Application of Systemic Accident Analysis (SAA) Approaches in Telemedicine/Telehealth

Abstract

This chapter discusses the importance of applying methods based on the systems thinking paradigm in analysing accidents that may occur in a complex healthcare system involving telemedicine/telehealth. Different accident analysis approaches (models and methods) have been utilised to analyse incidents/accidents in different safety-critical domains, including healthcare, to identify weaknesses and to be able to propose safety recommendations. With the advent of systemic accident analysis (SAA) approaches based on the systems thinking paradigm, can they be feasibly and practically applied to incidents resulting from unintended issues relating to telemedicine/telehealth? This chapter discusses three popular SAA approaches, benefits and limitations, including their necessity for improving safety and even security relating to telemedicine processes.

The application of systematic accident analysis tools to investigate food safety incidents

“…Not all models describe the process in detail, as seen in the AcciMap, where certain elements such as feedback availability and system goals are only partially described and implicitly addressed (Underwood & Waterson, 2013). Furthermore, the process and details are provided in the FRAM, and the STAMP goes beyond the mere description of events and causal factors to provide a full description of the reasons for unsafe control actions (Igene & Ferguson, 2023). In this context, models such as STAMP and FRAM are particularly explicit about the safety-related objectives that the system is try-ing to achieve.…”

“…In addition, FRAM does not consider multiple contributing factors and actors (Stanton, 2019). The STAMP and FRAM approaches consider more closely the elements per process or function in their analysis, which differs from the AcciMap, which described the events and actions performed in the system (Igene & Ferguson, 2023).…”

“…The AcciMap model, for example, enables a comprehensive analysis of the entire FSI. It facilitates the identification of actions, causal links, and factors that contribute to FS problems, such as food contamination incidents, effectively capturing these elements and their interrelationships throughout the system (Igene & Ferguson, 2023). The benefits of the diagrams are that they provide a visual and improved understanding of the nuances of the FSI through its proximal sequence of events, interactions, and mapping of interconnected relationships.…”