Exam Questions and CORRECT Answers
What is the JCAHO? - CORRECT ANSWER - Independent, not-for-profit organization
that accredits and certifies over 21,000 healthcare institutions in the United States
(T/F) JCAHO requires healthcare facilities to conduct an RCA in response to recognition of
sentinel events - CORRECT ANSWER - True
What is RCA? - CORRECT ANSWER - A process for identifying the basic or casual
factors that underlie variation in performance, including the occurrence or possible risk of a
sentinel event
What is a sentinel event? - CORRECT ANSWER - Patient safety event (not primarily
related to natural course of the patient's illness or underlying condition) that reaches a patient and
results in death, permanent harm, or severe temporary harm
What is the goal of a RCA? - CORRECT ANSWER - Produce an action plan with
measurable success
What is the root cause? - CORRECT ANSWER - Fundamental reason(s) failure occurs
What is common usage? - CORRECT ANSWER - Cause = effect
What is RCA usage? - CORRECT ANSWER - Cause = potential relationship
What are the benefits of RCA? - CORRECT ANSWER - - Development of new
design/processes
- Improve efficiency and effectiveness
- Improve quality efforts