Why Are Risk Management Teams Necessary For Hospitals?
Risk management departments and teams are essential to hospitals because of the inherent risks within the health care setting. Patients entering hospitals come with their own risk factors that dictate the treatment they receive. Risk Management, as defined by Yale University Hospital, "is a planned and systematic process to reduce and/or eliminate the probability that losses will occur in a specific setting, and includes risk identification and loss prevention, loss reduction and risk financing." Hospitals not only employ physicians and nursing staff, but also Risk Managers, who may or may not have clinical experience. Their background is typically legal.
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Formation of a Risk Management Team
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The most successful teams in any area, in any field, are teams that incorporate multiple disciplines. Therefore, a hospital based risk management team should be led by the risk manager, department chiefs, particularly chief of medicine and surgery, department directors and managers as well as floor staff who are on the front line and have direct patient care.
Benefits of the Risk Management Team
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There are literally dozens of departments in a hospital. One risk manager cannot possibly oversee them all. Moreover, a risk manager typically does not have expertise in all departments, so may not be aware of the risks associated with each department. Teams compiled of appropriate personnel can assist in identifying the risk for each department, and because they know the function and processes of each department, can accurately identify action plans and preventions plans to limit risks.
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Team Member Primary Functions
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Each risk management team member should be in charge of specific functions for their area, be it loss reduction or prevention strategies. This team member should take responsibility for educating new staff about risk prevention and reporting procedures set forth by the team. The team member is also responsible for assessing and measuring staff competencies specific to risk management practices.
Reporting Functions
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Another function for team members is reporting. Many hospitals have reporting procedures for factors such as medication errors, surgical complications and staff behavioral issues, all of which are potential risks for the hospital. The reporting may be done via written forms or electronic software that contains the information in a central database. Team members may take responsibility for ensuring that staff report adverse events in the preferred way, or they may take charge of reviewing reports and performing drill downs on the events to identify solutions.
Transparency Versus Confidentiality
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It is up to the risk management team to decide how transparent they want to be with their data of risk events. A certain measure of confidentiality must be maintained because any meeting minutes, reports and event documentation can be subpoenaed in a court case, putting the hospital at increased liability.
However, hospital staff do require a certain degree of transparency regarding adverse events. This is typically done in the manner of education. If a process has been identified as high risk and a solution has been developed to prevent that risk, staff education and involvement is essential in implementing the solution.
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