Indisputably, delivering quality customer service is challenging in every organization. However, quality customer service is vital in healthcare organizations, where the patient (Customer) comes with complex goals that require immediate gratification. As a result, principles of total quality are essential in such organizations. Consequently, this paper will focus on customer focus, continuous improvement, and teamwork as some of the total quality principles. It will also use three articles that describe the current practices in healthcare organizations to illustrate these principles.
Describe Each Quality Principle and Show How It Is Illustrated in The Article.
Customer focus is the act of a firm putting their customers' needs first. Therefore, a customer-focused organization nurtures a company culture dedicated to building strong customer relationships and enhancing customer satisfaction. An article by Rajamani and RamaRao (2019), " Enhancing Customer Satisfaction for Health Services ," argues that identifying and understanding the patients' journey is one way of driving up customer satisfaction and perceptions levels. Subsequently, understanding the journey in question enables the healthcare practitioner to be more cognizant of their patients' needs. As a result, they can deliver quality, convenient, and reliable services to the patient.
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The continuous improvement process principle refers to an ongoing effort to improve processes, services, or products. Nonetheless, the efforts in question can pursue "incremental" enhancement over time or "breakthrough" perfection all at once. As such, delivery processes are improved and evaluated constantly to ensure that the principle in question is flexible, effective, and efficient. Burrill, Parker, and Fitzgerald illustrate various ways of implementing a continuous improvement culture in their article, " Continuous Improvement in Healthcare ." Creating an end-to-end management system is one way of enhancing the principle of continuous improvement (Burrill, Parker, & Fitzgerald, 2019). The system in question should be accompanied by techniques, tools, and behaviors that assist the managers in supporting their juniors to identify and solve problems themselves. Additionally, the implementation of these improvements should not be rushed. The culture-changing process takes persistence and time to get it right.
According to HRH Global Resource Center (n.d.), teamwork is whereby two or more individuals interdependently interact with a common goal. In healthcare, teamwork employs enhanced communication and collaboration practices to expand the health workers role and make decisions that work towards a common objective as a unit. An article, " Health Care Professional Development: Working as a Team to Improve Patient Care ," by Babiker et al. illustrates various models of enhancing the principle of teamwork in healthcare organizations. For example, having shared goals, whereby a common and clearly defined objective, including collective interests, shows shared ownership is essential for building effective teamwork (Babiker et al., 2014). Teamwork in healthcare organizations results in enhanced patient satisfaction and improved coordination among health practitioners.
The Relationships among the Three Quality Principles
Unquestionably, there is a vast relationship between the three quality principles. They all focus on solving the customer's problem and ensuring they are satisfied. Customer focus, for instance, aims at improving customer satisfaction. Likewise, continuous improvement focuses on bettering the process as a way of ensuring the clients are satisfied. Similarly, teamwork is where professionals come together to solve the client's needs and ensure they are satisfied. As such, there is a clear relationship between the three quality principles in question.
Examine Whether the Principle in One Example Might Apply to Other Examples
Since the three quality principles have a common objective, one example might apply to the other examples. Rajamani and RamaRao (2019) used an example of identifying and understanding the patient's journey to illustrate customer focus as a total quality principle. Similarly, the same example can help in illustrating continuous improvement. When medical practitioners identify and understand the patients' journey, they can identify the areas that need continuous improvements. Likewise, teamwork can be illustrated using the same example. The patient and the health practitioner need to team up and have an effective communication that will explain the patients' journey. So, the principle in one example might apply to the other examples.
Conclusion
In conclusion, quality customer service, more so in healthcare facilities, is essential. As a result, an organization needs to apply customer focus, continuous improvement, and teamwork as the main quality principles. As a result, the principles in question enable the firm to attain strengthened competitive advantage, adaptability to changing market conditions, higher productivity, enhanced market image, and higher profitability, among other benefits.
References
Babiker, A., Husseini, M.E., Nemri, A.A., Frayh, A. A., Juryyan, N. A., et al. (2014). Health Care Professional Development: Working as a Team to Improve Patient Care. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4949805/
Burrill, G., Parker, J., & Fitzgerald, E. (2019). Continuous Improvement in Healthcare. Retrieved from https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2019/01/continuous-quality-improvement-in-health.html
HRH Global Resource Center. (n.d.). Why is Teamwork in Health Care Important? Retrieved from https://www.hrhresourcecenter.org/HRH_Info_Teamwork.html
Rajamani, D., & RamaRao, S. 2019. Enhancing Customer Satisfaction for Health Services. Retrieved from https://www.popcouncil.org/uploads/pdfs/2019RH_EnhancingCustomerSatisfaction.pdf
