Assessing the five dimensions of safety
| Dimension | Illustrative measures and assessments |
|---|---|
| Harm | |
| Case record review | |
| Global trigger tool | |
| National audits | |
| Patient safety indicators | |
| Rates of surgical complications | |
| Incidence of falls | |
| Incidence of pressure ulcers | |
| Mortality and morbidity | |
| Reliability of safety critical processes | |
| Observation of safety critical behaviour | |
| Audit of equipment availability | |
| Monitoring of vital signs | |
| Monitoring of stroke care bundles | |
| Venous thromboembolism risk assessment | |
| Assessment of suicide risk | |
| Sensitivity to operations | |
| Safety walk-rounds and conversations | |
| Talking to patients | |
| Ward rounds and routine reviews of patients and working conditions | |
| Briefings and debriefings | |
| Observation and conversations with clinical teams | |
| Real time monitoring and feedback in anaesthesia | |
| Anticipation and preparedness | |
| Structured reflection | |
| Risk registers | |
| Human reliability analysis | |
| Safety cases | |
| Safety culture assessment | |
| Anticipated staffing levels and skill mix | |
| Integration and learning | |
| Aggregate analysis of incidents, claims and complaints | |
| Feedback and implementation of safety lessons by clinical teams | |
| Regular integration and review by clinical teams and general practice | |
| Whole system suites of safety metrics, for example, web enabled portals clinical unit level | |
| Population level analyses of safety metrics | |