{"id":94056,"date":"2022-12-05T11:03:06","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T17:03:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=94056"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:32:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T21:32:57","slug":"qips-terminology-failure-mode-and-effects-analysis-fmea-vs-root-cause-analysis-rca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/12\/05\/qips-terminology-failure-mode-and-effects-analysis-fmea-vs-root-cause-analysis-rca\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>QIPS Terminology:\u00a0 Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) vs. Root Cause Analysis (RCA)<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n<p><strong><em>Do you:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>consider what might go wrong in a situation and how you might prevent it from happening or minimize the effects?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>have backup airway equipment and vasopressors available for an anesthesia case?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>check the winter weather before traveling and adjust your travel route or departure time if there are icy roads forecasted?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you answered \u201cyes\u201d to any of those examples, you are practicing <strong>FMEA<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Do you:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>reflect on and identify the causes if you are unable to start an IV, intubate a patient, or are late to work?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>identify and work on how you might prevent the same problem(s) in the future?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>If you answered \u201cyes,\u201d you are practicing <strong>RCA.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FMEA:&nbsp; Failure Mode and Effects Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Looks forward; proactive<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identifies and addresses <em>potential<\/em> problems or failures<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Effective with new and existing processes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identifies potential pitfalls and unintended consequences of new processes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identifies how proposed changes will impact the system<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Improves product and process reliability, quality, and safety<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Begun in the 1940s in the US military<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"panel intruder-image\">\n\t<div class=\"panel__container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"feature__media feature__media--full\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"feature__image\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FMEA-vs-RCA.jpg\" alt=\"Failure Mode and Effects Analysis Steps\"\/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n\n\n<p><strong>RCA:&nbsp; Root Cause Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Looks backward to develop actions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Investigates adverse events, near misses<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identifies system breakdowns and what contributed to an event<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Identifies what needs to be changed to prevent recurrence of event or near miss<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reduces risk to the overall organization<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Developed by manufacturing in 1950s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"panel intruder-image\">\n\t<div class=\"panel__container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"feature__media feature__media--full\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"feature__image\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FMEA-vs-RCA2.png\" alt=\"Root Cause Analysis Steps\"\/>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"panel body-content\"><div class=\"panel__container\">\n\n\n<p><strong>Basic summary of steps utilized by performance improvement teams:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>FMEA<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>RCA<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Select a process for analysis<\/td><td>Identify the event to be investigated<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Identify team members involved in or affected by the process<\/td><td>Identify team members with knowledge of the event<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Describe the process in detail<\/td><td>Describe what happened<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Identify what could go wrong during each step of the process<\/td><td>Identify all contributing factors<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Select which problems to work on eliminating<\/td><td>Analyze contributing factors; Identify root causes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Design and implement changes to reduce or prevent problems from occurring<\/td><td>Design and implement changes to eliminate root causes<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Monitor and measure the success of process changes<\/td><td>Monitor and measure the success of improvement actions<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>References:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\">https:\/\/www.cms.gov<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ihi.org\">https:\/\/www.ihi.org<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Senders, JW. FMEA and RCA: the mantras of modern risk management. 10.1136\/qshc.2004.010868;www.qshc.com. Downloaded from <em><a href=\"http:\/\/qualitysafety.bmj.com\">http:\/\/qualitysafety.bmj.com<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you: If you answered \u201cyes\u201d to any of those examples, you are practicing FMEA. Do you: If you answered \u201cyes,\u201d you are practicing RCA. FMEA:&nbsp; Failure Mode and Effects Analysis RCA:&nbsp; Root Cause Analysis Basic summary of steps utilized by performance improvement teams: FMEA RCA Select a process for analysis Identify the event to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"40756,54276,68012,44798,19886,30702","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","author_override-jean-a-simonson-md"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>QIPS Terminology:\u00a0 Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) vs. Root Cause Analysis (RCA)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Do you: consider what might go wrong in a situation and how you might prevent it from happening or minimize the effects? 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