Root Cause Analysis In Healthcare

The world of healthcare changes every day. Technology, as we know it evolves and changes the actual care that patients receive and even post care as well. It has been determined that most faults are caused by system failures. When a break in the system has occurred it must then be decided where the,” inefficiencies, ineffective care and preventable errors” to then influence changes within the broken system (Hughes, 2008). Improvements sometimes can begin with measurements and benchmarks which in turn will allow organizations to assess the trouble spots and broken areas within the system. Many times those broken areas within the system will be owned by the humans who operate within these systems. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM)

The RCA is an assessment that provides details after the event has occurred and it outlines the series of steps that was taken that lead up to the event and it identifies the factors that are associated with challenge. The RCA is utilized to describe; “trends and assess the risk that can be used whenever a human error is suspected” (Hughes, 2008). It is believed that when the root of the issue is determined it is easier to repair. Another system they can use to assess the system is Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA). The FMEA method is more an evaluation method or technique that will get rid of the known and possible failure, issues, concerns and errors of the system before they actually happen. This method is known for prevention by foreseeing the errors by estimation of the probability and the penalties. In order for strategic improvement there must strong leadership, good source of financial resources for training purposes and the necessary equipment to empower the healthcare professionals. Educating the stakeholders on how this will benefit the overall organization and gives way to fewer adverse events within the system. They will need to come together to develop a more precise solution to the issues and address them through interdisciplinary communications and cooperation which can put the healthcare culture at risk of safety. In order to move forward everyone needs to feel a part of the change and feel that their concerns where addressed. The patients and their families need to be ensured that every effort possible is made to correct any area of concern. The root cause analysis needs to be made aware of its usage and importance in the process. Behind all of the efforts