To err is human: improving patient safety through failure mode and effect analysis.

Patient care errors occur in the laboratory. Traditionally, most errors have been thought to occur because of individual human failure. The assumption is that with adequate training, education; and orientation, technologists will perform flawlessly. Laboratory processes are designed on the premise that nothing will go wrong. Health-care professionals are looking at new methods of error prevention including Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). Based on long experience in the engineering field, FMEA assumes everything will fail, humans err frequently, and the cause of an error often is beyond the individual's control. FMEA is a proactive, systematic, multidisciplinary team-based approach to error prevention. Patient safety is now a high priority with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and this article introduces FMEA, a new method for improving our processes to enhance patient safety.

Moving your laboratory? 10 keys to a successful transition.

We all have been there. Moving, whether it is from one state or town, or just across the street, can be chaotic and exhausting. Our possessions are placed in a box, loaded with our furniture into a big truck, and transported from one site to another. Most of us use this opportunity to sort through old papers, drawers, and cabinets, cleaning and throwing out items we no longer will use. If we are well organized, things can go smoothly. However, even for the most organized person, items get lost or misplaced, tempers get short, and we are disoriented for a few days or weeks until everything gets into place and we can reestablish our routines. In the summer of 2001, Cleveland Clinic Florida moved their laboratory. This article outlines the clinic's experience, offering suggestions for when you face your own moving day.