Human Factors Analysis Classification System Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Human Factors Analysis Classification System Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Besides root cause analysis, other methods that can be used to analyze and classify medical errors include the Human Factors Analysis Classification System (HFACS) and the Don’t and Do method. The HFACS is considered a proper alternative to root cause analysis, especially in analyzing human errors in the healthcare environment. The tool helps investigate errors and target training and prevention initiatives. Investigators can easily recognize active and latent failures that led to an error or an accident in the workplace. The HFACS aims to understand the underlying causal factors that lead to an error rather than attribute blame. It describes human errors at four levels of failure: unsafe acts of providers, preconditions for unsafe acts, unsafe supervision, and organizational influences. At every level, cause categories are developed to identify active and latent failures, and at least one failure occurs at each level, causing an adverse event (Widyanti & Reyhannisa, 2020). The Don’t and Do method involves don’t: ignore, deny, or defend; instead, do: report, respond, review, and recover. The method analyzes responses to human errors and the consequences of the nature of the response (McGee, 2020). Reporting is one of the primary means of identifying and classifying human errors. The method requires providers and organizations to avoid ignoring, denying, or defending errors, rather report when they occur, respond appropriately, review causes and impact, and recover from them.(Human Factors Analysis Classification System Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Root cause analysis is an effective method but has limitations that include: (1) lack of standardization and inconsistent reliability, (2) investigators focus on “who” did “what” instead of “why” the error occurred, (3) identified causes are mostly nonspecific to develop effective correction plans, and (4) lack of a standardized nomenclature to enable an analysis of recurring errors (Diller et al., 2015). The HFACS resolves the four deficiencies as it is more specific in identifying human errors at several taxonomic categories. The Don’t and Do method focuses on how people respond to errors rather than error identification. I prefer the HFACS method because it is more comprehensive and specific, and investigators can analyze errors at various taxonomic levels rather than in general.(Human Factors Analysis Classification System Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)