IHP 430 Module One Short Paper Guidelines and Rubric
Overview: In this short paper, you will use a root cause analysis to determine what caused a patient to receive the wrong medication, what should be done about
this, and how this type of error could be prevented in the future.
Prompt: The local hospital had an incident involving the wrong medication administered to a patient. You have been asked to perform a root cause analysis. First,
you need to discover the event that happened, how it happened, and why it happened. Then in your response, address the following elements:
• Recommend key stakeholders to investigate this case. Why should these stakeholders be involved with the investigation?
• Compare the Five Whys of medication administration. How could addressing these questions help identify the root cause of this problem?
• How could medication errors be avoided in the future?
Rubric
Guidelines for Submission: Your paper should be submitted as a one- to two-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman
font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format.
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (80%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Stakeholders Meets or exceeds “Proficient”
criteria and demonstrates indepth knowledge of which
significance of the stakeholders
should be involved in
determining the root cause of
events
Identifies appropriate
stakeholders for determining
the root cause with sound
rationale
Identifies appropriate
stakeholders for determining
the root cause but without
sound rationale
Does not identify appropriate
stakeholders for determining
the root cause
30
Use of Five Whys Meets or exceeds “Proficient”
criteria and demonstrates indepth understanding of how
the Five Whys could identify the
error’s root cause
Explains how addressing each
of the questions in the Five
Whys could help identify the
root cause of the error
Explains how addressing some
of the questions in the Five
Whys could help identify the
root cause of the error, but
some steps are missing
Does not explain how
addressing the questions in the
Five Whys could help identify
the root cause of the error
30
Avoidance of
Medication Errors
Meets or exceeds “Proficient”
criteria by successfully
explaining how medication
errors could be avoided by
showing in-depth knowledge to
support assertions
Successfully explains how
medication errors could be
avoided
Partially explains how
medication errors could be
avoided
Does not explain how
medication errors could be
avoided
30
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (80%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Articulation of
Response
Submission is free of errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, and
organization and is presented in
a professional and easy-to-read
format
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that negatively impact
readability and articulation
of main ideas
Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas
10
Total 100%
