Analyze Potential Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (FMEA)

905 Words4 Pages
An important component of a Quality Assurance program is Risk Management. Risk Management has progressed to a program that is concerned with all of the risks associated with accidental losses faced by a health care organization (Carroll, 2009). An effective risk management program, stated by Roberta Carroll, is one that incorporates several building blocks, including key structural elements, sufficient scope to cover all organizational risks, appropriate risk strategies, and written policies, and procedures (Carroll, 2009). Authority, communication, coordination, and accountability are important structural elements to an efficient risk management program. Within a risk management program, there are methods and techniques that analyze potential…show more content…
The authors (2014) state that mode refers to the way a product or process could fail, while effects refers to the consequences of the failed process or product. In addition, FMEA is an inductive method that is designed to recognize and evaluate the potential failure, effects of failure, and the actions that should be taken to reduce the potential failure (Fibuch & Ahmed, 2014). In the 1990s, FMEA was introduced in health care as a risk management tool. According to the article (2014), FMEA has been used in several areas of health care, including IV drug administration, fall prevention, and the administration of chemotherapy. These examples represent complex processes that are comprised of multiple steps that could potentially result in the failure of the process. The goal of FMEA is to prevent errors by attempting to identify ways a process could fail, estimate the probability and consequences of each failure, and then take action to prevent the potential failures from occurring (Hughes, 2008). In health care, FMEA focuses on the system of care, and uses a multidisciplinary team to evaluate a process from a quality improvement perspective (Hughes, 2008). FMEA is a forward-looking assessment of systems, and processes that is designed to predict ways in which things can go wrong, also known as failure modes, and the likely degree of injury or cost, or effects, that are associated with each failure mode (Fassett, 2011). Therefore, the article states that FMEA provides a way to predesign systems, and processes to improve their safety, as well as serving as a tool to establish the highest priorities for investment of time, and money to reduce harm. The article by William Fassett states that there are two major forms of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, health care failure mode effects analysis used by the VA, and

More about Analyze Potential Failure Mode And Effects Analysis (FMEA)

Open Document