Health Care Failure Mode Analysis

Question: Describe about the Health Care Failure Mode Analysis. Answer: Source Article: Van Tilburg, C. M., Leistikow, I. P., Rademaker, C. M. A., Bierings, M. B., Van Dijk, A. T. H. (2006). Health care failure mode and effect analysis: a useful proactive risk analysis in a pediatric oncology ward.Quality and Safety in Health Care,15(1), 58-63. Strengths The article clearly depicted the Health care Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) as valid tool to estimate the healthcare initiatives starting from prescribing suitable medications to the administration of chemotherapy in the form of the medicine Vincristine relevant to the inpatient oncology pediatric setting. The detection of the multifaceted failure modes occurring at multiple levels of the healthcare framework can thus be carried out by virtue of the HFMEA. Adoption of a systematic approach involving multidisciplinary team engagement consisting of the parent of the child patient and three subject matter experts like pharmacy staff, nursing personnel and medical professionals headed by a team member who had a past experience as the hospitals patient safety coordinator is particularly beneficial to identify the key hindrances or issues that culminate in the failure rates. The credibility and validity of the recommendations as mentioned in the article may be assessed due to che ck points at each and every step of the evaluating procedure. Active cooperation and dynamic coordination from the hospital management further accentuated the process thereby contributing to the feasibility of the process for future implications. The segregation of the risk factors pertaining to the failure modes into high and very high category further added to better understanding of the specific impediments that hindered the healthcare regime relevant to the given scenario and hospital setting (Van Tilburg et al., 2006). Weaknesses Weighing the advantages and drawbacks from the findings of the study as described in the article certain limitations have been detected. The unreported medication errors and the lack of estimation of the actual failure rates were found to be the major weakness of the exploratory study. Therefore the realistic comparisons of both the pre and post HFMEA pose challenges to undertake a subsequent cost benefit analysis. Moreover, the inclusion of the parent of the pediatric cancer patient into the multidisciplinary team prior to the completion of the actual treatment regime might not generate sufficient accurate responses due to dearth of understanding of the prevalent clinical intervention. Further the financial expenditure following the recommendations of the HFMEA need to be critically evaluated for the competent authorities to embark upon suitable strategies to mitigate the failure rates pertaining to the specific circumstance and clinical ward setting. Hence, these limitations hinder the translation of the outcomes of the study into real life circumstances (Van Tilburg et al., 2006). Applications The HFMEA as proposed in the article referred to certain specific recommendations based on detailed scrutiny of some smaller processes. The utilization of nominal and unbiased personnel resources with representatives from all possible corners of the workforce make this approach very much reliable to put into further practice. The frequent and thorough discussions and arguments regarding the assessment of the failure modes can drive the healthcare professionals to detect the potential hazards thereby paving the way for consecutive appropriate actions and remedial measures. Following the HFMEA approach, the determination of the causes of the failure modes has found to generate optimum benefits. Taking the clue from this study where failure modes were detected relevant to the pediatric oncology ward administering the chemotherapeutic agent of Vincristine, the findings may be extrapolated and applied to other medical processes as well harboring rewarding outcomes by virtue of a collabora tive interdisciplinary approach (Van Tilburg et al., 2006). References Van Tilburg, C. M., Leistikow, I. P., Rademaker, C. M. A., Bierings, M. B., Van Dijk, A. T. H. (2006). Health care failure mode and effect analysis: a useful proactive risk analysis in a pediatric oncology ward.Quality and Safety in Health Care,15(1), 58-63.