Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Hossein Ebrahimipour ¹
• Ali Vafaee najar ²
• Yasamin Molavi Taleghani ³

¹ Assistant Professor, Health Services Management, Health Sciences Research center, Department of Health and Management, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

² Professor, Health Services Management, Health Sciences Research Center, Department of Health and Management; School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

³ MSc, health services management, School of Health, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Most of the errors occurred in otolaryngology department are preventable; This study was aimed at assessing the selected  processes Otolaryngology surgery Department using Health Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (HFMEA). Methods: This was a descriptive research that quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed some failure modes and effects used five steps of health care failure modes and effects analysis methodology which was presented by VA national center for Patients’ Safety. Eindhoven classification model was applied to identification of root cause of the analyzed failures. It was determined recommendation by TRIZ model. To analyze the qualitative data the descriptive statistics (total score) and for analyzing quantities data content analysis and consensus opinions of team members were employed using Excel software. Results: The five high risk process were prioritized by “voting method using rating” for HFMEA. The HFMEA team identified;22 processes, 48 sub-processes and 218 possible failures within these process. 8(3.6%) failure modes (hazard score>=8) were identified and entitled as "failures with non-acceptable risk” and were moved into decision tree. The main root cause for (hazard score >=4) were: (14.34%) technical- related factors; (31.9%) organizational- related factors; (45.3%) human- related factors and (7.6%) other factors. The cause of failures allowed intervention to be recommended. Conclusion: “Creation and review policy and Clear and transparent procedure”;” Patient participation in treatment process”; “Reengineering work and monitoring processes”; “ Training of  guidelines and recommendations” and “improving communication between hospital departments”  were used  as actions for optimization and quality improvement Key words: Risk Assessment; Surgery Department, Hospital; Errors.