NPSF issues root cause analysis guidelines for health care organizations

The National Patient Safety Foundation yesterday issued guidelines to help health care organizations improve root cause analysis to investigate and prevent medical errors. Recommendations include using a risk-based approach to prioritize safety events, hazards and vulnerabilities; including subject matter experts and staff who are naïve to the subject or area under review on the analysis team, as well as a leader with strong knowledge of safety science and a patient representative; and using interviewing techniques, flow diagramming and other tools to facilitate the investigation and develop the strongest appropriate actions. The authors will discuss the guidelines during a free webcast July 15. For more information or to register, click here.