Module Learning Objectives - Risk Management and Safety in Health and Social Care

Evaluate the applicability of human fallibility to a situation of risk in the workplace

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

1. Evaluate the applicability of human fallibility to a situation of risk in the workplace.

2. Carry out a risk assessment in a healthcare setting and assess the efficacy of a proposed risk management plan.

3. Analyse the robustness of a system for ensuring safety in a health and social care environment.

4. Understand and apply knowledge of a ‘just’ culture to building a workplace culture of openness and accountability.

· Exceptional understanding of human errors and their detection and recovery approaches

· Exceptional understanding of perceptions of unsafe acts such as person and system models

· Exceptional evaluation of system approach and person approach supported with relevant examples.

· Appreciation of openness and transparency to manage errors and exceptional knowledge of application of Just Culture

· Exceptional demonstration of application of knowledge of the process of achieving organisational justice.

· Exceptionally well structured and well-presented arguments

· Correct use of English language

· A very good understanding of human errors and their detection and recovery approaches

· A very good understanding of perceptions of unsafe acts such as person and system models

· A good evaluation of system approach and person approach supported with relevant examples.

· Appreciation of openness and transparency to manage errors and good knowledge of application of Just Culture

· Exceptional demonstration of application of knowledge of the process of achieving organisational justice.

· Clear and logical structure showing progression of ideas and argument

· There may be some minor mistakes in presentation or referencing.

Incidents were reviewed and causes investigated. Staff and managers were made aware of the scale of the problem. Incidents are reviewed at Health and Safety Committee meetings, and included in annual Health and Safety reports presented to senior managers.

· Staff and managers were encouraged to report incidents of all hospital acquired infections. There was a noticeable increase in incidents reported.

· A unique infection control risk assessment template was prepared. Solutions were identified and discussed with appropriate staff and managers, and implemented.

· Infection Prevention guidelines were prepared and distributed to each department. Additional guidelines were prepared for cleaning staff, and showers/bathrooms.

· Managers were trained on their responsibilities to ensure the safety of their staff and patients.

· Wearing of appropriate PPE was encouraged, and wearing inappropriate PPE discouraged.

· Infection prevention is raised during health and safety training, and is a priority issue in the safety handbook, which has to been signed off by over 70% of staff since 2009.

· Additional signs have been placed to warn of the dangers of infection and the use of hand sanitizers for visitors and staff

· More PPEs were purchased and are on standby in case of an epidemic

· A quarterly department safety checklist should be completed and potential problems should be reported to the appropriate department for correction e.g. Housekeeping.

· An annual safety management checklist, which includes questions infection prevention, should be completed by managers.

· An infection control checklist and guidelines are available on-lin

Formulate a plan to carry out risk assessment of the risks given in the case study. Your plan should be able to achieve the following:

1. Based on the hazards present in the case study, develop a comprehensive risk register and risk matrix and link them with strategy adopted by the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital, Dublin to ensure safety for its stakeholders.

2. Recognise the role of training and education to promote safer patient care.  Evaluate the efficacy of the risk assessment plan by analysing the successes achieved by the risk assessment plan.

3. A robust system is capable of addressing the ongoing and new challenges that may arise, analyse the robustness of the risk assessment plan and recommend the strategies to mitigate new risks.