Please read the scenario below, and then answer the questions that follow in a 3-page analysis. The questions will guide your analysis of the situation.

Scenario:

Risk Management

Imagine a patient who went through abdominal surgery, and the surgical team unintentionally left an instrument in the abdomen. Days after surgery, the patient developed high fever and pain and had to return to the hospital. X-rays identified the instrument in the abdominal cavity, and the patient had to undergo a second surgical procedure. The most skilled care provider could make a mistake in the process of service delivery, and the consequences could devastate the patient. Risk management is about minimizing risk and harm to patients. It helps health organizations adopt an integrated approach to identify, group, and categorize risks and develop mitigating strategies applicable to different parts of the organization.

As the team leader, you are overseeing the risk management process. The first step is to establish the context. The purpose of this step is to define the organization’s internal and external operating environments, the criteria for establishing risk, the level of risk, and the existing control systems.

For this assignment, please answer the following questions:

What risk factors in healthcare refer to potential vulnerability due to a course of action?
What factors are not considered an element of risk?
What are important considerations for risk management in healthcare?
Who benefits from risk management in healthcare?
Attributes of an adverse event include what factors?
Who is responsible for risk management in a healthcare organization?
What are important considerations in the risk management process?
What are sources of information for identifying risk?
Characteristics of high-reliability organizations (HRO) do not include what factors?
What is true of high-reliability organizations?