** UPDATE**
We have had to postpone this chat from 10th June to 24th June. Look out for our new topic for 10th June…
Our chat on Monday 10th June 24th June (NOTE NEW DATE) will be at the usual time of 8.30pm BST and it is hosted by Nicola Laughlan.
She writes that risk is something we encounter daily in our professional and personal lives. It is impossible to eliminate risk entirely from our lives. Even if we wrapped ourselves in cotton wool and remained in bed forever, we would risk pressure sores, muscle wasting, dehydration and malnutrition!
In the same vein, we take risks when we stand up out of bed (falling), exercise (muscle strain), or eat and drink (choking). Our quality of life therefore depends heavily on weighing up the pros and cons, and taking calculated risks.
What, then for our patients? How do we help them balance out those pros and cons, and manage their own level of risk on a daily basis? Particularly when they are sometimes unable to identify the risks themselves or they are under our day to day care in hospital? How do we help them adjust when they move from one environment to another eg from home to hospital and back again?
Questions to consider
- What does ‘risk’ look like to you?
- How do you assess risk
- Do you use particular risk-focused assessments?
- What input do your patients have into their own risk assessments?
- How do you promote risk enablement within your working environment?
- Whose risk is it anyway? Is it only ours until we stop being actively involved in an individuals care or does it continue?
Pre-chat reading and resources
Managing Risk Positively A Guide for Staff in Health and Social Care
Risk enablement and human rights
What if the NHS changed its approach to risk
Chat host information
I am a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist in Falls and Osteoporosis working within a community team, but with recent experience working in acute elderly inpatient care.
I have worked in various different roles since qualifying in 1999, however, my main interests are in elderly and mental health care. My experience has been based equally in hospital and community care, and I believe this has enabled me to have a rounded perspective on the transitions between both.
Risk enablement is of particular interest to me in every aspect of healthcare, as I believe we clinicians need to involve people more in making decisions for themselves and taking personal responsibility for their own healthcare.
