Rebalancing risk management--Part 2: The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Safety
• Risk Management

Background:

• Current systems-focused risk assessment tools primarily identify problems but do not support the design or management of risk control solutions.
• This limitation has hindered measurable improvements in patient harm rates despite the adoption of these assessment techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce the Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit, a structured methodology designed to bridge the gap between risk assessment and risk control.
• To present a pilot study evaluating the effectiveness of the ARC Toolkit in enhancing the quality of healthcare risk management practices.

Main Methods:

• Development and description of the Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit, a structured approach for designing and managing risk control solutions.
• Conducting a pilot study to assess the practical application and impact of the ARC Toolkit on risk management quality.

Main Results:

• The ARC Toolkit provides a structured framework to move beyond problem identification towards actionable risk control.
• Pilot study results indicate that the ARC Toolkit can enhance the quality of risk management practices in healthcare settings.

Conclusions:

• Bridging the gap between risk assessment and risk control is crucial for improving patient safety.
• The Active Risk Control (ARC) Toolkit offers a promising structured approach to enhance the effectiveness of healthcare risk management.