Application of failure mode and effect analysis method to reduce medical staff's occupational exposure risk during sharps instrument disposal

Objective Health care failure mode and effect analysis (HFMEA) method was used to intervene needle stick injuries of medical staff during process of sharps disposal, to reduce occupational exposure risk due to needle injuries.

Methods A professional HFMEA team was set up in the process of occupational exposure monitoring, to analyze the sharp disposal process, find out the potential failure mode, calculate the risk priority number (RPN) and preferred intervention factors, and take the corresponding measures against the high risk factors.

Results The baseline survey showed that the failure modes in the top three (A, B, C) were as follows:staff's hands did not pinch the needle handles when discarding the needles(A); the containers for temporarily holding and sorting sharps instruments were not placed in the appropriate position(B); and the cooperation with colleagues was not tacit(C). After the implementation of HFMEA management mode, the RPN value of A, B and C decreased from 184.71 to 45.50, from 177.13 to 52.18 and from 163.47 to 25.13 respectively, while the RPN values of the other 6 failure modes were also significantly reduced(P < 0.01). The incidence of sharps injuries decreased from 1.94%(15 cases)before intervention to 0.65%(5 cases)after intervention(P < 0.05).

Conclusion The application of HFMEA can help reduce the incidence of needle puncture during sharps disposal.