NAHQ CPHQ Dumps - Pass the Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality Exam in 2026

The culture of safety survey data provides insights into the perceptions of perioperative staff regarding patient safety practices, scored on a scale (typically 1 to 5, where 5 is the highest). The scores are as follows: hospital management's prioritization of safety (4), reporting mistakes without fear (4.83), discussing error prevention (4.67), and interdepartmental information exchange (4.24). The lowest score is 4 for the item ''The actions of hospital management show that patient safety is a top priority,'' indicating a relative weakness in visible leadership commitment to safety, which is a critical component of a strong safety culture.

According to NAHQ CPHQ study materials, a key principle of a culture of safety is the visible commitment of leadership to patient safety, as it sets the tone for the organization and influences staff behavior. The score of 4 suggests that while staff perceive some prioritization, there is room for improvement in how management demonstrates this commitment. Establishing a process for executive walk-arounds in the perioperative departments (B) directly addresses this gap by increasing leadership visibility, fostering open communication, and demonstrating that patient safety is a priority. Walk-arounds allow leaders to engage with staff, observe processes, and address safety concerns in real-time, which can improve perceptions of leadership commitment.

Implementing a leadership training series on Just Culture principles (A) is relevant for the high score of 4.83 in reporting without fear, but this area is already strong, and the survey does not indicate a punitive culture needing immediate focus. Developing team-based communication training (C) could address the score of 4.24 for interdepartmental information exchange, but this is not the lowest-scoring item, and communication issues are secondary to leadership visibility in this context. Educating staff on incident reporting (D) is unnecessary given the high score of 4.83 for reporting without fear, indicating staff are already comfortable with reporting. NAHQ emphasizes addressing the weakest areas of a safety culture first, making leadership visibility the priority here, thus option B is the recommended action.

Root Cause Analysis (RCA) is a method used to identify the underlying causes of adverse events in healthcare settings. The primary goal of RCA is not to assign blame but to understand the fundamental issues that led to the event and to develop strategies to prevent future occurrences.

In the scenario provided, the risk manager's initiation of an RCA aims to:

Analyze the sequence of events leading to the incident.

Identify system failures or process deficiencies.

Engage stakeholders in understanding contributing factors.

Develop and implement corrective actions to mitigate the risk of similar incidents in the future.

While interviewing staff may be part of the RCA process, and disciplinary actions or patient bans might be considered separately, the core objective of RCA is to enhance system safety through preventive measures.

Sentinel events usually result from process failures---breakdowns or variations in how care is delivered, such as communication failures, procedural lapses, or system errors (The Joint Commission, Sentinel Event Policy, 2024; AHRQ, Patient Safety and Quality, 2023).

While staffing and competence impact care, process issues are more commonly root causes.

Structure refers to physical or organizational infrastructure, less commonly the direct cause.

The Joint Commission, Sentinel Event Policy, 2024

AHRQ, Patient Safety and Quality, 2023

Secondary prevention in healthcare is primarily intended to focus on the early detection and treatment of disease12.This level of prevention is about detecting and treating disease early, often before symptoms are present, thus minimizing serious consequences2.It includes measures taken during an interaction between an individual patient and a clinician1.Examples of secondary prevention include screening programs, such as mammography to detect breast cancer and dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to detect osteoporosis2. Therefore, the answer is option C: focus on early detection and treatment of disease.