Janet E Anderson1, Alison J Watt2. 1. Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care, Centre for Applied Resilience in Healthcare, King's College London, James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8WA, UK. 2. Human Factors and Complex Systems, Loughborough Design School, Loughborough University, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Conduct a secondary analysis of root cause analysis (RCA) reports of Never Events to determine whether and how Safety-II/resilient healthcare principles could contribute to improving the quality of investigation reports and therefore preventing future Never Events. DESIGN: Qualitative and quantitative retrospective analysis of RCA reports. SETTING: A large acute healthcare Trust in London. PARTICIPANTS: None. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Quality of RCA reports, robustness of actions proposed. RESULTS: RCA reports had low-to-moderate effectiveness ratings and low resilience ratings. Reports identified many system vulnerabilities that were not addressed in the actions proposed. Using a Safety-II/resilient healthcare lens to examine work-as-done and misalignments between demand and capacity would strengthen analysis of Never Events. CONCLUSION: Safety-II/Resilient Healthcare concepts can increase the quality of RCA reports and focus attention on prospectively strengthening systems. Recommendations for incorporating Safety-II concepts into RCA processes are provided.
OBJECTIVES: Conduct a secondary analysis of root cause analysis (RCA) reports of Never Events to determine whether and how Safety-II/resilient healthcare principles could contribute to improving the quality of investigation reports and therefore preventing future Never Events. DESIGN: Qualitative and quantitative retrospective analysis of RCA reports. SETTING: A large acute healthcare Trust in London. PARTICIPANTS: None. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Quality of RCA reports, robustness of actions proposed. RESULTS: RCA reports had low-to-moderate effectiveness ratings and low resilience ratings. Reports identified many system vulnerabilities that were not addressed in the actions proposed. Using a Safety-II/resilient healthcare lens to examine work-as-done and misalignments between demand and capacity would strengthen analysis of Never Events. CONCLUSION: Safety-II/Resilient Healthcare concepts can increase the quality of RCA reports and focus attention on prospectively strengthening systems. Recommendations for incorporating Safety-II concepts into RCA processes are provided.