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Results for “Management Quality Circles”

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PubMed1989

Quality control for chest radiography.

A quality Control Program for Chest Radiography was established in a six room Radiology Department. After a preliminary educational session on the definition of a "good" chest film, and the factors which affect the image quality, a "Chest Team" was established. The technologists were divided into three groups: Standard Chest Group, Consistency Group and Monitoring Group. Each group served as a control for the other, resulting in standardization of all methods, techniques, and acceptance criteria in the department. A random inspection of chest radiographs, both before and after the project, showed significant improvement in the overall quality of chest films in the department over a three month period. Follow-up confirmed that the established standard was maintained with minimal effort.

Hospital Departments↗
PubMed1999

Baseline budgeting for continuous improvement.

This article is designed to introduce the techniques used to convert traditionally maintained department budgets to baseline budgets. This entails identifying key activities, evaluating for value-added, and implementing continuous improvement opportunities. Baseline Budgeting for Continuous Improvement was created as a result of a newly named company president's request to implement zero-based budgeting. The president was frustrated with the mind-set of the organization, namely, "Next year's budget should be 10 to 15 percent more than this year's spending." Zero-based budgeting was not the answer, but combining the principles of activity-based costing and the Just-in-Time philosophy of eliminating waste and continuous improvement did provide a solution to the problem.

Budgets↗
PubMed1999

The "special K" in kaizen.

Do you want a strategy that guarantees the success of kaizen in your organization? This article will provide insights as to why one organization may succeed and another fails. Learn why the "Special K" is the difference. Idea will be presented on how to develop the "Special K" in others and ourselves. You will be challenged to become a "kaizener".

Efficiency, Organizational↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of reengineering: fad or competitive factor?

Healthcare organizations have often participated in managerial innovations that have promised to revolutionize their operations (e.g., management by objectives, quality circles, total quality management, and reengineering). Historically, such managerial innovations began with a few devout adherents, snowballed into widespread acceptance, and then faded as their popularity waned. This cycle of managerial adoption generally has been complicated by a lack of a consistent, clear definition of the innovation and little or no evaluation of its organizational effects. This article examines a current managerial innovation, reengineering, that after widespread adoption has now begun to fall out of favor with many executives. A clear, practical definition of reengineering is first offered, followed by an evaluation of the effect of reengineering on competitive hospital costs. Finally, factors that influence the results of reengineering are explored. Overall, reengineering did not statistically improve a hospital's cost position; however, we suggest that providing clear and consistent feedback, codifying the reengineering process, and involving executives in core changes are key means for improving reengineering outcomes. Specific examples of how these factors may be used to facilitate reengineering are provided. Reengineering may still be beneficial if it is properly implemented.

Diffusion of Innovation↗
PubMed1998

[Quality circles in expert assessment as an instrument in quality management].

An intercomparison programme was carried out as part of the quality management of medical assessments in the public health service in Baden-Württemberg. All physicians who performed medical assessments in January 1997 were invited to participate. They received a case description adopted from medical records of a precedent case (56-year-old head of a department in an administrative authority, severely disabled after left-sided stroke with residual right-sided partial hemiparesis, reduced work performance), and were asked to assess whether the patient was permanently unable to work. Access to medical expert opinions was requested. Participation was voluntary. Assessments were reviewed twice as to whether five prospectively defined evaluation criteria were fully met, or only partially or not at all. Participants and reviewers remained unknown to each other. Among 246 eligible physicians, 103 returned an assessment (43%). Forty-five respondents had requested additional expert opinions. Anticipations for five criteria were met to their full extent with regard to: formal construction, all submissions; case description, 84%; sociomedical diagnosis, 65%; description of ability to work, 53%; and response to the question posed, 75% of submissions. The programme required considerable work time in its preparatory, field, and evaluation phases. The procedure was however found to be practicable, and a suitable element within a quality management programme can contribute towards motivation, quality assurance and the identification of possible deficits, and thus indicate possible topics and issues for continuing education and quality control programmes.

Cerebrovascular Disorders↗
PubMed1992

Total quality management and statistical quality control: practical applications to waste stream management.

TQM offers a completely new approach to problem solving in health care. The approach requires dedication and persistence in monitoring, understanding, and changing systems at a level that has never been reached before in the United States' health care system. Materiel management, purchasing, nursing, housekeeping, and administration now have the necessary tools to centrally study the medical waste stream flow at their facilities. The intent of this article is to display how TQM techniques can be applied to minimize a hospital's medical waste stream. The approach of studying medical waste as a defect generated during the process of delivering high-quality care enables a hospital to pinpoint causes of these defects, modify the parent system of the defect, and lessen the generation of medical waste defects. Successful implementation of these techniques as a continuous process will enable hospitals to be leaders in the preservation of their host communities' environments.

Data Collection↗
PubMed2005

Ergonomics in total quality management: how can we sell ergonomics to management?

The objective of this paper is to describe how and why ergonomics should be promoted in total quality management (TQM). Ergonomics and TQM activities are compared. An approach is proposed to apply ergonomics in TQM using ergonomics circles. An eight-step approach is introduced for applying ergonomics using ergonomics circles and a study that employed this approach in Korea is discussed. In applying this approach, all processes were first evaluated by workers. Processes that were identified as problematic were analysed by a company-wide committee to set priorities for improvement. An ergonomics improvement team consisting of safety and health personnel, process engineers and management innovation personnel then worked on the processes using a low-cost approach. It was found that applying ergonomics using ergonomics circles as quality circles in TQM was effective in improving workplaces and resulted in increasing productivity, cost saving and improved safety.

Efficiency↗
PubMed1999

Quick and continuous improvement through kaizen blitz.

It is our objective to provide you with a step-by-step approach to conducting a kaizen blitz within two days and describe how to achieve dramatic performance improvement with employee buy-in through this process. Kaizen blitz has been used dozens of times by the authors, and in some instances the same area has been blitzed as many as four times, with significant improvements each and every time. Employees have even taken it on themselves to conduct informal blitzes as a continuing improvement effort after a formal blitz has been conducted in their area. Blitzes can succeed in a variety of environments. The morning after the employees of one company attended this presentation, they self initiated a mini-blitz and discovered opportunities for improvement that they enthusiastically presented to management.

Efficiency, Organizational↗
PubMed1994

[Sore throat patients as the topic of a general practice quality circle. Determination and development of a practice guideline. Quality Assurance Study group for General Medicine].

UNLABELLED: The present paper describes the institutionalization of a general practitioners' quality circle and the development of management guidelines for the treatment of patients with sore throat. Doctors participating: An invitation to attend an "information meeting" on the subject quality control and a quality circle sent to 200 general practitioners and internists, evoked a response by 18 physicians, ten of whom participated in the first meeting of the quality circle. Practical procedure: Stocktaking of the procedure in the doctor's office on the basis of a documentation questionnaire, the discussion of a video of the counselling of a patient with a sore throat, interviews with patients and the personal experience of the participating physicians was compared with a current analysis of the literature. The results of the comparison were taken as a basis for the development of management guidelines following the Dutch NHG Standard (Nederlands-Huisartsen-Genootschap-Standarden). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A wide variation was found in the treatment offered to patients with sore throats in the doctor's office. Deviation from text book information does not indicate a priori any quality deficit in the GP's practice. With respect to the management guideline worked out, it was agreed that in the individual case, a wellfounded deviation can be justified.

Family Practice↗