The Value of Root Cause Analysis

Root Cause Analysis is a method to reveal the relationship between the problem/incident and the reasons caused such event. In root cause analysis, we investigate the problems at their roots in order to discover the underlying cause. 

A deep root-cause analysis can make the difference between an effective operational process development or occurring the same problem all over again. When you end up having to address a problem again and again, you will most likely need longer time and bigger budget. 

When new strategies or problems are communicated down the chain of command, managers and executives usually try to fix the problem without a true evaluation of whether (or not) the problem is happening on the surface or if it's deeper playing as a root cause. Indeed, most of the projects are led at surface problems, instead of root cause of the issue. Hence, the process improvement efforts frequently fail, costing the organization money, quality, and energy. 

Recognizing the foundation of a certain issue, unfortunately, is not the most favored strategy with senior leaders, as they often are after quick fix and fast result. However, root-cause analysis is vital to ascertaining regardless of if a targeted issue needs a simple Band-Aid or if it needs serious surgery.

The key advantages of root cause analysis are:

• Team alignment
• Prioritization
• Resource efficiency
• Discovering value
• Saving time
• Focus

How Can You Learn More?

Check out the comprehensive list of training courses offered by TONEX HERE, and discover which one is best for you and your organization. 

Healthcare Root Cause Analysis

As much s root cause analysis is critical and useful in industry, it has demonstrated great value in healthcare system. Serious matter of hospitals, clinics, and physicians being sued has brought them to this conclusion that an effective root cause analysis, along with effective corrective and preventive action plans should be in order. To that end, the healthcare system adopted root cause analysis process to investigate what goes wrong at the roots to eliminate them permanently and stop them from happening again in future. 

One major difference between the root cause analysis in healthcare with that in industry is the weight of human error. While in industry, the possibility of machineries failing is high, in healthcare the human errors are significant. Therefore, effective communication and scheduling (both of which contribute to human errors) are essential. To that end, it is vital to include several checking point during the corrective and preventive actions plan. 

Following are the main elements influence the root cause analysis effectiveness:

• Patient characteristics
• The nature and steps of task 
• Staffing
• Team elements
• Workplace environment
• Organizational strategies and management style
• Institutional structure

Learn more about how root cause analysis is applied in healthcare system, check out Root Cause Analysis Training For Healthcare Professionals by TONEX. 

Benefits of Root Cause Analysis

Some people don't realize how crucial it is to have a root cause analysis action plan in place. When I say crucial, I mean it, and here is my reasoning:

When you don't treat problems deeply at the roots, you are leaving the window open to the future incidents and failures. This would invite lots of issues in regards to quality, safety, and reliability along with  the time, energy, and money your organization would have to waste to re-repeair the issues already had been taken care of in the past. Why? Because you thought you took care of them, while you only removed the symptoms rather than the underlying cause(s) of the problem. 

The earlier you identify the real problem and eliminate it, the less expensive the repair process would be. On top of the price is the reputation you put in danger for having a poor quality products/services. Moreover, in some cases, you may endanger your employees' safety by ignoring a problem. 

It's true that it may take longer and cost more to look for the underlying problems, come up with solutions to eliminate them, and implement preventive action plans to inhibit them from happening in the future. But it's worth it. Because if you do it right once, there won't be a second time (not at least for the similar problem there won't). In contrary, if you don't perform an effective root cause analysis investigation, you have to fix one problem over and over which accomplish to higher cost eventually. 

So, the point I am trying to make here is when a tooth is corroded at the root, you don't polish it on the surface, you will have a root canal, right? Do the same for all other problems in your life, from the simplest routine daily ones to the most complex ones happening in your business. Here is a link to a proper, comprehensive training to learn more about this process.