Riskman Upgrade
To support the Department of Health’s new early warning reporting system and subsequent real-time data submission changes, the WH Riskman system is scheduled to undergo an upgrade on 1st August 2023.
It is anticipated that the system will be unavailable for approximately 2 hours on this day.
What is the Early Warning Reporting System?
In response to recommendations made from the report “Targeting zero, the review of hospital safety and quality assurance in Victoria” 2016, the Department of Health (DH) has implemented changes to the incident reporting requirements for public health services in Victoria.
As part of these changes, DH is establishing an early warning reporting system aimed at identifying emerging risks for both patients and the healthcare workforce throughout the state. The system will contribute to enhancing safety and quality measures in healthcare delivery that relies on near real-time data submission
The Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI) is a division of the Department of Health that ensures data and information on the quality, safety and performance of Victoria’s healthcare system is readily available. More information on these changes is available on the VAHI website.
Riskman Upgrade: Key Changes
• Real-Time Data Submission
The main driver and change for the RiskManTM upgrade will allow incidents to be transmitted to VAHI in near real-time (i.e. the moment an incident is submitted and every time the record is edited). Incidents will be considered valid for inclusion in DH reporting 30 days from incident submission into Riskman. WH will need to conduct timely reviews during incident investigations to ensure data accuracy and completeness with 30 days.
The flowchart below provides an overview of the new workflow.
• ISR 1 and 2 notification alerts
All ISR 1 and 2 alerts will be sent to users immediately upon incident submission. Any changes to Incident Severity Rating (ISR) will be communicated to the Divisional Director by the aligned divisional Best Care Coodinator. Please refer to the Determining-ISR QRG for details on accurately assigning the ISR for clinical incidents in Riskman.
• General Riskman Appearance
The overall Riskman appearance will change. All fields will remain the same, they will just look a little different (see below):
• Riskman Field: 'Event relates to a..."
The system currently defaults the ‘event relates to a…’ field to patient/client/resident.
Following the upgrade, users will be required to select the event type from the drop-down selection for each incident entry.
• Warning Messages When Closing an Incident
To ensure data sent to VAHI is complete and accurate, users closing an incident will see a new warning messages prompting them to check all mandatory fields prior to submission.
• Sexual Behaviour Incidents
Sexual Behaviour incidents will no longer default to ISR 2 on upon incident submission.