Domain 4 - Key and Enabling Competencies

Manage Safety Risks

Definition: Anticipating, recognizing, and managing situations that place patients at risk.

1. Health care professionals who recognize routine situations and settings in which safety problems may arise:

1.1. Demonstrate situational awareness by continually observing the whole environment, thinking ahead and reviewing potential options and consequences

1.2. Recognize safety problems in real-time and respond to correct them, preventing them from reaching the patient

1.3. Employ, as appropriate techniques such as diligent information-gathering, cross-checking of information using checklists, and investigating mismatches between the current situation and the expected state

2. Health care professionals who systematically identify, implement, and evaluate context-specific safety solutions:

2.1. Critically appraise the literature to identify evidence-informed and emerging safety solutions

2.2. Learn from local successes and experiences, assessing their appropriateness to a work setting

2.3. Select the most appropriate solution for a given context, taking into account quality, resources, practicality and patient preferences

2.4. Reflect on the impact of an individual intervention, including the potentially harmful or unintended consequences of a safety intervention

2.5. Evaluate the ongoing success of a safety intervention by incorporating lessons learned

3. Health care professionals who anticipate, identify and manage high-risk situations:

3.1. Recognize health care settings that may lead to high-risk situations

3.2. Respond effectively by means of efficient task and process management, crisis team functioning, and dynamic decision-making

3.3. Participate in ongoing training, such as simulations to enhance abilities to manage high-risk situations