Risk Management in Jackson North Medical Center

Jackson North Medical Center is a health center that serves the citizens of Southern county of Broward and the Northern Miami-Dade County. The care center offers compassionate and convenient services to the patients through its highly sophisticated and world class health care systems and accessibility to a vast network of specialists and doctors in the country (Ely, Stephens, Jackson, Thomason, Truman, Gordon & Bernard, 2004). Among the services in the care center there are 24 hour pediatric services for the children and young adults, maternity care, cardiac care, surgery, orthopedics, inpatients as well as outpatient services. It also has other programs such as the geriatric psychiatry services, cancer programs, fibroid treatment, weight loss and the endovascular program. The Center’s vision is founded on becoming a global leader and world class hospital for provision of health care. This is enhanced through its strong commitment to its values, service excellence, compassion, communication, teamwork, integrity, and confidentiality. Due to the nature of the services provided by the health care center, Jackson North Medical Center faces risks related to the provision of quality care to its clients and patients, which increases instances of disease recurrence and injuries. This paper examines the current risk management in Jackson North Medical Center including the steps and measures taken to reduce risk in the care center and attempting to make comparisons with other agencies involved in provision of health care after what meaningful conclusions will be drawn.

Jackson North Medical Center has taken various steps to address risks related to low quality treatment, risks of the health care as well as the physical injuries that could affect its clients. Firstly, the hospital ensures that its staff is highly qualified to treat all forms of diseases with which they are entrusted. For example, advanced treatments are conducted by people with adequate experience and training in the health care. This ensures that patients receive quality and standard health care and reduces instances of disease recurrence. The hospital management provides that the junior personnel is adequately trained to handle patients. These include being assigned to a supervisor who guides and monitors their work performance. Indeed, an open communication is adopted in the hospital to ensure that the physician and junior staff can share ideas to enhance the patients’ welfare.

In addition, the hospital has ensured that its hygienic standards exceed those set by federal and state governments. This is accomplished by regular monitoring of microbial contaminants by specialists in water treatments to ensure that patients drink and use safe water. This is taken as a major risk mitigation measure due to the conditions facing some of the patients especially those related to poor sanitation. The care center has invested into efficient and modern technological equipment to treat diseased people as well as those used for exercises by its clients. Use of high quality treatment equipment ensures adequate analysis, diagnosis and treatments thus enabling the hospital to manage risks related to wrong diagnosis, which characterize other care centers (Jackson, Powers, Chatterjee, Bettger, Kemper, Hasselblad & Williams, 2013). It thus reduces potential litigations and negative public image that could injure the operations of the hospital. The equipment used by its clients, especially for weight loss, is also always kept in good condition to prevent instances of injuries while doing physical exercises.

The other process being adopted in the hospital is evidence based practice. Evidence based practice seeks to ensure that all the procedures prescribed during the treatments in the hospital are backed by sufficient evidence (Shils & Shike, 2006). Patient data is usually stored on a computer platform to examine the medical histories and any related medical issues that could aid in treatment. The medical practitioners in Jackson North Medical Center are usually trained on regular basis to aid them in their implementation of evidence based practice. The use of evidence based practice removes trial and errors in diagnosis that make the patients susceptible to poor treatments and risks of medication failure.

Jackson North Medical Center determined its path to remedy the problem of poor quality health care risks following a market research that sought to examine the level of patient satisfaction with the services in the care center. The study indicated that some people felt that the health care center was not doing its best to enhance sustainable treatments of patient conditions (Baumann, Strange, Heffner, Light, Kirby, Klein & Sahn, 2001). Some people also reported to the hospital for several times after the initial treatments failed to provide maximum benefit that resulted in recurrence of their health complications. Thus, the hospital responded to the research findings by investing in adequate technology to enhance the welfare of the patients. The hospital management also realized that it was still operating on outdated equipment whereas better medical equipment had been introduced in the markets. To keep in pace with the changing technological knowhow and advancements, the hospital had to change its old ways of treatments and equipment with the introduction of modern facilities and procedures.

Other health care agencies in the United States have tried to address the problem of poor medication through the use of different measures. In the Fairview South Dale Hospital Edina, the physicians ensure that patients follow the guidelines prescribed in the medicinal products. Specifically, the pharmacy technicians assure that they record the patients’ medication histories to guarantee that proper medication and treatment is followed. This is facilitated on a computerized system to ensure that instances of data loss are eliminated. An examination of a particular patient medical complications history enables the physicians to identify the best form of diagnosis and treatment to offer to a particular patient (Riesenberg, Leitzsch, Massucci, Jaeger, Rosenfeld, Patow & Karpovich, 2009). Since the introduction of this system in the Fairview South Dale Hospital, medication slips have dropped by 84 percent, which have improved patient outcomes. In Pittsburgh, the hospital has established a bar code system for identification of patient data. Nurses and other physicians in the hospital have personal computers that provide identifying information on the kind of medications to be provided to the patients. This serves to eliminate any instances of wrong medications that sometimes lead to death of ill people. It has also eradicated the costly procedures used to diagnose patient conditions.

A comparison between the procedures of risk mitigation in Jackson North Medical Center and other hospitals indicates that technology has been used as the key mitigation measure for medication errors. The medical equipment is used to ensure that adequate analysis, diagnosis and treatments is taken (Connors, Dawson, Desbiens, Fulkerson, Goldman, Knaus & Sheehan, 1995). However, Jackson Medical Center has invested more in human resources as a key remedial measure to the risks facing the provision of medical services in the care center. Compared to other hospitals in the region, the center has highly invested in qualified personnel, which can streamline the provision of good health care that facilitates optimum benefit to the patients. The most significant procedure being adopted in Jackson Medical Center is the use of evidence based practice in provision of health care. Despite the fact that other hospitals in the region are using the process, the rate of its adoption is generally lower than that in Jackson Medical Center.  Another difference exists in the form of equipment used in Jackson North Hospital Center. The hospital offers diverse services, some of which are fitness related. Thus, risk mitigation aims at reducing injuries during physical exercises in the care center compared to other health care centers, which provide medical services only.

To conclude, the paper has discussed the current risk problem in Jackson North Medical Center. In relation to the analysis, the main risks that Jackson North Medical Center faces are medication errors due to poor diagnosis as well as physical injuries in physical exercise rooms. The risk mitigation measures that have been adopted in the hospital include adequate training of its medical personnel to ensure that it is able to understand patient conditions with relative ease. The hospital also engages the services of highly qualified physicians to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment. The center has invested in adequate technology and modern equipment to aid in the process of diagnosis and treatments of various forms of patient conditions. Other measures include the use of evidence based practice to eradicate frequent medical errors. These strategies are also related to other hospitals in the region that have also invested in technology to facilitate the patient outcomes and treatments. However, Jackson North Medical Center has been on the forefront in facilitating training of its personnel in medical treatments. The risk mitigation measures in Jackson North Medical Center have significantly improved patients’ outcomes.

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