Risk management refers to strategies that reduce the possibility of a specific loss.
What Is Risk Management?
The identification, analysis, and evaluation of risk and the selection of the most advantageous method of treating it.
( The American Society of Healthcare Risk Management )
This process of Risk Management
Practically speaking, risk management can be defined as identifying, addressing, preventing, and monitoring situations that could result in:
Healthcare risk management is the practice of identifying and preventing potential hazards within a healthcare setting.
Risk in a healthcare facility is the possibility of any adverse event that occurs anywhere in the facility to any person. The staff in a healthcare facility is just as much at risk as the patients, and in some cases their risk is greater.
The first step in healthcare risk management is to identify potential risk. This can encompass a wide range of situations and events in a healthcare facility. For instance, preventable errors that occur during the admission process in a hospital can result in medical staff relying on inaccurate information as they care for their patients. Unhygienic practices put patients at risk of infection, and may result in infestations of bacteria, insects and rodents. In addition, issues such as fire safety and fall prevention are just as important in a healthcare facility as in any other setting, but may be inadvertently overlooked because of the more obvious healthcare-related risks.
Once potential risk has been identified, it must be assessed. Although risk assessment can be a complex process, it essentially consists of determining the chances a particular risk will occur, and its impact on the facility. For example, the possibility of fire in modern healthcare facilities is relatively low, but the potential losses — especially loss of life — are so great that most facilities install costly fire command stations to assist firefighting personnel in the event of a fire. Likewise, a risk manager will work closely with the human resources department to ensure that staff are properly credentialed and vetted. In both examples, the cost of risk prevention pales in comparison with the cost of the risk occurring, whether in the case of a fire or the hiring of staff who are unsuitable for work in a healthcare facility.