QUALITY IMPROVEMENT TOOLS
Have you ever used a pro and con list to work through a challenging decision? Have you checked items or steps off a notepad as you completed them? The seven tools of quality—and their many derivatives—assist healthcare professionals in a similar way, by breaking down complex processes so that they can be more easily understood. These instruments also assist in analyzing data so that quality improvement decisions can be made.
For this Discussion, you will reflect on the quality improvement tools you have used in the nursing workplace and the impact they have had.
To Prepare:
- Review the quality tools described in Chapter 4 of the Johnson and Sollecito text; the Neuhauser, Myhre, and Alemi workbook; and the American Society for Quality website.
- Consider a situation when you used a quality tool in a healthcare setting.
Post a description of the quality improvement tools you have used or have been introduced to in healthcare. Provide an example of how you have used a quality improvement tool in the past and the effect it had on you, the organization, and/or patients. Be specific and provide examples.
Required Readings
Johnson, J. K., & Sollecito, W. A. (2020). McLaughlin & Kaluzny’s continuous quality improvement in health care (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Chapter 4: “Understanding Variation, Tools, and Data Sources for CQI in Health Care” (pp. 106–141).
- Chapter 5, “Lean and Six Sigma Management: Building a Foundation for Optimal Patient Care Using Patient Flow Physics” (pp. 142–173)
Neuhauser, D., Myhre, S., & Alemi, F. (2004). Personal continuous improvement workbook (7th ed.). McLean, VA: Academy for Healthcare Improvement Download Academy for Healthcare Improvement.
Note: Review the Seven Tools of Quality
Silver, S. A., Harel, Z., McQuillan, R., Weizman, A. V., Thomas, T., Chertow, … Chan, C. T. (2016). How to begin a quality improvement project. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 11Links to an external site.(5). 893–900.
American Society for Quality. (n.d.). Quality tools A to ZLinks to an external site.. Retrieved from https://asq.org/quality-resources/quality-tools
