SEPARATE RISK MANAGEMENT AND FMEA FOR BETTER MEDICAL DEVICE DEVELOPMENT. The below is an excerpt of the article originally published on MDDI. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) is utilized to identify potential failure modes in the design or manufacturing of a product. But risks associated with medical devices are not created by failures alone. A product may never fail, but there are still potentially many other risks.

Commonly issued after an FDA inspection, a Form 483 informs a company of observations requiring corrective actions. The Form 483 is often referred to as “Inspectional Observations” as it is a list of conditions or practices that indicate a potential violation of FDA requirements. The form is compiled in order of importance and is considered a snapshot of potential issues; it should not be considered all-encompassing.