According to Health Care Risk Management standards endorsed by ASHRM and the American Hospital Association Certification Center, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis FMEA is a proactive patient safety tool used to identify and prioritize potential process failures before harm occurs. Within FMEA methodology, each potential failure mode is evaluated using three separate scoring components: severity, occurrence, and detection.
Severity measures the potential impact of the failure if it occurs. Occurrence assesses the likelihood that the failure will happen. Detection evaluates the probability that the failure will be identified before causing harm.
Each component is typically assigned a numerical value based on predefined criteria.
The Risk Priority Number RPN is calculated by multiplying the three scores: severity multiplied by occurrence multiplied by detection. This multiplication approach produces a composite score that reflects both the seriousness of potential harm and the likelihood that the event will occur and escape detection. Higher RPN values indicate higher-priority risks requiring mitigation.
Clinical and patient safety objectives emphasize systematic risk prioritization to allocate resources effectively and reduce preventable adverse events. Therefore, the RPN is calculated by multiplying severity, occurrence, and detection scores.