Risk matrix
| RISK | TO SELF | TO OTHERS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DEFINITION | EXAMPLE | DEFINITION | EXAMPLE | |
| Intended | Effect of the behaviour is deliberate and volitional | Patient jumps in front of a subway train intending to be killed | Material harm to others is deliberate and volitional | Patient stabs family doctor owing to delusional belief that the doctor implanted a monitoring device in the patient’s body |
| Unintended | Effect of patient behaviour on himself or herself is neither foreseen nor desired | Delusional patient stops drinking fluids owing to belief that she is being poisoned | Material harm to others from the patient’s behaviour is neither foreseen nor desired | An intoxicated parent fails to notice his toddler enter the backyard swimming pool |
| Iatrogenic | Adverse consequences of medical intervention are neither foreseen nor desired | An elderly patient prescribed a benzodiazepine falls on her way to the bathroom during the night, suffering a subdural hematoma | Adverse consequences of medical intervention are neither foreseen nor desired | Patient who started taking quetiapine strikes a pedestrian while driving the next morning |