Empira Falls Series: Introduction to Root Cause Analysis

Course overview

This course is part one of a four-part series of the Empira Falls Module. Empira is a consortium of Aging Service providers in Minnesota who created a successful falls program in the nursing home setting based on Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and evidence-based research. This course provides all staff in nursing homes with the key concepts, methodology, and tools of RCA to assist in determining causation of problems, conditions, and situations. RCA is a structured method of problem-solving utilized to find out what happened and why it happened, and to determine what can be done to prevent it from happening again. While it is frequently used when something goes wrong, RCA can also be used when something goes right, to ensure that it happens again. Focusing performance improvement operations at root causes is more effective than merely treating the symptoms of problems.