Uncovering the Root Causes: A Systemic Approach to Problem-Solving in Healthcare

Abstract

Root Cause and System Failure Analysis Main Features in the Process of RCA According to Peerally et al. (2017), root cause analysis is an approach that helps to identify the most fundamental reason why a problem occurs. There are many reasons why problems/errors occur, especially in health-related matters leading the patient to experience worsened conditions and death in severe cases. The need to understand whether the problem resulted from a medical practitioner’s negligence or was out of their control calls for the application of RCA to understand the root cause of such issues and identify the most appropriate solution to best address them. For this reason, focus on system causes rather than blame as a central feature that characterizes the RCA process. Focusing on system causes than blame is a great feature that enables the RCA process to analyze the problem chronologically from the past to understand how and why it became the only potential outcome (Karkhanis & Thompson, 2020). Paying particular attention to system failure enables the process to analyze the root cause of the problem from all relevant parties and tools involved in the process of problem generation. System cause focus aims to analyze and understand all circumstances that led a reasonable person to make reasonable decisions that lead to an undesirable outcome. It is evident that any undesirable outcome has an adverse effect on the victim, which in the case of a patient might be a deteriorated condition or death in severe cases. While many people, whether in the medical field, society or family/relatives, may attribute negligence to the occurrence of any health-related problem, the RCA process allows for proper analysis of the problem from a different perception with the inclusion of different members to run the process under strict supervision. It is the inclusion of the patient, which in one way or another, can enhance understanding of the most logical reason that led to the problem paving the way for identification of the most viable solution to address it and prevent re-occurrence in the future. Another feature of RCA is its focus on potential remedy generation (Zimmerman & Amori, 2007). One can argue that the RCA process works wonders in analyzing the root cause of a problem. For this reason, after such discoveries, the process starts analyzing the best remedy to the noted problem, which enhances the process of fixing the noted problem. Patients may have experienced death out of system failure within a medical facility. Assuming that the nurses attending a child delivery case are delayed leading the infant to die in the woman’s stomach or, in severe cases, death of the two, the RCA system acknowledges the cause of such a problem. It gives directives on how to fix it. For instance, in such a case, the system may suggest compensation from the medical facility,...