Analyzing Risks

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Analyzing risks
The health care field especially the practice of medicine is much considered an art. For a physician or medical staff to be able to diagnose and properly treat an issue specific to a particular patient is difficult and needs many years of medical practice and experience and a creative and artful mind. Risk analysis is concerned with the making of weighty decisions that affect the patient for the rest of his/her life. The ultimate goal of risk analysis and assessment is to make a decision that minimizes the risks present in the health care sector while at the same time caring for the patient. (Andersen, 2009, pg. 170)
Analyzing risks for patients
Risk analysis in patients is basically the processes of making the patient understand the risk they face when exposed to certain medical procedures, the ability of the medical staff or physicians to control those risks and finally the likelihood of the risk to occur and the potential impacts or side effects they pose to the life of the patient.
Regulatory bodies like the NHS are working around the clock to ensure that health organizations act on serious risk facing patients. Every year thousands of reports of incidents of patients dying in the hands of physicians and medical staff reach the NHS. This would have turned otherwise if the responsible medical experts had done proper analysis of risks on their patients before carrying out medical procedures. Another organization the National Reporting and Learning Service (NRLS) has done reviews on various risk incidences and drafted some key areas that need action in the medical risk analysis. (Youngberg, 2011, p. 211).
The four major stages of the process are;
1. Initial screening of the patient
2. Prioritizing risks
3. Topics of urgent action
4. Reviewing and sharing data
The NRLS has gone further to produce a range of helpful resources to medical managers and staff on risk management/assessment and patient safety. They include;
A Risk management programme; it is an overview of guidelines specific to practice-base commissioning.
Health risk assessment made easy; vigilance in identifying risks is promoted and the ways of minimizing risks elaborated.
A risk matrix for risk managers; it helps NHS managers to implement and put in place integrated system of risk assessment.
Clinical staff
The work of clinical staff in health organization such as a hospital is to carry out clinical practice on a day-to-day basis. In recent years, the numbers of deaths of patients in the hands of clinical staff is alarming. To check this rate, risk analysis in clinical practice is strictly recommended. Some of the areas in clinical practice that need serious risk analysis include;
Working environment; the staffing level skill mix of workload and shift patterns designs are very important,
Team factor; team structure and teamwork should be maintained through verbal and written communication supervision.
Individual staff factor; the physical and mental health of the...