ABSTRACT
A risk assessment of the radiotherapy information systems in a large public hospital was completed. The primary focus of the assessment was to dctennine the risk to the patient as a result of the use of both an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) and paper-based chart. The fanner was only used by the radiotherapy department studied while the latter was used by the remainder of the departments in the hospital. Following the risk assessment, a prioritized subset of the hazardous processes was analyzed in-depth using Health Care Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEATM). Although the overall analysis was successful in identifying the potential failures related to each of the analyzed processes, a number of unexpected challenges were encountered related to its implementation. These challenges are presented and the methods used to overcome them are described. Recommendations are also made to enhance the HFMEA ™ methodology to support its use as a training aid, by providing enhanced process descriptions, and to facilitate continuous improvement of health care processes through changes related
to the HFMEA TM flowcha1i and worksheet.
