To err is system: a comparison of methodologies for the investigation of adverse outcomes in healthcare.
Investigating adverse events and identifying contributing factors is essential to organizational learning and improving patient safety. The authors of this article use three different methodologies – root cause analysis (RCA), human factors analysis classification system (HFACS), and AcciMap (which places emphasis on multiple levels of decision making important to risk management) – to analyze one near miss incident and illustrate how different methodologies generate different systems-level recommendations.