A Modified Delphi Methodology to Conduct an Failure Modes Effects Analysis: a Patient-centric Effort in a Clinical Medical Laboratory

This paper describes the use of an information gathering tool, the Delphi technique, to overcome issues encountered when conducting a Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) as part of a Define, Measure, Analyze, Implement, Control (DMAIC) study to improve the processes of a clinical medical laboratory. The study was conducted with the goals of reducing medical errors in the Total Testing Process (TTP) in order to improve patient safety, patient satisfaction, and improve the overall quality of the healthcare services provided by the subject hospital while meeting its Joint Commission (JC) accreditation requirements. The study found that the Delphi technique was very useful in overcoming four barriers encountered in conducting an FMEA in a hospital’s clinical medical laboratory and in achieving those goals.