ECRI's 2024 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards List Highlights Medical Care at Home
ECRI, a nonprofit organization that works to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare delivery, has released its 17th Top 10 list that highlights health technology hazards. The top spot features hazards patients may face at home.
As healthcare continues to face patient flow and access challenges, more patients are receiving higher acuity care at home than ever before. That means medical-grade devices are being utilized in the home with greater frequency. Issues with training, misuse, and errors are a patient safety concern, which helped earn the use of medical devices in the home the top spot on ECRI’s annual Top 10 List of Technology Hazards. Here’s a recent article discussing some of the topics on the list Health tech hazards: At-home medical devices, AI governance on ECRI’s new list. Even if you are not a subscriber to ECRI, you can download the executive brief that details all 10 hazards and is filled with usable content and resources Top 10 Health Technology Hazards for 2024 Executive Brief.
Organizations should assess the types of medical-grade devices they are sending patients home with to come up with a targeted risk mitigation plan. Utilizing well-known mitigation tactics such as standardizing education, use of checklists, and ensuring discharge follow up is scheduled would help improve the safety of these patients.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to your Medical Mutual Risk Manager for resources to help get you started!
This article falls under TECHNOLOGY in the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) risk domains.
This domain covers machines, hardware, equipment, devices, wearable technologies, and tools, but can also include techniques, systems, and methods of organization. Health care has seen an escalation in the use of technology for clinical diagnosis and treatment, training and education, information storage and retrieval, and asset preservation. Examples also include Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Meaningful Use, financial and billing systems, social media, and cyber security; cyber risks can be significant.