title: Random safety auditing, root cause analysis, failure mode and effects analysis.
abstract: Improving quality and safety in health care is a major concern for health care providers, the general public, and policy makers. Errors and quality issues are leading causes of morbidity and mortality across the health care industry. There is evidence that patients in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are at high risk for serious medical errors. To facilitate compliance with safe practices, many institutions have established quality-assurance monitoring procedures. Three techniques that have been found useful in the health care setting are failure mode and effects analysis, root cause analysis, and random safety auditing. When used together, these techniques are effective tools for system analysis and redesign focused on providing safe delivery of care in the complex NICU system.
authors.affiliation: Pediatrix Medical Group, Cook Children's Medical Center, Department of Neonatology, 801 Seventh Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76104, USA. robert_ursprung@pediatrix.com
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ursprung
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gray
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal / Q000592:standards*; D008485:Medical Audit; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D017751:Safety Management; D013597:Systems Analysis