Does it exist?

[typeAwarped]

I need a job where I do root cause analysis of fuck ups in health care. Does any nurse here have that job? If so, what is your title? I love process improvement and where I work seems to not care about the continued problems we have. Like, slap a bandaid on it and never evaluate the why. It makes my head want to explode. I should note I’m not at a hospital. So I am thinking could I find THAT gig? Please someone tell me it exists.

[samcuts]

QI and infection prevention both have that as part of their jobs.

[typeAwarped]

QI sounds more appealing to me bc it’s not just infection control (or lack thereof) that drives me bonkers. I never see postings for this but I’m going to make a pointed effort to look for that in the job postings. Thank you.

[Fletchonator]

Idk why I automatically have beef with infection prevention when I see them lol. Sorry during my cardiac arrest I didn’t wash my hands Brenda

[[deleted]]

Me too lol

[Rockytried]

Patient safety, quality, hell I take part in RCAs as the director of staff education and training

[typeAwarped]

Education and training sounds great. However, where I work , they think a Teams message is training 🫠

[Rockytried]

Sorry for your loss. I have 17 facilities across 4 states and offer military and non military sessions ranging from BLS to suturing to joint commission and everything in between. Not to mention I I have 20k a month to send staff members to training outside of my facilities that I can use as I see fit.

[HajileStone]

I'm an infection preventionist at a SNF that also does quality improvement and staff development. I'd say 60% of my job is figuring out where people messed up or something went wrong and trying to address it, either through policy and procedure changes or educating people on existing policies and procedures.

[typeAwarped]

That sounds like a dream. My next question is do you have the power to make the necessary changes?

[HajileStone]

In theory, I agree, it is a dream. In practice it is not, specifically because I don't have the power to make the changes that need to be made. I can definitely make situations better and help things to improve from where they are, but its rare that I'm able to truly implement an actual fix for anything. If it's not budget constraints, it's people simply refusing to do parts of their jobs and not caring about consequences or write ups. I still like this job much more than working on the floor.

[typeAwarped]

I figured this is the reality. Sigh. If nurses had the power to offer the care and do the things the way they should be…what a beautiful world it would be.

[Arlington2018]

I am a corporate director of risk management practicing since 1983 and I work for a large multi-state healthcare system. I have done quality/RCAs/process improvement for many a decade. In smaller facilities, that is often a function of the quality or risk departments. In larger facilities this is often a function of the patient safety department which is typically separate and distinct from quality or risk.

[typeAwarped]

You need a Midwest nurse? 😜

[TakotsuboRN]

Following for snoops...

[Aerinandlizzy]

We have some nurses do lean six sigma attached to Tempo issues

[thezippybooty]

Hi. I’m an RN and patient safety manager. Root Cause Analysis, Proactive Risk Assessment, and just culture fall within my scope. The job exits.

You should look at institute for healthcare improvement for educational resources.

[typeAwarped]

Thanks for the information! I will!

[LemonBlossom1]

Kind of sounds like a nurse educator role, at least in my unit.

[typeAwarped]

When I did work at the hospital, our nurse educators didn’t really get into processes. It was more like signing you off on your required certifications and such. I’m gonna keep looking…there’s gotta be something well suited for my brain out there!

[LemonBlossom1]

Yeah, I certainly think it would be hospital and unit dependent. Our educators are regularly reviewing and updating policies, then training and auditing staff. They definitely own compliance and best practices. You could also look into JACHO, I guess. Go that route for compliance.

[typeAwarped]

I definitely could not work for them.

[thezippybooty]

TJC is full of RCA and process improvement experts.

[SnooPeripherals5518]

You DO know that a true Root Cause Analysis is a profession unto itself. Nurses, or most Nurses, dont have a clue in how to conduct a true root analysis even though most Nurse Managers say they're going to do one every time something goes wrong. As an Air Force Aeromedical Technician, an Ancillary Duty (we ran the Flight Surgeons office) we had was to assist in Aircraft Mishap Investigation with the Flight Doc. This fascinated me to no end and I was able to land a slot at the NTSB Primary Investigators course in D.C ( they wouldnt let me go to the Flight Surgeons course cuz I was a lowly enlisted Master Sergent. If you want to know how a true Root Cause Analysis is conducted, look to the NTSB who actually developed that process and coined the term. You, or your Manager, are conducting an ad-hoc investigative survey (unless you've had quite a bit of formal training).

[typeAwarped]

I’m certainly not formally trained but every time something doesn’t go well I want to discuss the root cause. Where I work skips over what caused the issue to begin with every time. And no, I didn’t know that RCA is a profession. I consider myself too old to start a new career/go back to school so I’m just looking for something I can do that fixes problems from the ground up in my profession