Risk Evaluation of Drug Safety in the Emergency Treatment Process Using a Modified HFMEA-based Associated Matrix
Chien-Chih Wang *
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Li-Jung Huang
Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation, Grace, Taiwan
Hsin-Ning Pan
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Error reduction is important for quality medical services and certification requirements. Patients have mostly complained of poor medical quality in the emergency care department. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to develop a risk assessment procedure for the emergency treatment process to ensure drug quality for patients. The associated matrix technique was proposed to improve the evaluation criteria of traditional Health Care Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA). We used a medical center in Taiwan as a model to describe and validate the proposed process. Analysis revealed that most drug usage errors originate from prescription drugs and controlled substances. The results demonstrated the feasibility of a risk assessment procedure to identify emergency flow problems and thus improve drug safety management in hospitals.
Keywords: Emergency care, healthcare quality, medication error, process analysis