A nurse is serving on a continuous quality improvement (CQI) committee that has been assigned to develop a program to reduce the number of medication administration errors following a sentinel event at the facility. Which of the following strategies should the committee plan to initiate first?

Rationale: A. This is premature. A program cannot be effectively developed without first understanding the underlying causes of the errors. Implementing a program without analysis may not address the root issues. B. The first step in continuous quality improvement is data collection and analysis. By reviewing the sequence of events, the CQI committee can identify patterns, contributing factors, system failures, and process gaps that led to errors. This analysis forms the foundation for designing targeted interventions that prevent recurrence. C. Competency assessments may be part of the solution, but implementing them first is ineffective if the root causes of errors are unknown. The exam might not address systemic issues such as workflow problems, communication gaps, or documentation errors. D. Education and training are important strategies, but they should be based on identified needs from error analysis. Providing generalized education without reviewing the specific errors may not reduce medication administration errors effectively.