Objective To review the current research and application of root cause analysis (RCA) method in China's hospital management.Methods A retrospective analysis in six aspects was made by means of formulating a retrieval strategy and inclusion criteria, retrieval of databases, and literature review.Results The number of Chinese RCA researches was increasing year by year, mostly from researcher of the eastern coastal areas.These studies focused on the effects of RCA application outcomes and nursing safety.Tools in use were mainly fishbone diagram, brainstorming and 3-why method.72.24% of the root causes as found in literature were system factors, and 27.76% were human factors.Most of the researches made positive comments on RCA.Conclusions RCA is being warmly embraced by China's hospital management as it can positively change the accountability culture towards adverse events.Yet RCA has not been satisfactorily applied, and its future research and application in China's hospital management need more in-depth study and critical analysis.

Objective:To explore the frequencies, citations and distribution characteristics of publications published by Chinese scholars in four leading general medical journals in last decade.Methods:The Thomson-Reuter’s Web of Science (WoS) database was searched to retrieve publications published by Chinese scholars in NEJM, Lancet, JAMA and BMJ, and document type was set to Article, Editorial Material, Review and Letter between 2009 and 2018. The frequencies and characteristics of total and first author publications were analyzed. Results:A total number of 1 357 publications were identified, among which first author publications accounted for 62.64% (850/1 357). Overall trends presented fluctuating growth from 72 publications in 2009 to 97 in 2018. Among these 850 publications, there were 131 Articles (15.4%), 210 Editorial Materials (24.7%), 22 Reviews (2.6%) and 487 Letters (57.3%). The three most productive regions included Beijing (224), Hong Kong (133) and Shanghai (101). The three most productive institutions were the Chinese University of Hong Kong (64), Peking Union Medical College/Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (54) and Peking University (50). In terms of publications supported by funds, the most common fund was National Natural Science Foundation of China, which accounted for 24.7% (44/178). China had a close cooperation with the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Japan.Conclusions:Currently available study demonstrated that publications published by Chinese scholars in four leading general medical journals had a stable growth during last decade. However, the total amount of publications and Articles were still low. For future work, the frequency and strength should be potentiated on the research fund and cooperation.