Process Improvement Thought Leaders

Week 2

Process Improvement Thought Leaders, Models, and Quality Tools In Week 1, you acquired a solid understanding of the policies and concepts that are paramount to the assessment, planning, and implementation of healthcare quality efforts. In Week 2, you will continue to broaden your foundational knowledge of the healthcare quality space by reviewing the contribution of thought leaders in the field of quality and how their work can be applied in the healthcare system.

By reviewing the works of thought leaders such as Walter Shewhart, Edward Deming, and Kaoru Ishikawa (Joshi, Ransom, Nash & Ransom, 2014), you will learn about their educational background, the industry they served, and their key contributions in the quality space. Through the work of Shewhart, you will come to learn about the important concepts of common-cause variation, special-cause variation, and statistical process control (SPC). From Deming, you will learn about his posits that only 15% of substandard quality is attributable to workers, while the remaining percentage is shared between factors such as poor management and unorganized systems and processes.

 

 

By engaging in exercises that will allow you to critically summarize and compare the contributions of the aforementioned quality influencers, you will gain the competency required for adequately applying quality systems and theories in practice.

This week you will also get the opportunity to learn about process improvement models and quality tools. More specifically, you will be introduced to Shewhart cycle—otherwise known as the plan, do, check, act (PDCA) cycle (Figure 3). The PDCA cycle forms the basis for other related models such as the FOCUS (find, organize, clarify, understand, and select) PDCA model, Lean, and Six Sigma. Having a solid understanding of these models and their applications will give you the requisite knowledge to better plan, do, check, and act adequately to improve processes in the healthcare facilities or organizations that you manage.

 

 

In addition to learning about the contributions of thought leaders and the different models employed to enhance quality improvement efforts, you will also get the opportunity to learn about quality improvement tools and how you can leverage these tools for improvement efforts. More specifically, you will be introduced to basic quality tools such as the control chart and the cause-and- effect/fishbone diagram, along with management and planning tools such as the balanced scorecard, stratification, and the priorities matrix.

While the control chart is used to monitor changes in processes, the fishbone diagram is a brainstorming tool that helps in identifying root causes. The management and planning tools such as the balanced scorecard are helpful for keeping track of your organization’s strategy and financial goals. Other quality-related tools—such as the use of flowcharts to visually display processes and benchmarking for comparing their quality improvement efforts to those of other organizations—will be addressed.

Table 1. Tools used for quality improvement

Quality Tools

Figure 3: The PDCA Cycle

Source: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_89.htm

 

 

When or how will you apply this tool for quality improvement in

your organization?

1 Fishbone Diagram Use for root cause analysis

2 Control Chart Use for detecting and monitoring

process variation

3 Balanced Scorecard Performance improvement tool for

reporting key metrics across the

business or organization

4 Flowchart Graphical presentation of process

showing the order and relationship of

the pieces of the process

5 Benchmarking Used for comparing performance

metrics in one organization against

the standard in the industry

6 Priorities Matrix Organizes and rank tasks, issues or

actions

7 Checklist A standard approach for completing

critical tasks

8 Pareto Chart Series of bars used to show the most

frequent or important factors

9 5 Whys An interrogative method for

assessing cause-and-effect relation in

a problem

10 Histogram Frequency distribution tool for

summarizing groups, for showing

 

 

data spread or skewness, and for

identifying outliers

By the end of this week, you will be well armed with a host of tools you will find invaluable throughout your career in the administration and management of healthcare facilities and organizations.

Be sure to review this week’s resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

References:

MindTools. (2018). Plan-do-check-act (PDCA).

Warren, K. (2014). Quality improvement: Foundation, processes, tools, and knowledge transfer techniques. In M. S. Joshi, E. R. Ransom, D. B. Nash, & S. B. Ransom (Eds.), The healthcare quality book: Vision, strategy, and tools (pp. 83- 87). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Warren, K. (2014). Quality improvement: Foundation, processes, tools, and knowledge transfer techniques. In M. S. Joshi, E. R. Ransom, D. B. Nash, & S. B. Ransom (Eds.), The healthcare quality book: Vision, strategy, and tools (pp. 93- 98). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

Wyszewianski, L. (2014). Basic concepts of healthcare quality. In M. S. Joshi, E. R. Ransom, D. B. Nash, & S. B. Ransom (Eds.), The healthcare quality book: Vision, strategy, and tools (pp. 38-40). Chicago, IL: Health Administration Press.

 

 

Books and Resources for this Week

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2013). Performance improvement (PI) plan & templates.

Link

American Society for Quality (2018). Quality in healthcare: Tools.

Link

Mosadeghrad, A. M. (2012). A conceptual framework for quality of care. Materia Socio- Medica, 24(4), 251–261.

Link

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Warren, K. (2014). Quality improvement: Foundation, processes, tools, and knowledge transfer techniques. In M. S. Joshi, E. R. Ransom, D. B. Nash…

Link

Week 2 – Assignment 1: Demonstrate Quality Models

Assignment

Due May 5 at 11:59 PM

You are a president of a healthcare quality improvement association in your region. Because of your astute leadership and experience leading changes requiring quality improvement efforts, you have been invited to contribute to the quarterly magazine on the application of quality improvement processes and approaches and on the contribution of thought leaders.

With this request in mind, develop a succinct article that addresses the following:

1. At least three thought leaders in this field and their contributions.

2. At least three quality improvement processes and approaches such as:

a. Shewhart Cycle b. Six Sigma c. API Improvement Model

 

 

Week 2 – Assignment 2: Analyze the FOCUS PDCA Model

Assignment

Due May 5 at 11:59 PM

d. Lean/Toyota Production System e. FOCUS PDCA Model

Length: 2-3 pages

References: Include a minimum of 3-5 peer-reviewed, scholarly resources at the end of your article

Your assignment should reflect scholarly academic writing, current APA standards, and adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.

Upload your document and click the Submit to Dropbox button.

In relation to your Signature Assignment, use the FOCUS PDCA model to describe your approach to implementing a process improvement effort aimed at addressing fall-related incidents in the healthcare organization that you manage.

To make your narrative explicit, ensure that you define each of the letters in the FOCUS PDCA acronym. Also, create a Microsoft PowerPoint or Word document in which you develop a figure (not more than half a page) to illustrate this important model in your narrative.

Length: 1 page graphic plus 1- to 2-page summary

 

 

References: Include a minimum of 2-3 peer-reviewed, scholarly resources.

Your assignment should reflect scholarly academic writing, current APA standards, and adhere to Northcentral University’s Academic Integrity Policy.

Upload your document and click the Submit to Dropbox button.