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Protected: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

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At a Glance:

FMEA gives clinical teams a structured, proactive method to identify where a process could fail — before a patient is harmed.

Summary:

  • FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is a proactive risk assessment tool used to anticipate and prevent errors before they occur.
  • Teams evaluate each step in a clinical process by scoring potential failures on severity, likelihood of occurrence, and ease of detection.
  • These three scores are multiplied to produce a Risk Priority Number (RPN), which helps teams prioritize the most critical vulnerabilities.
  • FMEA is especially valuable for high-alert processes such as medication administration, blood transfusions, and surgical procedures.

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