[Risk management and clinical path].

Abstract

In the risk management of medical practice, developing an efficient system to prevent medical accidents and trouble is required. For this purpose it is important to promote a cooperative team practice, to clarify each staff member's role, for each staff member to accurately carry out that role, for each staff member to always try to understand the patient's condition, and for staff members to ask each other whenever in doubt as to a patient's condition or the medical practice itself. These points for risk management share the same goal as the clinical path. The introduction of a clinical path is useful from the viewpoint of risk management. Electronic medical records and computer ordering systems in the medical practice should be developed as tools to decrease medical accidents.