Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.24141/1/4/1/12
Crisis management in health care
Dijana Lujanac
orcid.org/0000-0002-8721-513X
; University Clinical Hospital Center Sestre milosrdnice, Zagreb, Croatia
Martina Mihalinčić
; University of Applied Sciences Velika Gorica, Velika Gorica, Croatia
Ivan Markotić
; University Clinical Hospital Center Sestre milosrdnice, Zagreb, Croatia
Iva Kožul
; Clinical Hospital Sveti Duh, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
A crisis in a system that is defined as critical infrastructure is particularly significant because of its importance or influence on the functioning of the whole society. Once an unwanted event occurs, we often ask: “How could this happen?”. In such situations, we often shift the burden of guilt to other persons or circumstances. The health sector is a high-risk area because harmful events can cause death, serious injury, complications, and patient suffering. For these reasons, patient safety in health care is currently one of the major issues in creating the health care policy of the European Union, but also in other countries of the world. Investing in patient safety can not only benefit the patients, but also reduce the costs. Focusing on patient safety leads to savings in the treatment of patients exposed to adverse events and consequently improves the use of financial resources. The preparation of realistic health care response plans for a wide range of crisis situations is also an opportunity to implement changes in the organization. On the one hand, health care facilities are an important part of preparedness and crisis planning, but on the other hand, they are burdened with insufficient staffing, poor communication, inadequate training and bureaucratic obstacles. The issue of security in health care can be significantly improved by educating health professionals about crisis management in order to provide an insight into the functioning of the health system in crisis situations, crises that can occur in the health organization, and effective planning (prevention, action and recovery from a potential crisis). Another objective is to understand the interdependence of the crisis in the health system, the crisis of health organizations and the crisis of society within which the health system is expected to function effectively as an element of social sustainability.
Keywords
education; crisis; crisis management; health system; security
Hrčak ID:
199854
URI
Publication date:
27.4.2018.
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