Conclusion: Module 3

As dentistry is a technique sensitive profession and dental professionals routinely perform risky procedures, at times, unintended actions may result in harm to the patients. RCA is an effective tool that can be used by the dental profession to reduce the occurrence of those AEs and promote quality and patient safety in dentistry.

Dental organizations, regardless of size should consistently assess clinical outcomes. If an AE is detected, irrespective of the degree of harm, performing an RCA can be useful for evaluating what, how and why an incident occurred to learn from our errors. Understanding the root causes of an AE can be beneficial to the improvement of quality and patient safety in dentistry.

Based on an RCA, appropriate evidence-based interventions such as evaluating standards of care, improve training, establishing or reevaluating protocols and organizational policies, may be designed and applied to encourage continuous quality improvement in dental organizations.