Health care organizations are extremely thorough when it comes to the risk management program. Because there is much vulnerability for the spread of infectious diseases within a health care facility, the risk management team have to pay close attention and develop many strategies toward the prevention of this risk. Alliance Health Center (AHC) maintains full awareness of the risks within its facility; therefore, through careful research and interview sessions with some of the health care providers at AHC, identifying the challenges faced with controlling infectious diseases, developing risk management strategies used in the infection control program, and monitoring and maintaining the risk management program are critical for this organization.
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“Infection hazards are naturally concentrated in healthcare institutions” (Allen & Augenbraun, 2014, p. 347). However, knowing the possibilities of being faced with such challenges helps Alliance identifies, observes, and implements the proper policies and procedures in preventing infectious diseases among the patients and staff.
What are some challenges that Alliance face in controlling infectious diseases? Well, Alliance Doctor of Osteopathy, John Mutziger, states that by Alliance being a psychiatric hospital, they are not as observant as a regular general hospital may be for the reason that the patients are extremely mobile (Dr. John Mutziger, D.O., personal communication, November 4, 2015). However, in a separate interview with Dr. Arnold, he states that the first issue are patient population, in which it tends to be people who have a lot of living environment issues that bring high risk of contagious diseases due to poor health or not being taken care of properly. Some examples of these living environment issues include shelter, group homes, other hospitals, and even living under a bridge; therefore, social interaction becomes important at Alliance, hence the reason for group sessions at designated times, because of the kind of treatment that the Alliance doctors perform (Dr. Arnold, D.O., personal communication, …show more content…
Dr. John Mutziger replies to this question by stating, “Hand washing is the number one strategy for infection control risk management.” He then continues to state that screening takes place for infectious diseases when patients come in through Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) screening, vitals, and analysis, such as urinary tract infections (UTI) (Dr. John Mutziger, D.O., personal communication, November 4, 2015). On the other hand, Dr. Arnold says that the first step is to identify infectious diseases that come in with patients and if detected, then isolation and treatment takes place to prevent from spreading to others. He also goes on to explain that the next big thing is to make sure that any infectious diseases do not spread from Alliance workers to patients. Because of this, there is a strict hand washing policy and also, food items must be handled with care. Then, Alliance certainly make sure the workers do not work while they are ill. There is a routinely screening process for the health care workers for things such as Tuberculosis (TB). (Dr. Arnold, D.O., personal communication, November 9, 2015). According to Allen and Augenbraun (2014), TB remains a serious public health problem (p. 354). Because TB is so serious, Alliance ensures that all their employees are up to date on their shots, especially the TB shot, every
“Infection hazards are naturally concentrated in healthcare institutions” (Allen & Augenbraun, 2014, p. 347). However, knowing the possibilities of being faced with such challenges helps Alliance identifies, observes, and implements the proper policies and procedures in preventing infectious diseases among the patients and staff.
What are some challenges that Alliance face in controlling infectious diseases? Well, Alliance Doctor of Osteopathy, John Mutziger, states that by Alliance being a psychiatric hospital, they are not as observant as a regular general hospital may be for the reason that the patients are extremely mobile (Dr. John Mutziger, D.O., personal communication, November 4, 2015). However, in a separate interview with Dr. Arnold, he states that the first issue are patient population, in which it tends to be people who have a lot of living environment issues that bring high risk of contagious diseases due to poor health or not being taken care of properly. Some examples of these living environment issues include shelter, group homes, other hospitals, and even living under a bridge; therefore, social interaction becomes important at Alliance, hence the reason for group sessions at designated times, because of the kind of treatment that the Alliance doctors perform (Dr. Arnold, D.O., personal communication, …show more content…
Dr. John Mutziger replies to this question by stating, “Hand washing is the number one strategy for infection control risk management.” He then continues to state that screening takes place for infectious diseases when patients come in through Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) screening, vitals, and analysis, such as urinary tract infections (UTI) (Dr. John Mutziger, D.O., personal communication, November 4, 2015). On the other hand, Dr. Arnold says that the first step is to identify infectious diseases that come in with patients and if detected, then isolation and treatment takes place to prevent from spreading to others. He also goes on to explain that the next big thing is to make sure that any infectious diseases do not spread from Alliance workers to patients. Because of this, there is a strict hand washing policy and also, food items must be handled with care. Then, Alliance certainly make sure the workers do not work while they are ill. There is a routinely screening process for the health care workers for things such as Tuberculosis (TB). (Dr. Arnold, D.O., personal communication, November 9, 2015). According to Allen and Augenbraun (2014), TB remains a serious public health problem (p. 354). Because TB is so serious, Alliance ensures that all their employees are up to date on their shots, especially the TB shot, every