Quick Tip: Use a patient-focused method when estimating risk
Simply using number of devices sold, or procedures performed, may not always be accurate when estimating the rate of occurrence of harm.
A common industry practice is to use the number of devices sold, or number of procedure performed, in the denominator for estimating the rate of occurrence of harm.
However, this method may not always be accurate. As an example, the estimated risk is significantly underestimated when an individual patient undergoes multiple cycles of the same treatment to achieve the intended benefit.
A question to ask is “what is the best measure of the total number of opportunities where a patient is exposed to a hazard?”. It depends on the clinical context of the use.
Check out the case study below which explains how you may be inadvertently underestimating risk when using a per-cycle method of calculating the rate of occurrence. This case study also provides step-by-step directions for correctly estimating risk on a per-patient basis, when an individual patient may undergo multiple cycles of treatment to achieve the desired results.
