CPPS IHI Practice Exam – Complete Question Bank with 100% Correct
Answers (Certified Professional In-Patient Safety, Institute for
Healthcare Improvement, Study Guide 2025)
Introduction:
This document contains a complete CPPS (Certified Professional in
Patient Safety) IHI practice exam, featuring multiple-choice
questions with verified 100% correct answers and detailed
rationales. It covers key patient safety concepts including RCA (Root
Cause Analysis), FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis), Just
Culture, high reliability principles, human factors engineering, and
the IHI Framework for Safe and Reliable Care. The material provides
a comprehensive preparation resource for the CPPS certification exam
and healthcare professionals focusing on patient safety improvement
and quality management.
Exam Questions and Answers
Your organization utilizes a "home grown" electronic safety event
reporting system that is no longer meeting the needs of the
organization. Hospital administration is asking for your opinion:
What would you do for next steps to identify a replacement system?
A. Ask Information Systems to either fix the old system or build a
new one.
B. Purchase the least expensive software.
C. Identify key stakeholders and perform a gap analysis of current
state to ideal state.
,D. Poll colleagues and purchase what they use. --- correct precise
answer ---C. Identify key stakeholders and perform a gap analysis
of current state to ideal state.
Performing a thorough search of available products that meet the
standards for the organization is the primary action you should
take. Once the collated information is obtained, convening a
meeting with the key stakeholders (nursing, medicine, finance,
patient safety, legal, etc.) to determine the organizational needs in
relation to the intended financial impact and return on investment
may be required.
Your hospital is considering implementing a robotic surgery
program. As a patient safety professional, you are concerned about
the potential for patient injury associated with this new technology.
The most appropriate tool or technique for assessing potential risks
associated with implementation of the new technology is:
A. Root cause analysis (RCA)
B. Patient safety leadership WalkRounds
C. Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)
D. Meaningful use evaluation --- correct precise answer ---C.
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)The best answer is
FMEA.
,FMEA is a prospective risk reduction strategy; ideally, it is used
before a new technology is implemented to determine how the new
technology might fail and cause harm. Patient safety leadership
WalkRounds are designed to help leaders gather facts about the
care environment and create positive relationships between staff
and administration. Root cause analysis is a retrospective tool; it is
used after a harmful event or near miss to determine what went
wrong. Meaningful use evaluation is for evaluating the success of
implementing an electronic health record.
Your organization is preparing to change to a new electronic health
record. Many departments have been involved with the planning for
this huge effort.
What would you suggest as part of the preparation strategy?
A. Offer to do a claims analysis for any related errors.
B. Suggest a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.
C. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
D. Conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). --- correct precise answer -
--C. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
FMEA would be valuable step for anticipating gaps in the planning
so that people can address potential problems before implementing
the new system. A PDSA cycle would be a good way to test and
implement any changes, but it wouldn't help diagnose problems.
, Why is it important to share lessons learned from RCAs?
A. It allows others to introduce workarounds to avoid the same
situation.
B. It exposes the fallibility of the clinician(s) involved.
C. Sharing these events should not be encouraged because it
increases the risk of litigation.
D. It allows co-workers to learn the rationale for why an event
occurred and incorporate new lessons learned into practice. ---
correct precise answer ---D. It allows co-workers to learn the
rationale for why an event occurred and incorporate new lessons
learned into practice.
Sharing allows others to adopt new methods and to heighten risk
awareness. In regard to the other possible answers: The goal of an
RCA is not to place blame on individual clinicians, and workarounds
are oftentimes unsafe practices that ignore systems issues that
require fixing. Sharing lessons learned from an RCA may decrease
the risk of litigation by improving patient safety and reducing the
likelihood of an adverse event occurring again.
Which of the following strategies is best for facilitating the
acceptance of changer elated to specific performance improvement
initiatives?
