What is 8D analysis? It is a problem solving method created by U.S. Department of Defense in 80′. The method itself was used by Ford and others automotive companies. It is also used by medical branch, lean healthcare/ lean hospitals.
Analysis is based on 8 easy steps, that lead you to root cause and later to preventive actions. As lean healthcare heads towards improving clinical processes, it’s not only good for understanding problem but also for finding fast solutions and above all corrective actions that REMOVE cause of the problem.
Below you can see description of each step you can follow to:
1D – TEAM
- Establish the team, which will resolve the problem (it could be nurse, cleaner, head of nurse, technician)
- Team should be multidisciplinary, not big for example: 2 to 5 person
2D – PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
- Describe the problem which occured. If you have good description, you will find good solution.
- WHAT is the problem, WHEN does it occure, WHO find it out? Does it concerns 1 patient or all ward?
- You can visualize problem: photos, pictures, movie, how it is, how it should be,
3D – CONTAINMENT ACTIONS
- Containment actions! If you can correct something, DO IT NOW!
- Inform your superior about problem, or medical staff which is involved in this process
- If you note that for example nurse gives patient incorrect drug, SAY IT, consult it with physician now
4D – ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS
- Find ROOT CAUSE of the problem
- WHAT or WHO made mistake ?
- Answer the questions, for example: Were the procedures followed? Is the medical staff competent, qualified? Is the medications are identified, correctly described?
5D – CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
- Implement CORRECTIVE action, which eliminate root cause of nonconformity
- Determine appropriate ACTIONS, RESPONSIBLE persons, DEADLINE
- It is good, when deadline is always the same length for example: 1 week.
6D – CHECK EFFICIENCY OF CORRECTIVE ACTIONS
- Validate CORRECTIVE ACTIONS. Did it remove cause of problem?
- Is the problem not recurring?
7D – PREVENTIVE ACTIONS
- Implement PREVENTIVE ACTIONS, which will eliminate POTENTIAL root causes of problem
- Check if the problem doesn’t occure in similar processes or actions (analogical)
8D – FINISH ANALYSIS
- Finish problem analysis
- Thank team for commitment in problem solving
You can use also 5WHY method to deeply understand the problem and find root cause.