HLTH3110 Risk Assessment and Quality in Health

Risk and quality management in health care organisations is an important area of activity for health care professionals including clinical and administrative services, and more generally within health services as a whole. This topic explores the theories and methods of quality improvement and patient safety, and is designed to foster knowledge and understanding of concepts and principles of quality, safety, and risk in health care. It will further provide students with a detailed understanding of quality and risk management, standards, accreditation processes, practices, and tools and their particular application in the health care system. This topic will also provide students with the necessary knowledge to perform quality improvement activities, and to manage risks in a range of contexts across an organisation.

This topic aims to:

• Introduce students to concepts of quality, safety, and risk in health care organisations
• Familiarise students with processes and methods used in quality management
• Develop basic skills in undertaking quality improvement activities and
• Advance current knowledge and practice related to quality improvement and risk management across health care organisations

1. Discuss the role of quality programs, leadership, and organisational culture in promoting safe, high quality health care services
2. Articulate the background, underlying concepts, and principles of quality and safety in health care
3. Describe the underlying concepts and principles of quality management in health care, the application and context of use of tools, techniques and activities commonly used to support the implementation of health care quality and safety programs
4. Explain concepts of risk management, root cause analysis, and organisational change management necessary to implement process changes
5. Outline the concepts of clinical governance and a clinical quality framework
6. Examine the different uses of information to monitor health care safety and quality, for performance measurement, and understand the health organisation accreditation process in relation to quality and safety