Reference no: EM133929008 , Length: Word Count:3000

Health Ethics, Law and Governance

Task Description

ASSESSMENT: Report

Patient safety incident reporting is a critical mechanism to ensure appropriate learning systems for continuous improvement in clinical governance. In this assessment, you will analyse patient safety incidents and make recommendations for the management of patient safety incident reporting and learning systems. The analysis and recommendations should be presented in a report format to a management team in a health or social care organisation.

With reference to a health or social care organisation of your choice, the Report should draw on an appropriately broad range of relevant contemporary sources to comprehensively and critically address each of the following sections. If you cannot access internal organisational data, you may use published case studies, coronial reports, sector-wide audits, or hypothetical scenarios based on known risks. All evidence must be integrated into your analysis and properly cited.

1. Introduction (400 words)
Explain the topic and purpose of the Report. Identify the chosen health or social care organisation, provide a brief overview of its health and social care activities and explain why patient safety incident reporting should be an important component of those activities. Outline the key arguments of the Report and explain its structure.

What Kind of Data:
Use organisational profiles, sector reports, or published audits to describe the organisation's scope and relevance of patient safety.
How to Present It:
Embed statistics or findings into the narrative (e.g., "According to ACSQHC, 45% of incidents relate to medication errors..."). Ensure all sources are cited.

2. Patient Safety Incident Reporting
a) Open Disclosure and Clinical Governance (450 words)
With reference to the materials of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare and other relevant sources, explain how open disclosure of patient safety incidents contributes to the clinical governance framework of health and social care organisations.

What Kind of Data:
Use ACSQHC guidelines, NSQHS Standards, and published incident reports to support your explanation.
How to Present It:
Integrate examples of open disclosure practices and their governance implications. Use real or published incidents to illustrate points.
b) Serious Adverse Events and Governance Frameworks (450 words)
Given the nature of the chosen organisation's health and social care activities, identify at least two different types of serious adverse events that would need to be considered by the organisation, and explain how each should be addressed in the organisation's governance framework. Get expert online assignment help in the Australia.

What Kind of Data:
Use sector-wide statistics, coronial reports, or case studies to identify incident types (e.g., falls, medication errors, surgical complications).
How to Present It:
Describe each event and link it to governance responses. Use structured examples and cite sources.

3. Incident Investigation (500 words)
With reference to any one of the examples of serious adverse events discussed in the previous section, explain how Root Cause Analysis can be adopted for incident investigation and analysis to address underlying issues and prevent reoccurrence. Discuss at least one challenge or issue that could arise in the conduct of the analysis and propose at least one strategy for ensuring the effectiveness of the analysis.

What Kind of Data:
Use published RCA summaries, coronial investigations, or hypothetical scenarios based on known risks.
How to Present It:
Apply RCA to a specific incident and explain the process. Discuss challenges (e.g., staff reluctance, data gaps) and support strategies with evidence.

4. Learning, Feedback and Continuous Improvement (500 words)
Explain and justify at least three strategies the organisation could adopt to minimise or mitigate the risk of reoccurrence of any serious adverse event.

What Kind of Data:
Use sector guidelines (e.g., ACSQHC, NDIS, aged care standards), published improvement plans, or organisational audits.
How to Present It:
Justify each strategy with evidence. Link strategies to governance and patient outcomes.

5. Organisational Culture and Leadership (400 words)
Explain how organisational culture and leadership can contribute to the organisation's effective patient safety incident reporting and management, and the impacts of that on organisational and patient outcomes.

What Kind of Data:
Use leadership frameworks, organisational case studies, and sector-wide reviews.
How to Present It:
Discuss cultural enablers and barriers. Use examples to show leadership impact on safety reporting.

6. Conclusion (400 words)
Summarise the discussion by drawing out at least two challenges and two opportunities of patient safety incident reporting in health and social care organisations; and identify and justify at least three recommendations for inclusion in the organisation's governance framework to ensure effective organisational and patient outcomes.

What Kind of Data:
Use insights from previous sections and sector-wide reflections (e.g., ACSQHC reports, Royal Commission findings).
How to Present It:
Synthesise findings and support recommendations with evidence. Ensure clarity and forward-looking tone.

7. Application of Evidence
Ensure all claims are supported by credible, contemporary sources. Use APA 7th Edition referencing as per UTAS guidelines.

8. Quality of Presentation and Academic Writing
Present the report in a structured, professional format with clear headings, transitions, and academic tone. Avoid generic theory and unsupported opinions.

Task Length
3,000 words, 10% +/- word count.