Western Governors University
Author Note Organizational Systems and Quality Leadership (RTT1)
A Root Cause Analysis
Healthcare facilities that are accredited by Joint Commission are required after a sentinel event to conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). A root cause analysis is conducted to determine the cause or factors that contributed to the sentinel event. A few things must be asked in the RCA such as who, what, where, why and how in order to identify the cause. After the cause of the sentinel event is determined and a corrective action plan has been put in place a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) could be conducted to reduce the likelihood that it should happen again.
The scenario …show more content…
B) was brought into the emergency room for pain to left leg and left hip. The injury occurred when the patient had a fall due to him losing his balance after tripping over his dog. The hospital is a 60 bed rural hospital located in Mr. B’s hometown. Mr. B was brought in by his son and neighbor. Upon triage Mr. B was complaining of pain 10/10 on the numerical pain scale and his vitals were found to be stable. Mr. B has a history of impaired glucose tolerance, prostate cancer, and chronic pain which he is on oxycodone. The Patient states he had no known allergies or previous falls. Upon the nursing assessment Nurse J. has noticed that the patient has limited range in motion, his left leg has swelling and appears shortened in comparison to the right. Nurse J. has informed the ED physician which he came to his bedside for …show more content…
Step Four: The Team should list the failure modes and causes. In each process all failure modes should be listed, and then for each failure mode a list of possible causes should be listed as well. In this scenario we will use this as an example
Preparing medication
Wrong medication prepared
Wrong dose prepared
5. Step Five: A Risk Priority Number (RPN) will be assigned to each failure mode for the likelihood of occurrence, for the likelihood of detection, and for the severity. This step is also known as the three steps FMEA. The RPN is a numerical rating. For this scenario here is an example
Likelihood of Occurrence: This will measure the likelihood a failure mode is to occur. The score range will be 1-10 with 1 meaning it is very unlikely to occur and 10 meaning very likely to occur.
Example- Wrong medication prepared = 5
Likelihood of Detection: This will measure the likelihood a failure mode is to be detected if it should occur. The score range will be 1-10 with 1 meaning it is very likely to be detected and 10 meaning very unlikely to be detected.
Example- Wrong medication prepared = 6
Severity of occurrence: This will measure the severity of the failure mode should it occur. The score range will be 1-10 with 1 meaning no effect and 10 will be death should a failure mode occur.
Example- Wrong medication prepared=