Health care practice does not rely merely on the provision of medical care but also on the degree to which laws are followed by the health care practitioners as well as the mechanisms put in place to manage health risks. Appropriate healthcare practices focus on prevention of disease through proper risk management strategies and ensuring that legal aspects in the nursing profession are adhered to (Carman & Timsina, 2015, p.354). Acquisition of the required standards of quality healthcare, therefore, depends on the degree to which health care facilities are willing and able to follow the set guidelines as well adoption of risk management strategies that will guide in prevention and management of diseases.

Compliance Issues

Provision of excellent health services requires a set of laws that will enforce appropriate healthcare practices to ensure that the standards expected are attained. The state in partnership with the federal government has set guidelines that must be complied with by the health facilities and healthcare providers in enhancing quality healthcare.

The professional licensure gives authorization to qualified nurses to practice the nursing profession. The purpose is to ensure that all nurses meet the minimum set standards before they are admitted to practice the nursing profession (Anita, 2018, p.135). This guideline also provides that patients should be given the appropriate quality of care.

Also, all nurses must get certification before they are permitted to practice their profession. All nurses must sit for a standard exam that demonstrates their competency in a particular area of specialty within the nursing profession (Anita, 2018, p.139). The primary goal is the same as that of licensure; to ensure that nurses are capable of providing quality care.

Lastly, all nursing education institutions must be accredited by the appropriate bodies before their operation. The commission for nursing education and commission for nursing education accreditation are bodies that ensure the nursing curriculum is appropriate to meet the changing nursing needs. They also ensure that all nursing education institutions have the required resources in terms of faculty adequacy, teaching materials and infrastructure (Carman & Timsina, 2015, p.354). The accreditation is essential in ensuring that nurse trainees are subjected to quality training that will equip them with adequate skills and relevant knowledge that will be essential in their nursing practice.

Risk Overview

Risks to patients, healthcare providers, and the general organizations are on the rise. There is, therefore, a  need to develop appropriate strategies of risk management to reduce the impacts that may be created upon the occurrence of the risks. Health care risk personnel in the organization need to be alert in identifying risk, assessing its magnitude, design a management plan and implementing their plans to ensure that the risk is addressed promptly so that patient’s and nurses’ safety is upheld.

Risk Management Process

Risk management process entails identification, analysis, implementation, and evaluation of the mechanisms adopted to manage a health risk. The process involves four steps: loss exposure involves uncovering the risks that have high possibilities of affecting the operation of the healthcare facility. Also, the risk is analyzed based on its probable magnitude and the effects it is likely to bring (Carman & Timsina, 2015, p.354). Secondly, different risk management techniques that can aid in addressing it are developed. An intensive assessment is done to establish the pros and cons of each method developed as well as the probability of the technique in treating the risk. Thirdly, a comparison is made among the methods developed to select the best alternative that is feasible in terms of cost effectiveness and ease of implementation. The chosen technique is implemented based on the designed risk management plan followed by monitoring of the degree to which the method was appropriate in managing the risk (Poplin, Pollack, Griffin, Day-Nash, Peate, Nied, Burgess, 2015, p.407). The monitoring is based on the degree to which the targeted goals were met so that improvements can be made in case the management plan was not as effective as expected.

Takeaways

I have learned three major things from the class: legal issues regarding the nursing profession, types of risks in healthcare centers that can impact on nurses and patients and the process of risk management.

References

Anita F. (2018). Quality Improvement: a guide for integration in nursing. Jones &             Bartlett, Burlington, https://lccn.loc.gov/2016051851

Carman, A. L., & Timsina, L. (2015). Public health accreditation: Rubber stamp or roadmap for improvement. American Journal of Public Health, 105 Suppl 2(S2), S353-S359.     doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302568

Poplin, G. S., Pollack, K. M., Griffin, S., Day-Nash, V., Peate, W. F., Nied, E., Burgess, J. L. (2015). Establishing a proactive safety and health risk management system in the fire        service. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 407. Doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-1675-8