CHL Patient Safety and Risk Management 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary purpose of a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in healthcare?
- To discipline staff involved in errors
- To identify underlying causes of adverse events and prevent recurrence (Correct answer)
- To satisfy accreditation requirements only
- To document incidents for legal purposes
Correct answer: To identify underlying causes of adverse events and prevent recurrence
RCA focuses on systemic factors that contributed to an adverse event rather than individual blame, with the goal of preventing future occurrences.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes a 'near miss' in patient safety terminology?
- An event that resulted in minor patient harm
- An error that was caught before reaching the patient (Correct answer)
- A sentinel event with serious outcomes
- A medication error that caused hospitalization
Correct answer: An error that was caught before reaching the patient
A near miss is an unplanned event that did not reach the patient and therefore caused no harm, but had the potential to do so.
Question 3: The National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) are established and updated annually by which organization?
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- American Hospital Association (AHA)
- The Joint Commission (Correct answer)
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Correct answer: The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission publishes and updates National Patient Safety Goals annually to help accredited organizations address specific areas of concern in patient safety.
Question 4: Which risk management strategy involves transferring potential financial losses to another party, most commonly through insurance?
- Risk avoidance
- Risk reduction
- Risk transfer (Correct answer)
- Risk retention
Correct answer: Risk transfer
Risk transfer shifts the financial burden of a potential loss to another party, most commonly through the purchase of insurance policies.
Question 5: What does the acronym FMEA stand for in healthcare risk management?
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (Correct answer)
- Financial Management and Efficiency Assessment
- Federal Medication Error Audit
- Functional Medical Event Analysis
Correct answer: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
FMEA is a proactive risk assessment tool used to identify potential failure modes in processes before they occur and cause patient harm.
Question 6: A healthcare leader notices an increase in patient falls. The FIRST step in addressing this issue should be:
- Implement a fall prevention protocol immediately
- Discipline the nursing staff responsible
- Analyze data to identify patterns and contributing factors (Correct answer)
- Purchase additional bed alarms for all units
Correct answer: Analyze data to identify patterns and contributing factors
Analyzing data to identify patterns and root causes should precede any intervention to ensure the solution addresses the actual contributing factors.
CHL Patient Safety and Risk Management 1
What is the primary purpose of a Root Cause Analysis (RCA) in healthcare?