Root Cause Analysis in Healthcare

Root Cause Analysis is essential to understanding the underlying causes of adverse events that sometimes occur in healthcare settings. These adverse events can include issues related to patient safety, patient satisfaction, treatment costs, population health or healthcare inequity. A thorough analysis of the root causes of these incidents enables practitioners to look beyond the surface and delve into the deeper issues that are driving less than optimal outcomes. 

Ultimately the goal of a Root Cause Analysis is not to fix an immediate problem, but to understand the underlying cause of the problem to reduce or prevent its occurrence in the future. 

Healthcare professionals are tasked with promoting a culture of safety and accountability without fear of reprisal. Learning from situations and implementing the appropriate changes fosters the necessary environment of openness and transparency that is the cornerstone of delivering high-quality care.

Implemented correctly, Root Cause Analysis is a key step towards creating a safer and more effective healthcare environment.  

With each incident analyzed and addressed, healthcare providers can take concrete steps towards fulfilling their commitment to excellence in patient care. Let’s take a deeper dive into how exactly we can perform a Root Cause Analysis.

Step One – Define the Problem

The famous statistician, John Tukey once said, “It’s better to solve the right problem approximately than to solve the wrong problem exactly.” Because it is in our nature to want to fix problems as soon as possible, we tend to sometimes go straight to a perceived solution rather than taking a step back to understand the problem. When we do this, we tend to rely heavily on our own experiences and inherent biases rather than gathering data from more sources than your personal sample size of one. Don’t feel bad–we all do it!