What is the purpose of failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)?

• A. The purpose of the FMEA is to take actions to eliminate or reduce failures, starting with the highest-priority ones
• B. To assign blame after a patient incident
• C. To document patient satisfaction
• D. FMEA is used to perform root cause analysis

Answer: (A)

FMEA is a proactive risk assessment approach used to identify where a process could fail and what the effects would be, so you can prevent errors before they happen. The goal is to take actions to eliminate or reduce potential failures, starting with the highest-priority risks based on how severe the impact could be, how often it might occur, and how easily it could be detected. In healthcare, this helps teams improve safety in processes like medication administration or patient handoffs by prioritizing changes that will have the biggest effect on outcomes.

This is why the best choice describes taking actions to eliminate or reduce failures starting with the highest-priority ones. It isn’t about assigning blame after an incident, nor about documenting patient satisfaction, and it isn’t the same as root cause analysis, which investigates actual failures after they occur rather than proactively addressing potential failures.