GRIST:
- provides a structured guide to all relevant risks and their contributing factors;
- collects comprehensive and precise risk data;
- answers can be easily analysed;
- free-text notes can be attached to any answers to provide additional "narrative" information;
- is context dependent so you only need to record those parts that are relevant to the particular assessment;
- supports clinical risk evaluations without replacing them;
- clinical judgements remain with the assessor;
- judgements are supported by a full explanation of the data leading to them;
- good risk assessment practice can be demonstrated by the assessor;
- the clear audit trail is helpful for official enquiries;
- stores assessments online;
- saves time with repeat assessments by carrying across data that have not changed;
- provides clear and focused patient reports that:
- are information profiles showing how risk data is informing clinical judgements;
- are based on experts' own structuring of risk knowledge;
- provide a hierarchical indexing of risk data for easy access and sharing;
- identify where patient care is required;
- show where interventions relate to risk assessments;
- records assessments over time to show how risk is changing;
- makes it easy to communicate risks across the care pathway:
- assessments are always accessible online;
- answers are clearly indexed by the structured risk reports;
- data is easy to link and share with other patient information systems;
- helps improve understanding about risks and the patient data causing them;
- supports shared risk assessments:
- service users can complete their own assessments;
- relationships between risk judgements and the underlying data are fully visible;
- differences in perspectives and judgements are easily identified;
- discussion can focus on the most important areas;
- clinical consultations are more effective and shorter;
- supports new or less experienced assessors:
- shows which factors contribute to risk;
- gives suggestions for how to ask difficult questions;
- shows which data to collect in different services;
- suggests when referrals are appropriate.