The scenario observed and reviewed has provided some issues of concern for the laboratory technician and the manager Mike. This review will cover the consequences of failure to report and patient safety, litigation, along with the increased workload of other departments due to the attendance issue. The last point will state how the manager Mike can address this attendance issue and set an example for other staff members involved.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), reported that 4,383 workers died as a result of work injuries in 2012 (United States Department of Labor [OSHA], n.d.), some accidents could have been conveyed, if only the problem had been reported. Underreporting occurs when the employee feels that they don’t
…show more content…
Staff should not leave the worksite merely because you have filed a complaint. If the condition clearly presents a risk of death or serious physical harm. The OSHA Act protects workers who observe these unsafe or unhealthful working conditions in the workplace (OSHA, n.d.). The OSHA Act prevents the transferring of employees, denying a raise, reduction in hours, being fired, or disciplined in any other way because you used any right given to you to protect the safety of others in the workplace (OSHA, n.d.).
Employment litigation is involved and is costly and time-consuming. Lawsuits can result in employee relations problems, high turnover, bad publicity and monetary damages. Employers do not need to accept excessive employment litigation as a necessary cost of doing business. The manager needs to think ahead, including the adopting of and the implementing of the fundamental human resources strategies. Employers can significantly decrease the possibility of litigation from emerging in the first place, as well as enhancing their defense positions in the event it occurs (Fay,
…show more content…
Employees need to know the expected time to be at work. Mike, the manager, needs to pull the laboratory technician aside and allow him to explain his reasoning for tardiness or being late so much. Mike needs to be sure nothing serious is going on outside of the hospital or to jump to conclusions and accusations. Employees that are fired for being late could sue an organization later if their tardiness or absenteeism were caused by disability, injury or other medical issues (Newton, 2015). Mike will need to remind the laboratory technician of the hospital’s policies on attendance and tardiness issues, as well as the process of taking time
The first issue is two nurses failed to show up for work without calling. This issue will take about a week to resolve. The first step is to immediately ensure that their shifts for the day are covered. Then, I would review the attendance policy that is currently in place. I would verify that there is an attendance policy and ensure that it is being enforced. Following the policy review I would document the occurrence in the respective employee files. Lastly, I would set time to meet with the employees individually and go over the policy and the expectations.
The receptionist was on the phone for quite a long time before she could reach out to Ms. Patient. In the end, the receptionist just took Ms. Patient’s insurance without any clarification and made her wait for a while. Additionally, she was unable to focus on Ms. Patient and got distracted when another patient asked for indications. The receptionist clearly indicated unprofessionalism when she was unable to provide adequate information for the patient when she was disoriented. Also, the receptionist did not have any manners when she failed to excuse herself when another patient wanted to speak with her. Ms. Patient stated that she felt extremely vulnerable and lost when no one was able to help her understand what was going on. Therefore, the healthcare team in this case was unsuccessful in providing a caring and helpful environment for the
The OSH Act gave OSHA the authority to come into work places and inspect facilities for health and safety risks. Due to shortages in personnel, OSHA inspects accidents and safety complaints that are filed, and those facilities that have a high volume of accident rates. If an individual state has an approved safety and health enforcement plan, then they may be exempt from yearly inspections by OSHA and have their own state personnel conduct the inspections. The Act sets a maximum penalty for safety and health violations, but OSHA has the authority to calculate fines. If an industry objects to the citation or fine, they can go before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze a specific, hypothetical employment situation encountered and to include the information regarding employment conflicts, questions, grievances, lawsuits, etc., in terms of how the situation was handled or resolved. Employment conflicts are a constant issue everyday in any organization; it is how you handle them both legally and professionally that counts.
Once the task was completed by the UNP, the nurse assessed the patients and patient bed for safety and provided positive feedback to the UNP. Staffing and scheduling is the number one conflict that the management has to address on the regular basis. One nurse on the unit was upset with her schedule for the coming week. As per the nurse, she requested off for that day, however she was still scheduled to work that particular day.
