Risk management of smart healthcare systems: Delimitation, state-of-arts, process, and perspectives

Abstract

Sensing, communication, computation, and control technologies are facilitating smart healthcare to improve efficiency and effectiveness of medical treatment and care. This study focuses on the risk issues relevant with the adverse events where novel technical systems do not serve as expected. We discuss the unique challenges, define the scope of risk management in healthcare and review the state-of-art research on diverse topics under the framework widely used in risk management. Then, we present a systematic approach to identify the hazards to patients and other asset of interest in the perception, cyber communication, and execution of smart technologies and their operational contexts. We also investigate different methods for scenario, likelihood, and consequence analyses for specifying the risks of adverse events, and categorize the approaches of risk reduction, as the main strategy of treating risks of smart healthcare systems, into four groups of design, operation, organization, and legislation. At the last, the article proposes some research perspectives responding to the developing trend of smart healthcare.

Supply and Demand: Meeting the Need for Graduate Training in Patient Safety

“…Liu presents a systematic approach to identify hazards to patients associated with novel smart healthcare technologies, and suggests research perspectives in response to this developing trend. 10 Evaluating and implementing these advances requires a sophisticated knowledge of patient safety, which would be impossible without advanced education in the field.…”