Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety / Joint Commission Resources
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Jan 2013
Multicenter StudyA cross-sectional study on the relationship between utilization of root cause analysis and patient safety at 139 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.
Empirical evidence is limited that root cause analysis (RCA), an event analysis tool used in health care to evaluate the systemic factors that lead to adverse events, improves patient safety. A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the relationship between RCA and patient safety. ⋯ Large, high-spending VAMCs conduct more RCAs per year than smaller, low-spending facilities. VAMCs that do more RCAs develop more corrective actions. VAMCs that complete fewer than four RCAs per year have higher rates of postoperative complications. It is unclear if RCAs are associated with a functional patient safety program or directly improve patient safety.