Safety is a primary concern in the health care environment, but there are still many preventable errors that occur. In fact, a study from ProPublica in 2013 found that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year suffer preventable harm in the hospital (Allen, 2013). Safety in the healthcare environment is not only keeping the patient safe, but also the employee. If a nurse does not follow procedure, they could bring harm to themselves, the patient, or both. Although it seems like such a simple topic with a simple solution, there are several components to what safety really entails. Health care professionals must always be cautious to prevent any mishaps to their patients, especially when using machines or lifting objects, as it has a higher
Vital improvement for patient safety has triggered an enormous amount of positive change in the healthcare system. There were “1.6 million adverse events each year that led to 180,000 deaths” (Liang & Mackey, 2011). In a review, avoidable errors led to $19.5 billion dollars in healthcare expenses (Liang & Mackey, 2011). The National Patient Safety Agency analyzed 425 deaths from acute care hospitals and found “15% of the deaths were related to unrecognized patient deterioration” (Higgins, Maries-Tillot, Quinton, & Richmond, 2008). This finding led to the Institute for Health Care Improvement’s promotion for the use of an early warning scoring system to assist with identifying deteriorating patients (Albert & Huesman, 2011).
Behaviors to Improve Patient Safety. There are five behaviors in which I, as a health care professional, can practice in order to improve safety for patients in my direct care. These include following written safety protocols, speak up when you have concerns, communicate clearly, don’t let yourself get careless, and take care of yourself. By adhering to simple, basic protocols such as hand washing you can be a key player in reducing the spread of infection to your patients and thus, keeping your patients safe. As a healthcare professional you must be an advocate for your patients and their safety by reporting unsafe working conditions, close calls, and adverse events.
Patient safety one of the driving forces of healthcare. Patient safety is defined as, “ the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of healthcare or as the prevention of errors and adverse events caused by the provision of healthcare rather than the patient’s underlying disease process. (Kangasniemi, Vaismoradi, Jasper, &Turunen, 2013)”. It was just as important in the past as it is day. Our healthcare field continues to strive to make improvement toward safer care for patients across the country.
Working as a nurse, patient care associate, or any other health care professional is not an easy job. Nursing profession has the highest rate of back and other injuries related to lifting, moving and transporting patients. Hospitals and other nursing facilities were experiencing increased numbers of injuries, which meant many lost work days, worker’s compensation costs and patient safety at risk.
Introduction The Patient Safety Plan is a program that provides a systematic, coordinated and continuous methodology to the upkeep and upgrading of safety through the founding of mechanisms that support effective responses to definite incidences in an organization work environment. It is also the incorporation of patient safety main concern into new strategy in an organizational functions and services which would lead to continuous positive decrease of risk in the work environment. Patient safety plan is used as a guide to approach optimum safety objectives which involves different departments and disciplines in creating plans, processes and devices that contain the patient care safety activities in a hospital setting (Main Line Health Inc,
Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency coordination task force with the help of government agencies. These government agencies are responsible for making health pol-icies regarding patient safety to which every HCO must follow (Schulman & Kim, 2000).
This was the first time the idea came up that injured employees should be compensated, no matter who was at fault for the accident. This was the sign of the beginnings of change, but perspectives on health and safety still held employees responsible and accountable for all injuries and incidents. Moreover, at this time in history, the federal government did not view workplace safety as an area where it had jurisdiction. The.
Accidents occur in the workplace but in secret. These most of the time lead to physical and mental injuries that might affect the worker way of living for the rest of their lives. It is estimated that more than 337 million workers get injured in their place of work or in the course of work every year leading to work-related diseases causing about 2.3 million deaths per year (United States Department of Labor, n.d.).
With the lack of workplace safety practices, there can be tremendous effects on families and the community. This can come in the form of unwanted media attention