The analysis of this case study: Do inquiries into health system failures lead to change in clinical governance systems?

The first place to start is by considering what the assessments purpose is

This assessment will assess learning outcomes two and three which are

2. critically analyse governance and management; principles, structures and frameworks
3. review the origins and evolution of clinical governance;

In education we generally use what is called a stem sentence to frame the question

Clinical governance frameworks provide opportunities for clinicians to engage in the organisation and planning of safe and effective health services. This report is designed to assess your ability to analyse and evaluate a case study
project exploring clinical governance.

So, the assessment tests your knowledge and understanding of clinical governance by asking you to undertake several tasks (which are underlined above). In the stem sentence it gives you several clues as to why clinical governance frameworks may be used (e.g. the opportunities for clinicians to organise and plan safe and effective care). This allows you scope to tailor your work to a specific profession or setting.

You MUST demonstrate the ability to challenge the ideas within your paper, to compare and contrast different views and create robust arguments that support the contents of your writing. If you merely list facts you will NOT be addressing the assessment task.

Task:

Consider a contemporary reading (no more than 10 years old) on quality improvement using a clinical governance framework.

Include the following in your analysis:

– Origins and relevance of Clinical Governance
– Role of Governance and Management in providing quality care
– Potential governance issues with possible implications on clinical governance
– Personal reflection with reference to clinical governance issues (these will be discussed later)

The assessment is to be presented in a report format. There are many Word templates that are available online; these often have key prompts to guide the creation of your work. When you graduate employers will expect you to have competence in using such tools, hence this is an opportunity to demonstrate your skills in using these. In addition proofing tools such as spell check, grammar check and a thorough proof read should be conducted before submission –

All work should. Of course, be fully supported by current academic literature and written in a scholarly manner. It goes without saying that citations and referencing should be correct.

The analysis

You must have heard me say the ‘why’ word frequently; you need to consider the why in relation to the bullet points – this is not a complete list of things you may consider, but you need to be asking these sort of questions, especially with regard to the case study you review.

1. Origins and relevance of Clinical Governance – why did clinical governance emerge? Why was in necessary? Why had there been a rise in issues affecting patient outcomes?
2. Role of Governance and Management in providing quality care – Why do we have certain structures in health? Who set these up and why did they make them this way? Why do we need these? What are the key issues related to improving quality?
3. Potential governance issues with possible implications on clinical governance – What are the drivers of governance? Why do those in charge have responsibilities? Why do staff need awareness of clinical governance? Why do we need to continue to improve quality?
4. Personal reflection with reference to clinical governance issues – this one is slightly different; you all have personal experience, either as a provider of services, or, as a recipient of care. You will have been exposed to areas where, for example, quality could be improved, an incident affected patient outcomes, an untoward event, etc.

You can use this experience as a part of your discussion, e.g., what did you learn from the event? How did it make you consider quality? What aspects of a CG framework could be used to prevent an untoward event?