Other FMEA Sources
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Medical Heath Care FMEA - Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis is :
FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis) is a tool that when performed
adequately, can reduce the risk of preventable medical errors. Hospitals in the
US that are accredited by JCAHO are required to perform at least one FMEA each
year.
The main output of FMEA is a series of mitigations, each of which is some
process change implemented to reduce the risk of error. Because resources are
limited, implementing all mitigations are not possible so the challenge is to
find the set of mitigations that provides the highest reduction in risk for the
least cost.
Hence, preventability may be viewed in terms of the cost and effectiveness of
a mitigation. A low cost and effective mitigation is associated with a highly
preventable medical error, whereas a high cost and or less effective mitigation
is associated with a less preventable medical error.
The origins of the inclusion of risk analysis are real incidents of harm to
the patients receiving treatment by medical devices, such as electric shocks,
over-infusion by infusion pumps, and over doses of radiation by radiotherapy
devices. Too many of these incidents resulted in the deaths of patients. For
example, between June, 1985 and January, 1987, a computer controlled radiation
therapy machine called the Therac 25 massively overdosed six people. The results
were deadly. (See: Nancy Leveson, Safeware: System Safety and Computers,
Addison-Wesley, 1995.)
Failure mode effects analysis (FMEA) is a "bottom up" approach which assumes
a basic defect at the component level, assesses the effect, and identifies
potential solutions. It should be conducted before the application of medical
procedures and as part of each new step in a procedure to identify potential
weaknesses. Failure mode effects criticality analysis (FMECA) adds probability
of occurrence and severity of failure to the FMEA process.
The primary purpose of FMEA is the early identification of potential design
inadequacies that may adversely affect safety and performance. Identified
inadequacies can then be eliminated or their effect minimized through design
correction or other means before they reach the patient.
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The easiest way to find what you need on the Medical
Healt Care FMEA site
Where to find what you need on this site:
| FMEA in short |
the place to start if you're a newbie to FMEA |
| Community |
we have a large member list of FMEA users that can help
to solve your FMEA questions |
| Examples |
Example FMEA sheets |
| Guides |
Guides, primers and Introductions about Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis
Some Foreign language FMEA docs are also
available |
| Handbooks |
Various handbooks about using and introducing FMEA |
| Books |
all kind books about FMEA and Risk Analysis |
| Papers |
FMEA related (research) papers |
| Presentations |
Mainly Powerpoint presentations that can inspire you |
| Services |
FMEA is a major topic in engineering consultancy,
here you'll find information about services, training, ... |
| Standards |
links to the major FMEA standards |
| Tools |
in the past few years a number of powerful software tools
have been developed to support FMEA, also some FREE tools by our
community members |
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| Add a link |
use this link to propose a new contribution or link
to the site |
| Recommend site |
here you'll an easy form to inform your colleagues
about this site |
| Link to site |
this page provide all the info you need to link your site
to the FMEA Info Centre |
| About this site |
the story behind this site, how it all began, ... |
| Status |
provides the latest news about the site |
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