A Practical Guide to Performance Improvement: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

This article discusses the process of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and how it relates to performance improvement (PI) and the development of high reliability organizations. As a proactive process, PI team members can use FMEA to identify and prioritize risk before errors occur in health care environments. This tool comprises steps to assess the failure risk of a process, system, or function before the failure occurs. Performance improvement team members can use FMEA as an additional tool to guide them when working to create a culture of safe patient care and improve patient outcomes. After reviewing this article, the reader should have a better understanding of FMEA, how to implement it, and how it supports PI processes and high reliability organizations. This is the fourth article of a six-part series about performance improvement.