Harvesting Root Solutions
What do you get when you combine root cause analysis (RCA) and conscious awareness when focusing on the patient experience? Answer: A big root solution apparent to all.
Recently, I facilitated RCA training where everyone just wanted to learn how to use process improvement tools to get better clinical outcomes. As the team worked through an issue, the light bulb turned on as we explored conscious awareness during team-patient interactions.
The RCA process paired with conscious awareness provided the space for the team to step out of their current paradigm and into the patient’s shoes.
The team was able to get a sense of how patients feel when walking through the front door for the first time. This first interaction was sending the wrong message regarding compassion, safety and quality of care. The team could feel the discomfort of a very critical step in the patient experience by asking:
- What happened?
- How did that happen?
- Why did that happen?
- What can be done to prevent it from happening again?
Having conscious awareness of how we treat people during care can help patients take accountability for their wellness
In my opinion, if the team sends a message to patients that they are a bother, a complainer, or inconvenience they may not return. On the other hand, the patient may show up again and no longer feel safe to speak up about their health concerns. Often unpleasant experiences cause patients to become disengaged where they may not speak about medications having adverse side effects or when their condition is getting worse.
The RCA process
The RCA process should involve conscious awareness when answering following questions:
- Why does that happen?
- And why does that happen?
- And what causes that?
- And why does that happen?
- And what causes that?
- And why might that be wrong?
- Why didn’t we notice that before?
Adding conscious awareness to the RCA process can enhance the patient experience, improve quality of care and create an environment of safety. Practicing conscious awareness during patient interactions can create sustainable root solutions across the organization and take the provider-staff-patient relationship to a new level.
