A multidisciplinary team is focused on safe patient transfers to a long-term care facility and...

According to the NAHQ CPHQ exam blueprint, the first step in an FMEA is to define and map the process being evaluated. This includes identifying each step in the process to understand how work is actually performed.

Option D is correct because failure modes, causes, and risk scoring cannot be accurately identified until the process steps are clearly defined.

Options A and C occur later in the FMEA sequence. Option B is retrospective and not required for a proactive FMEA.

The CPHQ exam emphasizes FMEA as a proactive risk assessment tool, beginning with process mapping to support safe system design.