Class: Regulatory and Compliance Week 06 –Written Assignment-Course Project - Policies for Compliance Plans For helpful background, refer to this module's section Policies and Procedures, which is
Select Two Compliance Plans
For Plan one, I chose the topic Clinical staff members are not washing their hands between patients. According to the article Infection prevention in hospitals: The importance of hand hygiene in Helio, in the year 2014 the CDC data show that approximately one in 25 patients acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) during their hospital care. This added up to about 722,000 infections a year. And, out of the 722,000 patients 75,000 patients died of their infections. In the same article stated at this time, the CDC Director Tomas Frieden, MD MPH, said even the most advanced health care would not work if clinicians neglect basic practices such as hand hygiene. By reading this article and working in healthcare industry different types of infections and illnesses are passed on from person to person by the staff, not washing their hands between caring for patients, which this the key issue.
The reason why I want to develop a compliance plan for this topic is to make the staff aware how severe and vital staff hand hygiene is in the healthcare industry. And if poor hygienes continue, how problematic it can have on the patients that they see. As mentioned above, a patient can get sick from infections and germs and could lead to death for some patients. All of this is due to not simply taking the time to wash your hands.
For Plan two, I chose the topic Employees are not knowledgeable in the use of fire extinguishers. The federal law PORTABLE FIRE EXTINGUISHERS 29 CFR 1910.157states, “The federal portable fire extinguisher rule applies to the placement, use, maintenance, and testing of portable fire extinguishers provided for the use of employees. Employers are generally required to provide portable fire extinguishing equipment in the workplace for use in fighting incipient-stage fires. An “incipient-stage fire” means initial or beginning stage that can be controlled or extinguished by portable fire extinguishers. (BLR, n.d.)” Therefore, we need a plan to stay compliant with federal law, which is the key issue. The healthcare facility has all type of patients, visitors, and staff members that come in and out of the facilities. Every staff member needs to know how to operate the fire extinguishers to save the lives of the people documented in the previous sentence. We are here to save lives, and this is one way to protect them and stay complainant.
OVERVIEW OF CLINICAL COMPLIANCE PLANS
Clinical Staff Hand Hygiene between Patients Plan
As an overview, the following compliance plan touches on the compliance issues associated with activities that relate to hygiene at our medical facility center. The program will explain hygiene activities in terms of patient handling cleanliness, monitoring, and responsibility based on our policy.
The medical facility's aim, propose, or standard for the hygiene plan is the commitment to institutional values, ethical principles, and laws, and regulatory compliance and fare as patient care are concerned. We profoundly recognize the responsibilities and privileges that come with patient care provision. Additionally, we aim at providing the highest quality of services ever.
In our healthcare facility, every staff is required to portray high levels of responsibilities of cleanliness. Every employee is expected to consider all patient handling precautions to avoid the risks of contracting and spreading diseases. Each medical officer must monitor and take responsibility for their patients and them as far as hygiene is concerned. They are expected to observe the following;
Hand washing while attending to another patient
Sanitizing or cleaning instruments used as well as safely disposing of those that can't be re-used.
Use sufficient agents for cleaning hands such as detergents and water.
For the discipline and enforcement, any medical officer who does not comply with the healthcare regulations, laws, Compliance Program, or requirements is liable to disciplinary measures and may even cause termination (Steiner, 2016). They are subject to loss of the privileges that they enjoy as clinical officers.
Educating members of staff will impart the necessary knowledge on the importance of observing cleanliness as well as the risks involved if they don't maintain high levels of hygiene. Additionally, education will help members understand the penalties and disciplinary action in case they are on; they don't observe cleanliness.
Communication will ensure that there is continuous engagement between the staff members and the policymaker. This will allow for correction and clarification in case of misunderstanding. Monitoring is essential for any policy compliance as it helps keep check of any deviation from the set target and correct them early. Finally, prevention is always better than cure. It helps minimize risks and hazards associated with handling patients with dirty hands.
Fire Extinguisher Laws and Safety Compliance Analysis Plan
For the overview of this plan, it is the responsibility of the medical facility to provide fire extinguishers for their members of staff. This duty should be delivered by offering education on how to use fire extinguishers and on other precautions that ensure that the members of the team are on the right side in case of a fire outbreak within the facility premises. Proper education can help prevent hazards such as destruction of properties, injuries, and death.
The purpose of the compliance plan is to ensure that all medical officers and other facility workers have the appropriate training on the use of fire extinguishers. As recent statistics indicate, about 200 people die and more than 5, 000 suffer injuries from fire every year. Damages worth $2 billion have been reported in recent years caused by not less than 75,000 workplaces fire incidences. There have been more cases of fire extinguisher standards violations in our medical facility. Therefore, employees must get training on how to use fire extinguishers and the hazards associated.
The education of this plan is critical to the staff members. Even though the facility has professionals who have fire handling skills, every staff must get trained to minimize hazards and save time during firefighting. The word PASS is used as the code for the steps to be taken in case of a fire outbreak.
Pull the extinguisher pin to release the locking mechanism, which allows the user to discharge the extinguisher.
Aim at the fire's base and not the flame. One should focus on the fuel, not the fire to put it out (Educational resources, 2011).
Slowly squeeze the lever to release the extinguishing agent. A release on the lever stops the discharge.
Sweep from one side of the firebase to another until the flame goes off.
Also, the Fire Extinguisher’s Laws and regulations state the following:
All employers should provide, mount, identify, and locate fire extinguishers at places that are easily accessible to all employees without putting them in danger.
Testing, inspection, and maintenance should be performed regularly.
Regular selection and destruction.
Employers should have an emergency action plan that is in line with the 1910.38 requirements. The action plan should be clear on the employees who are allowed to handle the available fire extinguishers. It should also give valuable information on the assembling of employees as soon as the fire alarm sounds (Bosco et al., 2015).
Communication will help keep the members of staff updated on any changes on matters relating to firefighting in the facility as well as a means for exchanging feedback with the policymaker. Monitoring help ensures that all staff members are acting in accordance with the set rules and regulations, and if they are not, action to be taken. Discipline and enforcement are usually provided to make employees comply. The thought of going off either losing work privileges or getting laid of keeps them alert and aware of the rules to follow. Finally, prevention measures help minimizes any likely future occurrence of fire outbreak or inability to contain such an incidence.
In conclusion, with these two plans will can move forward with a better healthcare environment. We have focused on the overview, the compliance standards, high-level responsibility (for each employee), and education (about compliance). Also, we covered communication, monitoring/auditing, enforcement/discipline, and response/prevention. Our staff members will benefit so much from these two plans.
