This paper is the foundation for the next paper, the interventions and evaluation paper. (For the intervention/evaluation paper, you will plan appropriate interventions based on your root cause analysis and the literature as well as an evaluation to see if your intervention is effective.)
Select a prevalent condition or prevention and write a formal paper in APA format addressing these components. (Tip- It helps you address the components and keep the paper organized if you use the title of each of these components as section headers in your paper.)
1. Overview: the Population and the Problem. Identify the population AND SETTING (such as an urban low income community clinic, a CHF clinic, members with diabetes in a managed care plan, a hospital catchment area, a city, a tribe, etc. Describe the population, its resources, strengths and challenges. Include clinical and the communication resources and challenges, such as hard of hearing, low health literacy, perceived immortality, cultural taboos, etc. State your PROBLEM STATEMENT- For example, the immunization rate among patients at the XYZ Center needs to be higher to ensure protection from infectious disease. Or Diabetes control is low among patients of ABC Managed Care Plan.
2. Epidemiology, Demography, and Impact of the Problem, including disease prevalence (national, state, and local statistics as available). Tell us how you know it is a problem, including data (remember to use references). Describe the findings in your own words, comparing the findings in national and state data. Identify demographic groups in the catchment area of the hospital, health plan, or clinical practice. Determine if disparities exist. What populations might be in the region that are not identified in the available data? How would you assess this group?
3. Clinical Quality Measures. Select clinical quality measures, such as the PQRI or NCQA HEDIS quality measures, that assess care related to the problem and outcomes. For example, asthma measures may include asthma-related ED visits, admissions and readmission and asthma medication measures.
4. Root Cause Analysis. Identify the root causes of the problem in your SETTING. Look at patient, provider, and system factors. You can do this in fishbone format (although that can be clumsy), paragraphs, or outline format, but be sure to have a paragraph with the RCA overview and conclusions.
5. Possible Actions. Based on your root cause analysis, identify factors that can be addressed. In your next paper, you will develop interventions to address those factors. Note: It is never just “patient education”.
6. Summary. Summarize your topic and root causes briefly. The summary should summarize, not just be a message of the importance of the topic. Do not leave off the summary.