Topic 1: Child and Adolescent Health Risks

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Obesity is not exclusive to adults. Each day, more and more children are finding themselves at risk for overweight and obesity. Childhood obesity often accompanies many of the obesity-related conditions adults affected by obesity often experience, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea and more. Recent data shows that up to 80 percent of children affected by obesity will continue to be affected by obesity into adulthood (Lobstein, et all, 2015). Obesity impacts children in a variety of ways. First and foremost, a child’s health is impacted as they have now opened themselves up to a wide variety of health issues – issues that most of us didn’t experience until middle-age. In addition to health implications, there’s also one other area that children face which can be very serious – weight bias and bullying. Kids impacted by obesity often find themselves the target of bullying. This bullying can take place in the classroom, in your neighborhood and even in your own home. It is very important to recognize this type of behavior and address it quickly (Lobstein, et all, 2015). The Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), a nonprofit dedicated to educating and advocating for those affected by obesity, provides valuable resources on weight bullying.

Over the last decades, food has become more affordable to larger numbers of people as the price of food has decreased substantially relative to income and the concept of ‘food’ has changed from a means of nourishment to a marker of lifestyle and a source of pleasure. Clearly, increases in physical activity are not likely to offset an energy rich, poor nutritive diet. It takes between 1–2 hours of extremely vigorous activity to counteract a single large-sized (i.e., >=785 kcal) children’s meal at a fast food restaurant (Lobstein, et all, 2015). Frequent consumption of such a diet can hardly be counteracted by the average child or adult.

It has been hypothesized that a steady decline in physical activity among all age groups has heavily contributed to rising rates of obesity all around the world. Physical activity strongly influenced weight gain in a study of monozygotic twins (Rivera, et all, 2014). Numerous studies have shown that sedentary behaviors like watching television and playing computer games are associated with increased prevalence of obesity. Furthermore, parents report that they prefer having their children watch television at home rather than play outside unattended because parents are then able to complete their chores while keeping an eye on their children (Rivera, et all, 2014). In addition, increased proportions of children who are being driven to school and low participation rates in sports and physical education, particularly among adolescent girls, are also associated with increased obesity prevalence.

Almost all public health researchers and clinicians agree that prevention could be the key strategy for controlling the current epidemic of obesity. Prevention may include primary prevention of overweight or obesity itself, secondary prevention or avoidance of weight regains following weight loss, and prevention of further weight increases in obese individuals unable to lose weight (Rivera, et all, 2014). Until now, most approaches have focused on changing the behavior of individuals on diet and exercise and it seems that these strategies have had little impact on the growing increase of the obesity epidemic.

Executive Summary

As you begin work on this assignment, review the “Deficit Reduction  Act Section 5001: Hospital Quality Improvement” from page 78 of your Principles of Risk Management and Patient Safety  text. Recall that the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 “mandated a CMS  policy eliminating reimbursement to hospitals for 10 events on the  National Quality Forum’s list” (p. 70). In 2007, CMS instituted the  Inpatient Prospective Payment System, which required hospitals to report  conditions that were Present on Admission (POA) (p. 70). Diagnoses were  required to be promptly reported on admission, or a presumption of a  hospital acquired condition (HAC) was made and reimbursement was  diminished. In 2008, CMS “stopped payment for cases assigned to the  higher DRG when the condition was acquired during the hospitalization”  (Youngberg, 2011, p. 71). Additionally, patients were not responsible  for payment of HACs. In the current environment, it is imperative that  health care leaders meet the important regulatory requirements of  Conditions of Participation for CMS reimbursement.

As further preparation for this assignment, please review the “never events” list of HACs on page 79 of your Principles of Risk Management and Patient Safety  text. In addition, revisit the risk management issue you selected for  the discussion activity in this unit. You will use this issue as a  starting point for your work on this assignment.

This assignment has two parts: creating an executive summary and writing a related paper that provides additional detail.

For the executive summary, assume you have taken on a new role as the  chief operating officer at a mid-sized community hospital. You are  charged with leading system-wide risk management efforts to identify  risk and minimize HACs. Your organization’s financial viability depends  on receiving proper reimbursement for services delivered. As the chief  operating officer, you must create an executive summary that describes  your organization’s compliance with the regulatory requirement to  promptly identify POAs and proactively assess and manage risk.

Use the Executive Summary Sample Format, available in the Resources, to format your executive summary.

In your executive summary:

1. Briefly describe the risk management issue you selected for the  discussion in this unit and that you are addressing with this executive  summary. Explain why this risk management issue is important to your  organization.
2. List applicable regulatory requirements and explain what they mean to your chosen risk management issue.
3. Construct the associated risk management implications. For example,  HACs result in no reimbursement, poor quality ratings, risk of losing  repeat admissions, risk Joint Commission and MAGNET accreditation or  excellence, or other negative implications.
4. Assess the internal versus external environment relative to the  risks associated with your chosen risk management issue. You may use a  strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis or  other suitable tool; be sure to cite the source.
5. Research and describe any resources or strengths your organization  possesses that could aid in addressing the risk management issue.
6. Briefly describe your organization’s philosophy or culture as it  relates to patient safety and error reporting. How will you encourage  voluntary reporting?
7. Identify metrics for measuring or monitoring the risk management issue.
8. Propose how you will make use of the outcome data toward organizational improvement.
9. Describe any ethical or legal implications related to the handling of this risk management issue.
10. Utilize established and respected sources of information. Some  sources that may be useful to you include: the Federal Register,  statutes, discipline-specific peer-reviewed journals, government agency  references, et cetera.

For the written portion of the assignment:

1. Construct a proactive assessment of your organization’s compliance  with the regulatory requirement to promptly identify POAs and  proactively assess and manage risk based on existing regulations and  requirements.
2. Identify tools and best practices for monitoring parameters and  reducing risk, including organizational structure needed for risk  re-education as supported by the literature.
3. Suggest quality improvement and organization-specific, risk management and learning guidelines.
4. Use an appropriate APA format for clear, concise presentation of information.
5. Communicate information and ideas accurately, utilizing peer-reviewed sources, including proper APA reference citations.
6. Finally, include your Executive Summary table as an appendix to your APA-formatted paper.

Reference

Youngberg, B. J. (2011). Principles of risk management and patient safety. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Assignment Requirements

• Written communication: Written communication is free from errors that detract from the overall message.
• Length of paper: 3–4 double-spaced pages for the written portion of the assignment.
• Number of resources: A minimum of three resources.
• Font and font size: Arial, 10 point.

Please review the scoring guide for this assignment to learn more  about assignment requirements. Submit the resulting paper in the  assignment area.

Note: Your instructor may also use the Writing  Feedback Tool to provide feedback on your writing. In the tool, click  the linked resources for helpful writing information.

Resources

• Executive Summary Scoring Guide.
• APA Style and Format.
• Capella Library.
• Capella Writing Center.
• Executive Summary Sample Format.
• How Do I Find Peer-Reviewed Articles?
• Writing Feedback Tool.
• APA Paper Template.
• APA Paper Tutorial.