Risk Perception as a Patient Safety Dimension

Clinical risk management has been shaped by the growing consciousness of the number of errors, incidents, and near-misses that occur in healthcare and their impact on the safety of patients. Instead, patient safety emphasizes performance, team and system orientation, the regulatory framework, and patient centeredness. However, the patient safety movement, dealing either with the person or system approach, is only one aspect of patient safety. Risk perception, as a patient safety dimension, comes into play through personalized self-care. As a result, tailored health communication, that is, any combination of information and behavior change strategies, intended to reach one specific person based on information unique to that person, and derived from an individual assessment, is essential.