A gap in perceptions of the level of risk at a healthcare facility often emerges between the people closest to the danger and those at some distance. The farther the distance from actual harm, the less a person perceives the impact of that harm, according to an article on the Hospitals and Health Networks Daily. 

Best practice risk assessments should include an examination of risk-perception gaps within a facility. If frontline staff fear a potential danger, they will be distracted from work. However, these fears are often not perceived at the same intensity by the C-suite.

A recent illustration of the risk-perception gap occurred in a facility where new management made changes to improve patient safety without consulting frontline staff. Senior management continued to find the staff distrustful, remote and less than engaged.

To get at the root of the distrust, a risk assessment was performed. Several areas of focus rose to the top: a distrust of the new management team, a feeling of staff-management disconnect, and ultimately, a feeling that management was not working in the staff's best interest. 

Read the article.