1. What is the difference between quality improvement and quality assurance in health care? - Quality improvement is a continuous process of measuring and enhancing the performance of health care services, processes, and outcomes, based on the needs and expectations of patients and other stakeholders. Quality assurance is a systematic process of ensuring that health care services meet predefined standards of quality, safety, and effectiveness, through monitoring, evaluation, and feedback mechanisms. - Reference: [Risk Management and Quality Improvement | Bureau of Primary Health Care](https://bphc.hrsa.gov/technical-assistance/clinical-quality-improvement/risk-management-qualityimprovement) 2. What are some of the characteristics of high reliability organizations (HROs) and how can they be applied to health care settings? - HROs are organizations that operate in complex and hazardous environments, yet achieve very low rates of errors and accidents. Some of the characteristics of HROs are: a culture of safety that encourages reporting and learning from errors; a system-wide approach to identify and mitigate risks; a proactive risk management that anticipates and prevents potential failures; a resilient response to unexpected events that minimizes harm and restores normal operations; and a continuous improvement that seeks feedback and innovation. - Reference: [Integrating Quality, Safety and Risk Management in Healthcare - HMA](https://www.hospitalmanagementasia.com/patient-safety/integrating-quality-safety-and-riskmanagement-in-healthcare/) 3. What are some of the tools and methods that can be used to conduct root cause analysis (RCA) for patient safety incidents in health care? - RCA is a structured process of identifying the underlying causes of adverse events or near misses in health care, and developing corrective actions to prevent recurrence. Some of the tools and methods that can be used for RCA are: fishbone diagram, which organizes possible causes into categories; 5 whys, which asks successive questions to drill down to the root cause; fault tree analysis, which maps out the logical relationships between failures and events; Pareto chart, which prioritizes the most frequent or significant causes; and action plan, which specifies the actions, responsibilities, timelines, and measures for improvement. - Reference: [The Link between Risk Management, Patient Safety, and Quality ... - HIROC](https://www.hiroc.com/resources/risk-notes/link-between-risk-management-patient-safety-andquality-improvement)