title: Root cause analysis in perinatal care: health care professionals creating safer health care systems.
abstract: Medical error is a leading cause of death in the United States. The root cause analysis (RCA) process provides the framework for analysis of sentinel events and other medical errors. A thorough understanding of this process is a key component in promoting safety within the health care setting. Risk reduction strategies are presented to make this process meaningful and efficient while promoting the ultimate goal of safer health care systems.
authors.affiliation: The Women's Center at University Community Hospital, Tampa, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Boyer
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D017146:Models, Organizational; D018743:Perinatal Care / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013597:Systems Analysis; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014481:United States