In healthcare, you don’t get do-overs. A big part of your job is making split-second decisions, and you must be confident those decisions are the right ones. When lives hang in the balance, it is critical to have thorough healthcare policies and procedures in an automated, centralized system place.
Healthcare policies play an important role in effective decision-making within healthcare organizations. Policy management is often a complicated job, and if the resulting procedures are not clear and transparent, staff members and patients will suffer the consequences. Instead of leaving the “what-ifs” to chance, build healthcare policies that empower your workforce to be confident in the face of an emergency and fearless in delivering the highest levels of patient care.
There’s a huge importance of comprehensively writing policies and procedures in healthcare organizations like yours. The biggest reasons for having detailedcomprehensive, well-written healthcare policies and procedures are twofold:
A good policy can reduce your legal liabilities.
Protect public health and patient safety with your organization’s policies.
Hit the ground running and ensure a smooth and seamless policy-writing process by preparing in advance.
As a good starting point, identify the healthcare professionals in your organization that can guide and review each policy you create.
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Compile any statistical data that drives your decision-making process. This will help with drafting care policies and streamlining compliance.
If you have existing policies and procedures, review them now. If the format of the policies isn’t working, now is the time to make a change.
To create comprehensive and effective policies, you must first understand the current policies in place. Analyze what is or isn’t working.
Time to dive in and create in-depth policies and procedures that support the goals of your healthcare organization.
If you’re updating an existing policy, look for anything that could be misunderstood or misinterpreted. For new policies, write out step-by-step actions in easy-to-understand language.
It’s wise to reference the policies of other healthcare organizations, but remember that originality is crucial to making your healthcare policy the most effective for your organization.
Remember that you aren’t writing for an academic journal or a medical record. You’re writing for your staff members, so add language that is easy to read and understand.
Every policy should be accompanied by a SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time-based) goal. This ensures your policies are realistic, meaningful, and easily tracked.
Remember these pieces of advice when crafting your healthcare policies and procedures:
Step back and examine the overarching goal. Why are you writing these policies? Keep that purpose in mind throughout the policy-drafting process.
Use language that is concise, simple, and easy to digest. Your policies must be clear and understandable to those who will be expected to implement them.
Look for a policy manager that specializes in healthcare and understands your needs. The right platform centralizes your info, making distribution, reviews, and updates easy.
Your policies are drafted and ready. Now what?
Try to limit reviewers to one proofreader and one expert from each service line, including subject matter experts, HR, and your organization’s legal counsel.
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Review all new and updated policies with staff members, answer their questions, and allow them to have input on finalizing the language of certain procedures.
Review your organization’s policies and procedures on an annual basis. Ensure you’re meeting the goals for each policy and adjust any goals as needed.
Review your organization’s policies and procedures on an annual basis. Ensure you’re meeting the goals for each policy and adjust any goals as needed.
Imagine a tool that lets you automate your workflow, search documents on demand, and secure attestation to make policy management simple and easy. With Policy Manager from HealthStream, you can get a fully automated experience that offers peace of mind for you and empowerment for your staff.
Ready to start tracking, managing, and distributing policy documentation confidently and accurately? Learn how you can use Policy Manager to easily search and access documents, enhance policy workflow and automation, and more. Schedule your demo now and let us walk you through the process.
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Automating policy management is the best way to achieve compliance and ensure that your staff have access to the very latest regulations.
Automating policy management will certainly help to reduce risks and improve compliance. The process may feel overwhelming at first. However; these.
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