Healthcare Failure Mode Effect Analysis of the Patient Flow in Victoria Hospital
Open Access
- Author:
- Gagnon, Kelly Patricia
- Area of Honors:
- Industrial Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Harriet Black Nembhard, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Catherine Mary Harmonosky, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Industrial Engineering
Health Care
South Africa
Process Improvement
Patient Flow - Abstract:
- Victoria Hospital is a secondary-level medical facility located in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. Victoria Hospital faces a unique set of obstacles linked to vast social and economic disparities. A lack of funding from the Provincial Department of Health prevents Victoria from expanding its facility and investing in new medical technologies and management programs. In order to optimize its current facility and procedures, a healthcare systems engineering approach was taken to improve the quality of care with minimal resource expenditure. A Healthcare Failure Mode Effect Analysis (HFMEA) was performed on the patient flow of Victoria Hospital in order to identify the most critical areas of the hospital for process improvement. The HFMEA followed the patient experience from check-in to the Emergency Department until discharge from the facility by identifying potential failures and their associated risks to the patient population and healthcare providers. Twenty-six of the 47 failure modes were prioritized for corrective action, recommended actions were identified, and a resource investment evaluation was used to illustrate the feasibility of intervention. Many of the most critical failures are associated with capacity and overcrowding issues, particularly in the Emergency Department. Keeping in mind a limited budget, long-term and short-term goals were created. Long-term goals include expanding Victoria Hospital, adding experienced medical and auxiliary staffing, creating a decontamination room, upgrading to Electronic Medical Records, and investing in a bed management system software. In the short term, great strides can be made in Victoria Hospital by hiring a bed manager and a discharge manager, improving check-in procedures, and updating the parking lot for efficient arrival to and exit from the hospital.