5 types of risks facing healthcare providers in Asia
In today’s complex and evolving healthcare industry, healthcare professionals face a myriad of risks in their everyday work. While they are focused on providing the best care to their patients, they may not be aware of the risks they face. According to leading healthcare advisory consultant, Asia Care Group, the five categories of risks below account for the majority of medical malpractice claims.
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Human risk
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis
- Prescribing errors (dosing error, adverse interactions, wrong method of administering)
- Failure to take proper history / failure to spot allergies or intolerances
- Failure to act on results in a timely or appropriate manner
- Inadequate follow-up or long-term management
- Poor communication of the condition/procedure leading to an adverse outcome
- Error in selection or administering of a procedure
- Inadequate pre/post surgery prep, leading to adverse event (e.g. wrong sided surgery)
- Failure to provide prophylactics
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Process risk
- Inappropriate waiting time protocols leading to delays in process with adverse impact
- Inappropriate triage processes leading to mistreatment/untimely treatment
- Lack of clinical process guidelines
- Lack of discharge/admission protocols
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Technology risk
- Data privacy breaches
- Malfunction of medical devices leading to patient harm
- Inability to access electronic records, leading to missing history/inappropriate action
- Data-entry error
- Barcoding error, leading to inaccurate tracking or use of equipment/drugs
- CCTV at locations considered to be private for patients
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Compliance risk
- Failure to follow regulatory controls of medication
- Failure to comply with medical waste legislation
- Failure to document patient consent
- Failure to meet regulatory quality standards
- Breaches of health and safety
- Failure to keep equipment maintenance records
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Organisation Risk
- Lack of adequate patient safety protocols such as general infection control and theatre sterilisation policies
- Lack of safeguarding policies
- Lack of HR/credentialing checks
- Lack of safe injection and blood transfusion practice guidelines
- Lack of guidelines to respect patient’s cultural and religious choices in medical treatment
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Source: Asia Care Group
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