the patients. By taking on this role, nurses become ideal candidates for the job of risk management. The fact that they have insight into almost every day-to-day operation in healthcare facilities makes them ideally qualified to identify inefficiencies and potential hazardous aspects of the institution’s procedures. Nurse managers are ultimately expected to take accountability and responsibility for maintaining a delicate but stable balance between risk management strategies and policies that improve the quality of care in the institution (Schaag, 2001).

References

Schaag, H. (2001). The role of the nurse manager in maintaining quality and managing risk. Retrieved from http://ana.nursingworld.org/mods/archive/mod311/cerm204.htm