Personnel solutions for clinical risk management in hospitals: Evidence from the Czech Republic

Abstract

Clinical risk management (CRM) is a specific form of risk management used in hospitals that focuses directly on clinical processes and indirectly on patient-related processes as well as on individuals, including their potential to make mistakes. The aim of this study was to describe and analyze the central CRM coordination in hospitals using the Czech version of the CRM monitoring tool developed for hospital environments. Quantitative research consisted of collecting and evaluating data using statistical methods. The research set consisted of responses from 53 participating hospitals recorded in the Czech version of the CRM monitoring tool. The results did not identify statistically significant differences among types of hospitals in terms of whether or not a person responsible for the central coordination of clinical risk management activities is designated in them. According to the findings, this fact does not affect the type of hospital or whether it is a public or private hospital. The paper also show that most hospitals have one person responsible for coordinating CRM who is often also employed as the hospital’s quality manager. In faculty hospitals, the person responsible for CRM is often a subordinate to the medical director or the deputy for medical care, etc. In city and other hospitals, they are usually directly subordinate to the director. The study showed that the person responsible for clinical risk management most often holds the quality manager position in hospitals. AcknowledgmentThis contribution was supported by the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice as part of an individual internal research project of the ZSF USB entitled “Utilization of Clinical Risk Management in the Environment of Czech Hospitals” funded by the ZSF USB RVO.