Expertisecentrum Risicomanagement

There is an increasing requirement for healthcare professionals to demonstrate proficient risk management competencies in the care of severely psychologically distressed people. An impressive international range of research papers and risk management guidelines are available.

Healthcare professionals are likely to be frequently confronted with challenging behavior when dealing with service users in the peak of a crisis. Despite all of the available relevant scientific knowledge the transfer of those research findings into professional education, vocational training and clinical practice, there are evident gaps in practice.

From international comparison studies we know that commonly used predictive strategies are not universally applied, that de-escalation interventions vary from country to country and are rarely critically evaluated in local practices. Therefore through the international collaboration of research groups and Institutes of professional education, vocational trainers and practitioners can enhance good and safe practices in healthcare settings. Several studies reveal that physically and psychologically unsafe practice can result in unsatisfactory treatment outcomes and significant attrition of staff in healthcare settings.

Regarding risk management practice, the development of the centre embraces two core principles; A.) dynamic and frequent assessment of strengths and weaknesses in service user functioning, B.) dynamic risk analysis and non blaming feedback to promote safety and meaningful reflection- on identified risk management patterns in local practices.