Application of FMEA in contamination management of waterlines of comprehensive dental treatment unit
WU Jiaqi
JIN Ruihua
LI Bing
TANG Aihong
FU Ziyue
WANG Gaizhen
Abstract：Objective:To analyze the application of failure mode and effect analysis(FMEA)in the contamination management of the dental unit waterlines(DUWLs)of comprehensive dental treatment units,and to provide a basis for the prevention and control of contamination in clinical comprehensive dental unit waterlines.Methods:By using the convenience sampling method,totally 40 comprehensive dental treatment units(DCUs)from a tertiary Grade A dental specialty hospital were selected as the research subjects.The risk management tool of FMEA was applied to form a multidisciplinary team.Through covert participatory observation of the relevant personnel in the departments where the comprehensive dental treatment units were located,the potential failure modes and potential failure consequences in the management of comprehensive dental treatment units were identified.A series of intervention measures were formulated and implemented for the high-risk failure modes.The compliance rate and correct rate of the flushing behaviors of medical staff at the handpiece end,three-way syringe,and rinse end before and during the opening of the clinic and treatment.The reduction rate of the risk priority number(RPN)of each failure mode,and the qualification rate of the treatment water were compared before and after the implementation of FMEA.Results:Compared with before the intervention,the compliance rate and correct rate of the flushing behaviors of medical staff at the handpiece end,three-way syringe,and rinse end before and during the opening of the clinic and treatment were all improved after the implementation of FMEA management.And the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).Compared with before the intervention,the RPN values of each high-risk failure mode decreased after the implementation of FMEA management.Compared with before the intervention,the qualification rate of the treatment water at the handpiece end,three-way syringe,and rinse end of the comprehensive dental treatment units increased.And the differences were statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:The application of the risk management tool of FMEA could effectively enhance the management level of waterlines contamination in comprehensive dental treatment units for dental medical staff and increase the qualification rate of dental treatment water.
Keywords：failure mode and effects analysisFMEAdental unit water linesDUWLsdiagnosis and treatment watercontaminationmanagement
Publication Date：2025-02-09
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 401-408 )