Refine
Document Type
- Article (3)
Language
- English (3)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (3)
Keywords
- Cloud Computing (1)
- Crises Management (1)
- Crisis Management (1)
- Health Management (1)
- Healthcare (1)
- Hospital (1)
- Medication Errors (1)
- Risk Management (1)
The complexity of providing medical care in a high-tech environment with a highly specialized, limited labour force makes hospitals more crisis-prone than other industries. An effective defence against crises is only possible if the organizational resilience and the capacity to handle crises become part of the hospitals’ organizational culture. To become more resilient to crises, a raised awareness — especially in the area of human resource (HR) — is necessary. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the process robustness against crises through the identification and evaluation of relevant HR crises and their causations in hospitals.
Qualitative and quantitative methods were combined to identify and evaluate crises in hospitals in the HR sector. A structured workshop with experts was conducted to identify HR crises and their descriptions, as well as causes and consequences for patients and hospitals. To evaluate the findings, an online survey was carried out to rate the occurrence (past, future) and dangerousness of each crisis.
Six HR crises were identified in this study: staff shortages, acute loss of personnel following a pandemic, damage to reputation, insufficient communication during restructuring, bullying, and misuse of drugs. The highest occurrence probability in the future was seen in staff shortages, followed by acute loss of personnel following a pandemic. Staff shortages, damage to reputation, and acute loss of personnel following a pandemic were seen as the most dangerous crises.
The study concludes that coping with HR crises in hospitals is existential for hospitals and requires increased awareness. The six HR crises identified occurred regularly in German hospitals in the past, and their occurrence probability for the future was rated as high.
In German hospitals there is a need for optimized crisis- and risk management. About one third of all hospital-acquired patient damages are due to medication errors. The aim of our interdisciplinary project “Risk Management in Hospitals” is to analyze the behavior of the various key players in the fields of medical care, human resources, supply and IT-systems in the context of various simulated risk scenarios as well as to develop adequate risk management tools. In this abstract, the first Results on medication errors are presented.
We analyze risks and crises for healthcare providers and discuss the impact of cloud computing in such scenarios. The analysis is conducted in a holistic way, taking into account organizational and human aspects, clinical, IT-related, and utilities-related risks as well as incorporating the view of the overall risk management.