2.5.4 Risk Management Flashcards

Question 1

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Risk management is a topic covered extensively elsewhere (see ‘further reading’) and while we don’t want to duplicate existing resources, it’s important here to acknowledge that managing risks and risk assessments are key to ensuring patient and employee safety.

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Risk management in pharmacy practice is essential as part of effective governance. Indeed, all pharmacy professionals are required to ‘assess the risks in the care they provide and do everything they can to keep these risks as low as possible’ (see the GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals www.pharmacyregulation.org or appendix 4).

Question 2

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The GPhC describes risk management in the context of registered pharmacies as:

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1) Having the necessary systems, processes and skilled staff in place to minimise the likelihood of providing poor quality care
2) Having mechanisms to learn from situations where, despite having those systems something has gone wrong
3) Identifying and minimising the potential for harm or adverse health outcomes if something goes wrong as a result of a pharmacy’s activities and services.

Question 3

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Risk assessments do not have to be complex or done in a formal way. Every time you cross the road, you conduct a risk assessment (“Is it safe? Can I reduce the risk by waiting, or by using a pelican/ zebra crossing?”). Likewise, every time you exercise your professional judgement and make a decision, you have probably conducted a very fast risk assessment without realising it.

Although you can do a spontaneous risk assessment for some situations – e.g., hazards where the risk of harm is great, frequent or applies to several people – a formal risk assessment is better.

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A risk assessment is often part of a standard operating procedure (SOP), when it is important that everyone follows the same procedure to avoid or reduce the risk of a particular adverse outcome occurring.

Question 4

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When making a risk assessment, factors to consider include:

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Hazards – this could be a substance or a process that could cause harm, such as handling cytotoxic medicines, mixing up medicines packed in similar looking packages or with similar names, or temperature control of medicines, storage areas, etc.

The risk. This is how likely harm is to take place. Is it very likely (e.g., mixing up two similarlypackaged medicines with similar names placed side-by-side on the shelf) or not likely (e.g., harm coming to staff when handling blister-packed cytotoxic medicines)?

The degree of harm likely. Is the harm likely to be minor, or severe? Is it short-lasting or permanent?

Who may be harmed – e.g., employees/self-employed, service users, patients, customers, visitors, etc.

Any preventative measures to reduce or eliminate the risk – e.g., colour coding systems; protective equipment. It is important to remember that you do not always need to eliminate a risk, just reduce it to a reasonable level. Sometimes trying to eliminate risk entirely does more harm than good, as it might prevent you doing an important task

Record the outcome – e.g., in SOPs

Monitor and review - was the hazard avoided? Could the risk be reduced further? Did the procedure work the way you hoped, or does it need to be adjusted? Has an incident occurred?

Question 5

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