DNV has extensive experience in proactive risk management across many industries. We aim to adapt and implement best practices of DNV risk management into healthcare organisations.

During the last century the complexity of healthcare organisations has increased dramatically. Where it used to be one doctor and a nurse who cared for the patient, healthcare is now provided by a team of specialised doctors and nurses. Medical technology has advanced from simple tools such as the stethoscope, plain two dimensional x-ray imaging and a few drugs, to high tech diagnostic tools and advanced procedures and new drugs to cure disease. Concomitantly, the amount of medical information available to the clinician has increased exponentially, exceeding the capacity of the individual healthcare provider.

All these factors contribute to the complexity of the healthcare organisation and increase the risk to the patients. Efforts to improve patient safety have been fragmented and largely reactive, such as reporting and learning from adverse events. To date there has been limited use of proactive approaches to identify and manage risk within clinical healthcare practices.

In collaboration with independent patient safety experts and healthcare provider organisations, we will adapt, refine and test methods for proactive risk management already used within DNV in other industries so that they are suitable for healthcare settings.