Abstract
Faced with a competitive and dynamic environment, health management has been submitted for several challenges. Thus, it is essential that organizational processes seek continuous improvement in order to provide services with quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. This perspective supported the development of this study. Therefore, the research objective focuses on optimizing one of the secondary processes of a hospital, the sanitation sector, associated with the application of the failure identification approach - Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA). A descriptive exploratory research supported by a case study in a hospital located in northeastern Brazil was applied in this study. Specifically, the analysis focuses on hygiene processes in hospital beds and in administrative areas. The absence of supervision, the training deficit of employees, and difficulty in accessing materials and tools in the warehouse were identified as failures in the process. In view of the 5W1H matrix, it was possible to draw a strategic plan to minimize these failures, and, consequently, a 19% efficiency gain was obtained.