Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

Category: science

A structured investigation method used to identify the underlying causes of a medical error or near-miss incident.

RCA asks "why" five times to drill down beyond superficial human error. It often reveals systemic faults, such as confusing medication label layouts, under-staffed night shifts, or broken communication loops between departments, rather than simply blaming the individual nurse or technician.

Common Examples

• The quality board led a formal root cause analysis after the medication error, revealing a flawed barcode-scanning interface in the pharmacy.
• Executing a root cause analysis requires a diverse team representing nursing, pharmacy, and admin to ensure all system perspectives are reviewed.