Quality Improvement Resources

What: A systematic problem-solving approach to determine factors that caused non-conformance and must be eliminated from a process

Why: Helps to ensure that proposed solutions will in fact prevent recurrence of the problem identified

When: Useful when addressing issues that are chronic, recurring, and/or systemic

How: We can answer this in a single bullet point. There are a number of approaches to conducting  root cause analysis, including

Here's an explanation of the basics from IHI:

The American Society for Quality (ASQ) provides a useful overview and suggests these general guidelines:

• Form a team with members from areas relevant to the issue under review
• Include an individual with related decision making authority whenever possible
• Focus on understanding the problem, possible causes, and effects
• Ensure that team members understand their assigned roles

CMS provides extensive guidance for performing root cause analysis.

This ASQ article provides a framework for tool selection.