A nurse is assisting with the delivery of twins

Question

The first infant is placed on the scale to be weighed. The physician requests an instrument stat. The nurse turns to hand the instrument to the physician, and the infant falls off the scale. When evaluating the incident, the nurse and her manager list contributory factors such as the need for two nurses when multiple births are known, and the location of the scale so far from the delivery field. These nurses are performing a(n):
a. standardization of care.
b. root cause analysis.
c. process variation.
d. analysis of a deployment flowchart.

Answer 1

ANS: B
Correct: A root cause analysis is a process by which factors that underlie variation in performance, including the occurrence or possible occurrence of a sentinel event, are identified. The purpose of root cause analysis is to identify improvements that can be implemented to prevent future occurrences.
Incorrect:
a. Standardization of care is the process of developing and adhering to best known methods and repeating key tasks in the same way, thereby creating exceptional service with maximum efficiency.
c. Process variation looks at the steps in a process to determine how variation affects each step but does not identify causal events.
d. A deployment flowchart analysis looks at the steps of a process and determines which department is responsible for each step, but it does not identify causal events.