The state of risk management in dental care

Krut A.G.

• Shupyk National Healthcare University of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine

Summary. Purpose: to investigate the state of risk management in the provision of dental care in certified quality management systems and suggest areas for its improvement. Object of study: certified quality management systems for dental institutions. Subject of study: risk management activities; internal documents of specialized healthcare institutions — communal non-profit enterprises: «Zhytomyr Regional Dental Medical Association»; «Regional Dental Clinic» of the Kharkiv Regional Council; «Chernihiv Regional Dental Clinic of the Chernihiv Regional Council», 34 units in total. Research methods: systematic approach, comparative and logical-structural analysis, content analysis, graphic. Results. It is shown that the fuzzy terminology of the standard in defining the concept of risk leads to difficulties in identifying risks. The list of risks of the internal environment is separated from the activities of providing medical care, provision of resources, management. Thus, the risks of loss of risk events are created, there is no planning of measures to manage them. A limited circle of employees is involved in the identification and prevention of risks, this becomes an obstacle to the spread of risk-based thinking. There are no evidence-based technologies for dental care, which leads to high risks of the effectiveness of the clinical process. This is confirmed by cases of dissatisfaction and complaints of patients, complications of medical procedures. Conclusions. Directions for improving risk management in the provision of dental care in certified quality management systems include continuous training of facility managers with the requirements of the standard, identification of risks in accordance with processes, dissemination of risk-based thinking, and the introduction of evidence-based medical technologies.