Curriculum
One of the subjects to include in the curriculum is the EHR (electronic health record) systems. Prudden (2013) stresses that this is one of the most significant factors that lead to malpractice.
Another subject should focus on communication. The inefficient communication among healthcare professionals tends to result in numerous medical errors (Youngberg, 2011). Specialists fail to provide sufficient information to their colleagues, which leads to wrong diagnoses, inappropriate treatment and so on.
Prudden (2013) also claims that it is essential to develop a proactive attitude towards risk management. This should be the central idea in the introductory course concerning risk management. Introductory lectures will help healthcare professionals to develop various strategies to reduce risks.
Obtaining informed consent should also be a separate subject. In many cases, healthcare professionals get an inadequate informed consent, which results in customers’ dissatisfaction and lost cases in the court.
Apparently, the curriculum should also include a subject research and statistical analysis. This will include basic knowledge of the implementation of the research and development of risk management strategies. This will help specialists self-develop.
Finally, some legal issues should also receive attention. Practitioners should understand what their rights and responsibilities are. This knowledge will help healthcare professionals achieve patients’ satisfaction and fewer cases in the court.
Simulations
The simulation concerning the informed consent is illustrative in terms of the role of education and training when it comes to patient safety. It is possible to identify two major issues that could have been prevented if the specialist had been trained to deal with similar situations. First, it is crucial to educate healthcare professionals to obtain appropriate informed consent. Specialists should be able to provide information on risks, benefits and alternatives. Apparently, the professional responsible for the occurrence of the issue did not have the skills necessary for dealing with the informed consent. The practitioner seemed to find the consent irrelevant. Apart from that, specialists should also be able to react when they see that their colleague has obtained an inadequate informed consent. This is closely connected with training concerning communication among healthcare professionals. Obviously, communication in the hospital mentioned is ineffective.
The other simulation shows that many healthcare professionals need specific training in such spheres as the importance of following basic procedures and implementation of research concerning legal issues. It has been acknowledged that hand hygiene is one of the most important procedures healthcare professionals should follow precisely. Errors in this area can lead to the situations similar to the one discussed. Of course, specialists should always be cautious and follow all the rules of hygiene, especially when it comes to such basic procedures as changing gloves. Sometimes healthcare professionals neglect certain procedures due to their fatigue or due to their habit to underestimate the importance of some norms. Specialists should be trained so that they could not possibly forget to do all the routine tasks properly. If the practitioners involved had been trained more efficiently, and their attention was drawn to hand hygiene, it would have been possible to avoid such issues. Furthermore, healthcare professionals should also be able to implement a research to identify the error and develop strategies to prevent it. The training should also encourage specialists to carry out the research as, in many cases, healthcare professionals think that research is a responsibility of somebody else.
Reference List
Prudden, J. (2013). Risk management education helps physicians reduce medical malpractice claims, lower premiums. Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News, 64(10). Web.
Youngberg, B.J. (2011). Principles of risk management and patient safety. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.