How safe is information about medicines? A risk assessment framework
Clinical Governance: An International Journal
ISSN: 1477-7274
Article publication date: 30 January 2007
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify factors predisposing to risk in publications written by healthcare professionals, especially those concerned with medicines.
Design/methodology/approach
Observation, discussion, and analysis of production methods, standards, and written outputs produced by the UK Medicines Information network as an exemplar of a healthcare organisation producing an array of publications with an accompanying tier of pre‐publication quality assurance procedures.
Findings
The factors which affect the likelihood and impact of risk in publications can be identified: author competence, quality of information sources, transformation process, audience, provenance, intended use and subject matter. These factors can be used to score a given publication and establish its risk potential relative to other publications.
Practical implications
It is recommended that healthcare organisations engaged in producing written material consider carefully the risks inherent in publishing, and the factors which influence risk.
Originality/value
The factors identified here can be used to score relative risk and to identify the highest risk publications. Higher risk documents should attract the most stringent pre‐publication quality assurance procedures.
Keywords
Citation
Wills, S. and Stephens, M. (2007), "How safe is information about medicines? A risk assessment framework", Clinical Governance: An International Journal, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 29-37. https://doi.org/10.1108/14777270710725382
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2007, Emerald Group Publishing Limited