Financial Crisis Versus Hospital Infections

Is there a relation between the financial crisis andare not the main problem, but the level of
a hospital infection? Not a direct relation that ahedging; operate more (and off balance) with less
crisis causes an infection, but there is afunds. The mechanism is the same. The
resemblance between the two. The link is risk.management focuses on increasing the
And risk management.production, at the cost of less support. Support is
A financial company may turn into a crisis whenwhat slows the production down by controls,
this company runs out of safety-funds to back upquality steps, and more. Less support means a
the risks that it has taken. Too much riskyhigher production but with also a higher risk, or a
behavior will lower the capital of the institution andlower quality.
this becomes a liability. When clients notice thatThe financial crisis is not unique. What is unique is
the bank may be affected they will withdrawthe fact that one institution is linked to another
their money and the company will go bankrupt.and the process is chained to each other. On an
In a hospital there is a more or less similarindividual level the mechanism of easing controls -
process ongoing, in which the organization takeswhere it all starts with - is universal, whether
too much risk, urged by the metrics ofmanagers operate in hospitals or banks, or any
performance management. The mainother sector.
management focus of the hospital is to increaseIn hospital management there is also a risk in the
the flow of patients and to lower their stays inchain even though hospitals are not
both care and cure (ER).interconnected. What is however connected is the
This adds-up to stress:fact that most hospitals copy the management
- Increasing the efficiency of sterilization time andmethod of others. The advantage of having a
to make the duration of this step diminishbest practice turns into a disadvantage when
- Increasing efficiency and limit the duration ofthere are problems and the problem is related to
cleaning the Emergency roomsfocus; focus on the flow and performance
- Less control on hygienic procedures in the(management) which increases the overall risk and
nursery departments, to speed up the stay andwith it the chance of hospital-wide infections.
to operate with less employeesH.J.B.
In the financial case these efficiency measures