1. Write a 175- to 265-word response to the following:
- What strategies are used to protect health care facilities from liability issues?
- Which liability issues do you think are the most common? The most serious? Why?
Read and respond to at least two of your classmates’ discussion posts. Be constructive and professional with your thoughts, feedback, or suggestions
2.Policies and procedures are used to protect the health care facility from liabilities, things like hand washing, evacuation practices, having an medical assistant or nurse in the room when a doctor is preforming any type of exam or procedure on a patient. These are some of the ways that the facility has put polices in place to protect themselves and their staff from liabilities. I am sure that these things were not always in place but due to things that have happened rules and procedures have been put into place to protect all parties.
I think two of the most serious and common liabilities are malpractice and sexual harassment. Law suits are very common in the medical field, malpractice has so many layers like negligence, misdiagnosis and surgical errors are some of the top issues that results in liability cases. Sexual harassment or assault is also common, whether it be doctor patient or doctor to another medical professional, medical professionals have to take work safety modules, hotlines are offered and escorts for the doctors to patients room have helped to combat these issues. I believe both are equally serious and need continued protection.
3.In health care, there are many different strategies that are used to protect health care facilities from liability issues. The Stillwell (2018) website show that first you need to Clarify Roles and Scope of Care, Be Aware of Risky Transitions, Use Standardized Communication Tools and Protocols, and Establish a System for Effective Handoffs. When it comes to clarifying roles and scope of care the health care facilities, having the proper set up of job descriptions. This tends to avoid confusion among the healthcare team regarding the specific components of a patient’s care. The other main one strategy that’s best is communication. Having the right communication between health care employees can help lower risk. The liability issues that are most common are death, insurance, and employee safety. I personally think that death is the most serious because that is someone’s life gone due to mistakes or accidents. The malpractice lawsuits can be huge and possibly hurt the health care facility. I think employee safety is the second most serious one. I think because when your employees are not proper trained they are at risk of hurting themselves or causing a patient to be hurt etc.
Reference:
Stillwell, K. (2018). Strategies to Reduce Liability Risks for Hospitalists. Retrieved from https://www.thedoctors.com/articles/strategies-to-…