Using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis in Improving Nursing Blood Sampling at an International Specialized Cancer Center

Abstract

Background: The process of blood sampling is considered one of the primary and most common nursing invasive procedures carried out daily. Any failure at any point could have a severe negative impact on patient outcomes. Purpose: This project aimed to assess and improve the nursing blood sampling process in a specialized cancer center using failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA). Methods: An observational analytical design of the nursing blood sampling process using FMEA was conducted in King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan. Seven steps were conducted, including a review of the blood sampling process, brainstorming potential failures, listing potential effects of each failure mode, assigning a severity rating for each potential effect, assigning a frequency/occurrence rating for each failure mode, assigning a detection rating scale for each failure mode, and calculating the Risk Priority Number (RPN) for each effect. Results: Eight (out of 28) main critical failure modes with more than 200 RPN were identified in the blood sampling process. Accordingly, five themes were developed to guide the corrective actions. These themes included: process and responsibility modifications, resource and information technology utilization, patients and family engagement, safety culture, and education and training after implementation of the corrective actions. This resulted in a 58 % reduction in the RPN of major failure modes. Conclusion: Many factors lead to blood sampling errors. A critical focus should be conducted on the preparation phase due to the possible errors that may occur. Proper identification of patients and blood sample tests are the keys to a significant decrease in blood sampling errors.