Risk management in nursing

1. Risk management in Nursing
Prepared by : Abbas Fadhil Naji

2. Risk
An uncertain future event or condition which if happens affects the mission objective. It could have a positive or
negative effect. Or the potential harm that may arise from some process or some feature event.

3. Examples of risk in nursing field
1- Infection prevention and control (Nosocomial infection)
2- Wrong identification of patients
3- Chemical , radiation exposure
4- The wrong dosage, rout of medication administration to patients
5- A staff member injured in the course of their duties
6- Injury to a visitor ,pt, e.g fall on a wet floor, bed ulcer
7-Privacy, confidentiality (data breach)
8- Abuse reporting

4. Risk Management
 Risk management is a process that identifies, analyses and treats potential hazards within a
given setting. The risk management programed of a hospital is designed to “enhance the safety of
patients, visitors and employees and minimize the financial losses through risk detection,
evaluation and prevention.
 Risk management is the development and implementation of strategies to optimize patient
well-being and to prevent harm or limit patient injury. Its focus is to reduce errors that result in
significant costs related to damage, harm, discomfort, disability, or distress to the patient, and to
reduce financial loss to the individual health care provider and the organization that they
represent.

5. The RN's Role
Registered nurses' clinical skills and commitment to patient advocacy are strong
qualifications for the risk management role. When patients are misidentified, when
surgeons leave foreign objects inside patients, when wrong medications are
administered or patients acquire infections while they're in the hospital, risk
management nurses can recreate the circumstances that caused the error. After
analyzing the problem they can recommend steps to improve the procedures and
reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

6. The goal of risk management in nursing
1-Minimize the likelihood of possible events that have negative consequences for patients, staff and the
organization .
2. Minimize the risk of death, injury and/or disease for patients, employees and others as a result of services
provided.
3. Enhance patient outcomes.
4. Manage resources effectively
5. Support legislative compliance and to ensure organizational viability and development.

7. Five Basic Steps of Risk Management
Step 1: Establish the context
Step 2: Identify risks
Step 3: Analyze risks
Step 4: Evaluate risks
Step 5: Treat/Manage Risks

9. Establish the context
Context is very important in risk identification and management. ICU
(Intensive care unit), O.R (Operation room), E.R (Emergency room), blood
transfusion services, CCU (coronary care unit), medication management
including medication administration are contextually high priority areas for
risk management in relation to patient care.

10. Identify Risks
Risk identification is the process whereby the healthcare professional and the
healthcare employees become aware of the risks in the health care services and
environment. The risks identified are entered in the Risk Management Tool ,
also sometimes known as the Risk Register.

11. Analyze Risks
After we have identified the risks, we assess the risk, meaning that
we measure the occurrence rate for each risk as well as the impact of
the event ( impact or likelihood & severity) , What is produced from
them comes out risk rating/ risk ranking ).

13. Evaluate risks
 The purpose of risk evaluation is to prioritize the risks based on risk analysis score and to
decide which risks require treatment and the mode of treatment. Risk evaluation can be
classified :
 Avoidance
 Transfer
 Risk reduction
 Accept risk

14. Risk Treatment
The decisions in risk treatment should be consistent with the defined internal, external and
risk management contexts and taking account of the service objectives and goals. Risk
treatment plan should have:
• Proposed actions
• Resource requirements
• Person/s responsible for action
• Timeframes (Dates for actions to be completed and date for review)