Exploring the Notion of Hazards for Health IT

Safety analysis is centred on identifying a set of hazards that form the basis of risk assessment. In healthcare, hazards are potential sources of harm to patients and as such the risk of these has to be assessed and managed. With the increased reliance on Health IT systems in health and social care settings, some of these hazards are associated with the development and use of these systems. In this paper we examine current practices in hazard identification, focusing on how clinicians and engineers approach this task within the Health IT safety assurance process. We highlight certain technical and organisational challenges and discuss approaches to improving current practices and promoting learning initiatives.