Potential risk assessment: from theory to practice in Health Surveillance

Introduction: The great challenge of health control is to evaluate the potential risk of its multiple objects of action, using the results to select the best strategies, a task difficult to be operationalized in the daily routine of the Sanitary Surveillance (Visa). Objective: To present the operationalization of the Model of Potential Risk Assessment (MARP) in health services in the state of Santa Catarina (SC), in order to support reflections about the applicability of this method. Method: Descriptive study of holistic multiple cases. The unit of analysis was the sanitary control of health services carried out by the Visa of SC, in Greater Florianopolis, and 15 (42.9%) of the 35 hospitals in this region. The risk assessment strategy was MARP with application of Objective Inspection Scripts, in the Surgical Center (SC), Sterilized Material Center (SMC) and Intensive Care Unit (ICU), in the years 2017 to 2019. Results: The ICU presented the highest percentages of acceptable risk and the lowest percentages of unacceptable risk, while the CME presented the lowest acceptable risk percentages and the highest percentages of unacceptable risk. The percentages of acceptable potential risk are higher in the CC of large hospitals, in the ICU of medium-sized hospitals and absent in the CME and CC of small hospitals. Conclusions: MARP favors the management of risks in Visa and the direction of its health control actions. It has limitations, when requiring an information system and needs understanding of the results of the data, considering that risk and benefit are challenging concepts and should be analyzed in a defined context.