Mini course · Intermediate level
FMEA: Proactive Risk Assessment
Find the ways a process can fail before a patient is harmed, and fix the riskiest ones first.
What is FMEA: Proactive Risk Assessment?
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a proactive risk assessment method that examines a process step by step to identify what could go wrong, why, and how serious the consequences would be. Many accreditation standards expect organisations to assess high-risk processes proactively. This course covers selecting and mapping a process, identifying failure modes and causes, scoring severity, occurrence and detection, prioritising risks and redesigning the process to make failure less likely.
- Duration
- 1.5 hours
- Lessons
- 5
- Level
- Intermediate
- Format
- Online, self-paced
What you'll be able to do
- Select a high-risk process suitable for FMEA
- Map a described process into clear steps and sub-steps
- Identify potential failure modes, causes and effects for a process step
- Score failure modes for severity, occurrence and detection
- Prioritise risks using risk priority numbers and severity
- Propose process redesigns and measures that verify risk reduction
Who this course is for
Course content
5 lessons · 1.5 hours total · free preview available
1Proactive Risk Thinking
16 minFree preview· Course content
Proactive Risk Thinking
Why prevention beats investigation, and when to use FMEA.
2Choosing and Mapping the Process
18 min· Course content
Choosing and Mapping the Process
Available after you enroll.
3Failure Modes, Causes and Effects
20 min· Course content
Failure Modes, Causes and Effects
Available after you enroll.
4Scoring and Prioritising Risk
18 min· Course content
Scoring and Prioritising Risk
Available after you enroll.
5Redesign and Monitor
18 min· Course content
Redesign and Monitor
Available after you enroll.
Earn a credential employers can check
Every AIHCM credential has a unique ID that anyone can verify online in seconds.
Issued: on completion
How it works
- Finish all 5 lessons at your own pace.
- Get your digital credential with a unique ID.
- Share it — employers can verify it at aihcm.us.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between FMEA and RCA?
FMEA is proactive: it looks for failures before they happen. RCA is reactive: it investigates an event that has already occurred.
Is the risk priority number the only way to prioritise?
No. Failures with very high severity should be addressed even if their overall RPN is modest. The course explains how to balance both.
Which processes are good candidates for FMEA?
High-risk, complex or new processes, such as medication administration, blood transfusion, patient identification or a new equipment rollout.
How long does a real FMEA take?
Usually several team meetings over a few weeks, depending on how complex the process is.