Optimizing FMEA and RCA efforts in health care.

INTRODUCTION “Failure mode and effect analysis” (FMEA) and “root cause analysis” (RCA) are becoming commonplace terms in work environments and in the literature. This article will demonstrate that these terms, while seemingly generic references to regulatory compliance, actually elicit various interpretations from individuals. Therefore, applications of FMEAs and RCAs will be equally disjointed, along with the inconsistency of the analysis results. A case history will demonstrate how new technologies can expedite comprehensive analyses. Finally, this article will look into the purpose and intent of using such technologies in health care. Could the desire for regulatory compliance overshadow the primary objective of increasing patient safety? Are such analysis tools value-added? Can they really contribute to improving the bottom line? While relatively new to the health care world, FMEA and RCA are well established in other industries. Many in health care might guess that these terms come from general industry, as they sound like something an engineer would create. Almost automatically a stereotype of the term emerges and it may include paradigms such as: