Applying Human Factors Methods to Improve Healthcare Risk Management Tools

Abstract

The Healthcare Insurance Reciprocal of Canada (HIROC) is a not-for-profit medical malpractice insurance reciprocal that has a vision of partnering to create the safest healthcare system. Each year, patients die from preventable patient safety incidents in Canada. A proactive focus on risk management and embedding safety into healthcare systems is key to improving patient safety. HIROC conducted semi-structured interviews to help identify usability areas of interest for two primary risk management tools: The Risk Assessment Checklist and the Risk Register. A total of 16 participants from HIROC Subscribers, all with experience in risk management, quality improvement or patient safety, volunteered to partake in the semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis of the data collected informed usability improvements. For the Risk Assessment Checklist, participants indicated that the tool is informative as it helps create risk management awareness across their organizations. Participants found the Risk Assessment Checklist interface easy to use and are pleased that submitting their self-assessments is a streamlined process. For the Risk Register, participants reported that the tool is simple and easy to use. Specifically, they find value in having an electronic system that keeps them organized and provides a way for them to track and trend their progress. Participants identified some usability concerns that the research team addressed with proposed design reflections informed by Jakob’s Ten Usability Heuristics (Nielsen, 1994).