Four Categories of Safety Risks in a Health Care Agency
The four main categories of risks in a healthcare agency includes falls, patient-inherent accidents, procedure-related risks, and equipment-related risks. Falls results to minor or major injuries among the patients. The injuries include hip fractures or head fractures and they may lead to reduced mobility and premature death. Unfamiliar environments, treatments, health conditions, and mobility status are examples of the causes of falls in healthcare facilities. Old people, children, and sick individuals are highly susceptible to falls.
Patient-inherent accidents are the one that originates from the patients. In this case, patients are the major causes of the accidents. Examples of patient-inherent accidents are self-inflicted injuries and cuts, and ingesting foreign substances. Procedure-related risks occur because of the medical errors of healthcare professionals. Such accidents include improper injections and improper treatment procedures. Equipment-related accidents occurs due equipment malfunction or misuse. When healthcare professionals use the medical equipment wrongly, such accidents can be procedure-related and equipment-related.
Assessment Activities Designed to Identify Patient’s Physical, Psychosocial, and Cognitive Status
An individual’s lifestyle is critical in the identification of physical, psychosocial, and cognitive status. One of the factors to assess is the patient’s perception of safety needs and risks. Secondly, assess the impact of the prevailing disorder to the patient. Identity the extent of the impact. Thirdly, identity the actual and potential threat to the patient safety and assess the impacts of the environment to their safety. Measure the patient’s development environment and assess presence of any risk factors throughout the developmental stages of the patient.