Background: Infectious transmission is a major concern in hemodialysis services and therefore safety of hemodialysis care is a critical priority. Following the rapid worldwide spread of Covid-19, its impact on hemodialysis patients in Africa is unknown.Hemodialysis patients have been found to be at high risk of developing COVID-19 with a high mortality rate.Hence the interest in establishing a quality assurance system at the level of hemodialysis centers in this crisis context, which is operationally manifested by several methods, the main one being the analysis of failure modes, their effects and their criticalities (FMECA).

Objective: To map the infectious risk of the management of a hemodialysis patient with Covid-19 during a hemodialysis session in the hemodialysis department of a hospital in Morocco.

Methods: Our study focuses on the analysis of a priori risks during the management of a hemodialysis patient with Covid-19 during a hemodialysis session, carried out from September to November 2020, by applying the Failure Modes and Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) method in the hemodialysis department of the Provincial Hospital Centre (PHC) El Jadida in Morocco.

Results: 18 failure modes were detected during the analysis of infectious risks in a hemodialysis patient with Covid-19 during a hemodialysis session, including 8 failure modes of criticality class C1, 2 failure modes of criticality class C2 and 8 failure modes of criticality class C3. Corrective actions were proposed to deal with the failure modes of criticality class C3.

Discussion: The FMECA method allowed us to identify the most critical failure modes, to prioritize them and to determine corrective actions in order to improve the management of a hemodialysis patient with Covid-19 and consequently to develop the quality and safety of this management.

Conclusion: Risk mapping is an essential tool for continuous quality improvement, the aim of which is to maximize the safety of the patient care process and finally satisfy the population.

Keywords: Risk mapping, Hemodialysis, Covid-19, Infectious risk