Examination of Clinical Risk Management at University of Ghana Hospital, Legon

Abstract

Clinical risk management is a specific form of risk management concentrating on clinical process that is directly and indirectly linked to the patient. The main objective of the study was to examine clinical risk management practices in University of Ghana Hospital. Specific objectives were to investigate the clinical risk management practices in University of Ghana Hospital, identify policies that are available for clinical risk management practices and the challenges in the implementation of clinical risk management practices at the hospital. The study used questionnaire as its main research instrument to obtain data from sampled 74 health professionals who included 10 Doctors, 45 nurse/midwives, 5 pharmacists, 5 laboratory technologists and 9 other health professionals from 298 medical staff at the University of Ghana Hospital. The quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study revealed that University of Ghana Hospital has quality improvement committees, teams and offices for implementing its clinical risk management practices. It has a safety plan to ensure effective implementation of clinical risk management practices. The study then revealed that university of Ghana hospital has risk management policies, clearly defined risks evaluation systems and has established clinical risk management framework. It also revealed that the hospital takes too long to implement clinical risk management practices, fail to monitor and communicate its risk effectively. The study therefore recommends that management of the University of Ghana Hospital should employ skilled risks management Personnel in required department for monitoring and reporting risk. There should also be effective communication of clinical risk to avoid repetition of those risks.