Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-03T11:23:06.723Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 6 - Cause Analysis

from Section 2 - Quality Improvement Tools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2023

Sally E. Rampersad
Affiliation:
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
Cindy B. Katz
Affiliation:
Seattle Children’s Hospital, Washington
Get access

Summary

We all make errors every day. In healthcare, the errors we make can harm our patients. When such an event happens, the institution owes it not only to the patient but also to the staff involved in an event, as well as to future patients who may be similarly harmed, to learn from the event and to prevent similar events from happening again. There are various types of Cause Analysis, or tools used to analyze the causes of certain events. Usually such tools are used to study an undesired outcome, and in healthcare, these are often used to study adverse events. This chapter will describe the process of performing a Root Cause Analysis for serious events, as well as touch upon the concepts of Apparent Cause Analysis for less serious events and Common Cause Analysis to look for themes across events. Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA), related to Cause Analysis, is described separately in Chapter 10.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA National Center for Patient Safety, Glossary of Patient Safety Terms; 2015. Available at www.patientsafety.va.gov/professionals/publications/glossary.asp (Accessed 5/6/21).Google Scholar
The National Quality Forum. Serious Reportable Events; 2009. Available at www.qualityforum.org/Topics/SREs/Serious_Reportable_Events.aspx (Accessed 9/13/2020).Google Scholar
The Joint Commission. Patient Safety Topics, Sentinel Event. The RCA2: Improving Root Cause Analyses and Actions to Prevent Harm; 2015. Available at www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/resources/patient-safety-topics/sentinel-event/rca_framework_101017.pdf?db=web&hash=B2B439317A20C3D1982F9FBB94E1724B (Accessed 9/13/2020).Google Scholar
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Patient Safety Primer, Root Cause Analysis; 2019. Available at https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/10/root-cause-analysis (Accessed 9/13/2020).Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. VA National Center for Patient Safety, Root Cause Analysis; 2018. Available at www.patientsafety.va.gov/professionals/onthejob/rca.asp (Accessed 9/13/2020).Google Scholar
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. Ask “Why” Five Times to Get to the Root Cause; 2020. Available at www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/ImprovementStories/AskWhyFiveTimestoGettotheRootCause.aspx/ (Accessed 9/13/2020).Google Scholar
Institute for Healthcare Improvement. RCA2: Improving Root Cause Analyses and Actions to Prevent Harm; 2016. Available at www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/Tools/RCA2-Improving-Root-Cause-Analyses-and-Actions-to-Prevent-Harm.aspx (Accessed 7/10/2022).Google Scholar
Bogue, TL and Bogue, RL. Unbundling the bundles: Using apparent and systemic cause analysis to prevent health care-associated infection in pediatric intensive care units. Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America. 2017;29(2):217231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mallett, R, Conroy, M, Saslaw, LZ, et al. Preventing wrong site, procedure, and patient events using a common cause analysis. American Journal of Medical Quality. 2012;27:2129.Google Scholar
Browne, AM, Mullen, R, Teets, J, et al. Common cause analysis: Focus on institutional change. Advances in Patient Safety: New Directions and Alternative Approaches (Vol. 1: Assessment).Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
Clapper, C, Crea, K. Common Cause Analysis. Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare; 2010. Available at www.psqh.com/analysis/common-cause-analysis/ (Accessed 9/13/2020).Google Scholar
Neily, J, et al. Using aggregate root cause analysis to improve patient safety. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety. 2003;29(8):434439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Cause Analysis
  • Edited by Sally E. Rampersad, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Cindy B. Katz, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Washington
  • Book: Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108125758.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Cause Analysis
  • Edited by Sally E. Rampersad, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Cindy B. Katz, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Washington
  • Book: Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108125758.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Cause Analysis
  • Edited by Sally E. Rampersad, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Cindy B. Katz, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Washington
  • Book: Patient Safety and Quality Improvement in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine
  • Online publication: 27 July 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108125758.006
Available formats
×