HCMG203 Clinical Issues : Organizational Safety Policies
Clinical Activity: Interview with Safety/Health Officer
Interview an occupational health, employee health, or safety officer from either your organization or a similar one to explore the policy and procedures in place that ensure compliance with state, federal, and accreditation regulations. In your interview, discuss the organization's emergency preparedness plan.
Review and compare the information from your interview with your organization's current preparedness plan.
Write a journal entry reflecting on the interview and your organization's comparison.
Answer:
Interview transcript
Interviewer: Hello sir! Good afternoon, I am Mr. X.
Safety officer: Yah, hi! I am Mr. Y, safety officer of St. Joseph’s health care! Nice to meet you, Please take a sit!
Interviewer: Thanks! I am here to discuss about your organizational procedures!
Safety officer: Oh, I see!
Interviewer: Don’ hesitate please
; I will not take more 15 minutes from your precious schedule!
Safety officer: Ok, proceed!
Interviewer: Thank you sir, can you please tell me something about your organizational safety policies and procedures?
Safety officer: There are several safety policies, which the stakeholders ensure to comply with. For instance, ‘Latex balloon ban’ promote the prevention of carrying latex balloons in hospital, to ensure safety of latex sensitive patients. ‘Smoke free campuses prohibit smoking in hospital campus, visitors and staffs are not allowed to wear heavily scented perfumes for avoiding sensitivity issues. Photography and social media usage are prohibited in the hospital premises for the sake of privacy of staffs and patients.
Interviewer: The policies sound effective! So are all those policies are followed by all the stakeholders? Do you have any procedures regarding non-compliance?
Safety officer: No, it is not always the case that all the stakeholders follow the instructions! In case of staffs, we have training sessions and we arrange personal meeting and attempt to understand the reason behind his non-compliance!
Interviewer: Yes! Training is a very good choice for peacefully mitigate issues! So what is your role here, would you brief it please?
Safety officer: I lead the security and crisis management team and monitor their work related maintenance of safe and secure environment for all staffs, patients and visitors. The duties of my team include Crisis Management, Response to Emergency Codes, Proactive Security Patrols, Bi-Law and Policy Enforcement, Access Control, Community Relations, General Assistance, Facilities Monitoring as well as working with Hamilton Fire Service and Hamilton Police Service to comply with community safety standards.
Interviewer: I see, would you tell me about organizational emergency preparedness plan?
Safety officer: The organization has coordinated effective emergency response by continuously adhering hospital emergency plan and emergency codes. The SJHH Emergency Preparedness Committee grooms the crisis management team to be prepared for emergency situation like fire, organizational violence, conflicts within visitors and other hazards, through advanced clinical training. To denote different emergency situation, emergency codes are used, which has been developed based on colour code system set by Ontario Hospital Association.
Interviewer: So, you guys are looking for accreditation?
Safety officer: Yes! Our organization participated in the Accreditation Canada QMENTUM process for ensuring continuous improvement. The accreditation process includes three components, Organization self-assessment, Actions for Improvement and On-site survey. Our organization was awarded with Full Accreditation Status, with Exemplary standing during our last review in 2015.
Interviewer: Oh, that excellent, it ensures a high quality services in the organization! Thanks a lot for providing the valuable information and your precious time!
Safety officer: You are welcome!
Interviewer: Ok, good bye sir!
Safety officer: Good bye!
Reflecting journal
From the interview of the safety officer it has been reviewed that St. Joseph health care organization is following appropriate rules and regulation related to organizational safety and security policies. The organization has also participated in Ontario accreditation program, where it achieved a full accreditation status by going through three steps of accreditation process. Moreover, I have also felt that the emergency preparedness plan is aligned with the state rules and regulations related to organizational preparedness, which is evident through the development of emergency code aligning with Ontario Hospital Association. Moreover, the collaborative work of the organization with Hamilton Fire Service and Hamilton Police Service also represents the compliance with organizational emergency preparedness plan.
Bibliography
stjoes.ca,. (2017). Emergency Preparedness - St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Retrieved 23 March 2017, from https://www.stjoes.ca/patients-visitors/support-services/emergency-preparedness
www.stjoes.ca,. (2017). Security and Policies - St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Retrieved 23 March 2017, from https://www.stjoes.ca/patients-visitors/your-visit-or-stay/security-and-policies
