3/03/2020

You may be accustomed to using the Five Whys method for root cause analysis. You ask ‘Why’ five times in an effort to discover the root cause of an issue. If this is your go-to method, you may not realize that there is a different tool available or that Five Whys may be ineffective or outdated. After all, manufacturers of calculators at first had a difficult time convincing consumers of the value of a calculator when they were used to a slide rule. Could you imagine if everyone stuck to what they were comfortable with instead of trying something new?

While Five Whys is a frequently taught tool for getting to root cause, many people find it challenging to use in practice:

You might need more or fewer than five why questions to get to root cause, and you might need the answer to whom, when, where, etc.
Another significant criticism is that the results are not reproducible.
Would a coworker or other functional areas ask the same questions as you?
It is also easy to follow the wrong path with your answer to the why questions.
How do you know you went down the right path?
Also, what about the other questions you should be asking, such as when or how?

It is natural to have a lack of confidence in the results. The Five Whys may feel like the best tool, but that is only because you are used to it!

There is a better solution to getting to the root cause in a more reproducible way, and to developing actions and implementing them. It is a solution that uses the available information about the problem rather than relying on educated guesses. The DIGR-ACT® Solution promotes finding gaps in your process and helps you organize your thoughts to get to the right solution.

If you find yourself dissatisfied with your method of finding root cause, or you just want a better way for critically thinking issues, give the interactive, on-demand DIGR-ACT® eLearning demo a try!

DIGR-ACT® is an affordable, on-demand solution that can be purchased as a single license for limited individual use, as a SCORM package for use in your LMS, or can be fully customized to your organization's requirements. After completion of DIGR-ACT®, customizable and scalable in-person training is available to practice and enforce learning objectives based upon your organizations’ training needs.

You may also enjoy our blog Bye Bye to the Five Whys?!

- The Clinical Pathways Team

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