Systems for Managing Quality Improvement in Healthcare Organizations

Cunningham, M. C. & Garrett, K. E. (1999). Practical applications of quality improvement tools in healthcare: Run charts, Pareto charts, and cause-and-effect diagrams. Quality Congress. ASQ’s ...Annual Quality Congress Proceedings , 389. Retrieved from csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/214397075?accountid=38569

The article derived from the 53 rd Annual Quality Congress Proceedings sought to analyze the effectiveness of a quality management program that was implemented in Sunset Park family health centre network. What made Sunset Park family to be an ideal place for the program is that it is a large academic community health centre network that provides behavioral health, mental, and other vital medical services to over 85,000 users in an urban multicultural society. If anything, it is essential to note that quality assessment at Sunset is vital to ensure the efficient delivery of services to the prerequisite community. The quality management program in place measures common factors such as quality of service as denoted by various aspects including but not limited to patient satisfaction and waiting time, quality of life at work, and quality of care.

The Pareto principle and a process type cause-and-effect have been proposed by an outside adviser and a client as being vital for improving quality. Regarding the Pareto principle, the outside adviser insists that the crucial factor is to assure that the variable which will be measured in the vertical axis is carefully looked into. The goal is achieved by using data that applies to the subject facility while incorporating Pareto diagrams which indicate the variety of conclusions that can be drawn. On another hand, the cause-and-effect came about after a joint project focused on improving the referral process of a patient from the medical center to the nonhospital provider. In the end, the use of a process-type cause-and-effect diagram was key to avoid finger pointing and encourage collaboration in the organization’s setup. Quality improvement stands to be a pertinent factor in the healthcare industry, and through the implementation of the Pareto principle and process type cause-and-effect diagram, there is more to be gained.

National quality forum names Norton Healthcare winner of 2011 NQF national quality healthcare award. (2011, Mar 28).  PR Newswire.  Retrieved from csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/858788594?accountid=38569

The National Quality Forum (NQF) seeks to provide awards to organizations that show exemplary performance in the healthcare field. On March 28, 2011, Norton healthcare was announced as the winner of the NQF award as a result of its leading role in providing quality healthcare in line with the year’s set standards. In general, the award is given to a healthcare organization that achieves meaningful, sustained quality improvement through performance measurement, fostering transparency, and accountability among others. The requirements to win the award in 2011 were quite high as NQF sought to create competition and provide robust and innovative healthcare environments. To be specific, NQF focused on awarding the organization that best achieved the requirement of putting necessary steps to ensure integrated care and coordination across the patient-focused experience. The award was handed to Stephen Williams, Norton Healthcare’s CEO and president.

For one, Norton Healthcare had gone out of its way to advance a 25-plus year commitment to improving quality, safety, and coordination in healthcare. The organization also provides a monthly report of the health care system in its public system that is meant to provide more confidence in its services. Surprisingly, the report even highlights specific aspects in green or red depending on whether it is above or below the national average. Norton’s hospitals document patient care in a single electronic medical record that assures accountability and proper coordination through the individual institutions and in the organization. It is not hard to notice why Norton was granted the award for patient-focused care. In its hospitals; patients have access to affordable and high-quality health care, families and patients are involved in decision making, and it has a strategic plan that contains goals involving the community and organizational leaders. These among other aspects of Norton such as their commitment to providing quality care to chronic patients prove that they were worth the NQF award.

Vanteddu, G. & McAllister, C. D. (2014). An integrated approach for prioritized process improvement. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance , 27(6), 493-504. Retrieved from csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/1660689036?accountid=38569

The author presents the critical condition that is in America’ healthcare system judging by the deficiency that exists in the field. For instance, about three hundred people die every day as a result of unnecessary medical errors while even the best performing hospitals record 10,000-50,000 defects in a million opportunities. It is due to these statistics that there is a need to provide a more strategic form of quality improvement and assessment to ensure success.

To address the problem, the author proposes that a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is implemented together with a stacked Pareto chart to identify key process measures. This concept is reiterated in the health care quality improvement initiatives section where the challenge is looked into from a patient’s healthcare delivery and healthcare provider’s care delivery perspectives. According to the author, looking into both aspects is vital to understanding the challenges that each side is expecting and how the two can collaborate to ensure success in the process. The author goes on to detail on four steps referred to as a PDCA cycle that is meant to create an integrated approach for improving healthcare delivery processes. The PDCA cycle consists of Plan, DO, check, and ACT. The plan involves identification of the elements that need improving; DO is based on modified QFD chart scores which look into internal measures or performance metrics, Check constitutes identifying possible causes and sub-causes at multiple levels to provide more informed conclusions and ACT is where one takes the necessary action to solve the problem. In the implementation, the modified QFD and stacked Pareto chart identify key performance metrics by simultaneously considering staff and customer perceptions. The proposed strategy is made more realistic by the fact that competitive healthcare is characterized by an ability to manage money and time well. In the end, the dream of quality improvement in health care is within reach.

References 

Cunningham, M. C. & Garrett, K. E. (1999). Practical applications of quality improvement tools in healthcare: Run charts, Pareto charts, and cause-and-effect diagrams. Quality Congress. ASQ’s ...Annual Quality Congress Proceedings , 389. Retrieved from csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/214397075?accountid=38569

National quality forum names Norton Healthcare winner of 2011 NQF national quality healthcare award. (2011, Mar 28).  PR Newswire.  Retrieved from csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/858788594?accountid=38569

Vanteddu, G. & McAllister, C. D. (2014). An integrated approach for prioritized process improvement. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance , 27(6), 493-504. Retrieved from csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/1660689036?accountid=38569