A. Provide a quarterly statistical report.
B. Utilize storytelling tools.
Answers (Certified Professional In-Patient Safety, Institute for
Healthcare Improvement, Study Guide 2025)
Introduction:
This document contains a complete CPPS (Certified Professional in
Patient Safety) IHI practice exam, featuring multiple-choice
questions with verified 100% correct answers and detailed
rationales. It covers key patient safety concepts including RCA (Root
Cause Analysis), FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis), Just
Culture, high reliability principles, human factors engineering, and
the IHI Framework for Safe and Reliable Care. The material provides
a comprehensive preparation resource for the CPPS certification exam
and healthcare professionals focusing on patient safety improvement
and quality management.
Exam Questions and Answers
Your organization utilizes a "home grown" electronic safety event
reporting system that is no longer meeting the needs of the
organization. Hospital administration is asking for your opinion:
What would you do for next steps to identify a replacement system?
A. Ask Information Systems to either fix the old system or build a
new one.
B. Purchase the least expensive software.
C. Identify key stakeholders and perform a gap analysis of current
state to ideal state.
,D. Poll colleagues and purchase what they use. --- correct precise
answer ---C. Identify key stakeholders and perform a gap analysis
of current state to ideal state.
Performing a thorough search of available products that meet the
standards for the organization is the primary action you should
take. Once the collated information is obtained, convening a
meeting with the key stakeholders (nursing, medicine, finance,
patient safety, legal, etc.) to determine the organizational needs in
relation to the intended financial impact and return on investment
may be required.
Your hospital is considering implementing a robotic surgery
program. As a patient safety professional, you are concerned about
the potential for patient injury associated with this new technology.
The most appropriate tool or technique for assessing potential risks
associated with implementation of the new technology is:
A. Root cause analysis (RCA)
B. Patient safety leadership WalkRounds
C. Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)
D. Meaningful use evaluation --- correct precise answer ---C.
Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)The best answer is
FMEA.
,FMEA is a prospective risk reduction strategy; ideally, it is used
before a new technology is implemented to determine how the new
technology might fail and cause harm. Patient safety leadership
WalkRounds are designed to help leaders gather facts about the
care environment and create positive relationships between staff
and administration. Root cause analysis is a retrospective tool; it is
used after a harmful event or near miss to determine what went
wrong. Meaningful use evaluation is for evaluating the success of
implementing an electronic health record.
Your organization is preparing to change to a new electronic health
record. Many departments have been involved with the planning for
this huge effort.
What would you suggest as part of the preparation strategy?
A. Offer to do a claims analysis for any related errors.
B. Suggest a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle.
C. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
D. Conduct a root cause analysis (RCA). --- correct precise answer -
--C. Conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
FMEA would be valuable step for anticipating gaps in the planning
so that people can address potential problems before implementing
the new system. A PDSA cycle would be a good way to test and
implement any changes, but it wouldn't help diagnose problems.
, Why is it important to share lessons learned from RCAs?
A. It allows others to introduce workarounds to avoid the same
situation.
B. It exposes the fallibility of the clinician(s) involved.
C. Sharing these events should not be encouraged because it
increases the risk of litigation.
D. It allows co-workers to learn the rationale for why an event
occurred and incorporate new lessons learned into practice. ---
correct precise answer ---D. It allows co-workers to learn the
rationale for why an event occurred and incorporate new lessons
learned into practice.
Sharing allows others to adopt new methods and to heighten risk
awareness. In regard to the other possible answers: The goal of an
RCA is not to place blame on individual clinicians, and workarounds
are oftentimes unsafe practices that ignore systems issues that
require fixing. Sharing lessons learned from an RCA may decrease
the risk of litigation by improving patient safety and reducing the
likelihood of an adverse event occurring again.
Which of the following strategies is best for facilitating the
acceptance of changer elated to specific performance improvement
initiatives?
A. Provide a quarterly statistical report.
B. Utilize storytelling tools.
