Risk management and interprofessional care in continuous blood purification therapy

Abstract

In continuous blood purification (CBP), which is carried out in intensive care unit (ICU) day and night for extended periods, safety management must always be aware of the risks related to extracorporeal circulation, and in addition to hardware safety measures such as the inclusion of safety functions to equipment, software safety measures such as operational systems, education, and interprofessional care are also essential in CBP risk management. In addition to hardware safety measures such as the addition of safety functions to devices, software safety precautions such as operational systems, education, and interprofessional care are also important. At our hospital, a safety system has been built through proactive team medicine intervention, including resident clinical engineer who work in the ICU around the clock and are involved in their various specialties. However, an analysis of the incidents that happened at our hospital showed that one of the background factors was a lack of cooperation and communication due to a clear division of roles, that risk management in CBP needs interprofessional care from multiple perspectives, and that information sharing and communication among the various professions are essential to prevent lack of cooperation. To avoid a lack of coordination, information sharing and communication among the different professions were considered vital.