OBJECTIVE： To standardize the ward rescue and essential drugs quality management in wards， and reduce the medication risk of patients. METHODS： Failure mode and effect analysis （FMEA） was used to analyze the inspection items and failure modes of quality management of ward rescue and essential drugs. According to scoring the possibility， severity and detectability degree of the failure modes and calculating the risk priority number （RPN）， failure modes that should be given priority improvement were quantified and determined， improvement measures were developed and conducted， and management effects were evaluated after 6 months. RESULTS： 12 failure modes were determined， including the residue treatment of narcotic and the first-class psychotropic drugs was not recorded， drug storage temperature was not up to standard and drug expired， etc. Improving related systems， enhancing the inspection management， cold chain management， daily management and other measures were implemented and conducted. After 6 months， the top 3 items with the highest RPNs were dropped from 320， 240， 216 score to 16， 16， 27 scores， respectively， all in a relatively low risk area. Numbers of failure mode event were dropped from 1 869 to 218， dropping by 88.3％. CONCLUSIONS： According to qualifying the failure modes in ward rescue and essential drugs quality management by using FMEA in our hospital， the management items with the highest risk has determined and improved， the medication risk of patients has significantly reduced.