Continuous Quality Improvement in Health Care (Research Paper Sample)

Continuous quality improvement in Health Care
Name
Institution
Abstract
The Continuous Quality Improvement is a philosophy that evaluates that many areas can be improved. In a quest to achieve service excellence in health care it is important to develop a continuous Quality improvement plan. The paper seeks shows that CQI can lead to better outcomes in the quality of health care and health promotion, as if offers quality improvement, controlling of medical costs and reduction of medical errors. The paper review the history of CQI and how has become applicable in the health care system. The paper reviews the approaches such as the Plan-Do-Check- Act process of implementing CQI in the health care systems. In many cases the development of good CQI program does not always translate into desire change result. A good CQI program needs to evaluate all the needs that require improvement. In healthcare such needs include patient care, service delivery, and review of the employee employer relationship as well as the communication structure to enable a seamless performance of duties. Additionally careful planning is needed in order to actually provide and ensure that the key actions that provide the necessary improvement in the key result areas. Implementation is also a vital aspect of a CQI programs. Essentially, continuous quality improvement encourages respect, trust, responsibility, communication, collaboration, recognition as well as empowerment between members of the management team as well as the employees. For this reason implementation strategies should ensure that access to information as well as provisions control and evaluation measures that would be in ensure that the CQI improvement set in place are maintained.
Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Abstract PAGEREF _Toc437977506 \h 2I.Introduction PAGEREF _Toc437977507 \h 4II.History of CQI/Origins PAGEREF _Toc437977508 \h 5a.Methodology, philosophy and approaches of continuous quality improvement PAGEREF _Toc437977509 \h 6III.CQI Improvement Principles PAGEREF _Toc437977510 \h 10IV.Developing a CQI Plan PAGEREF _Toc437977511 \h 12V.Implementation of a continuous quality improvement program PAGEREF _Toc437977512 \h 15VI.Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc437977513 \h 19
Continuous quality improvement in Health Care
* Introduction
Commonly abbreviated as CQI, continuous quality improvement refers to the management method and philosophy that is utilized widely on numerous settings. An American consultant advised the Japanese industry in the 1950s to employ the philosophy making it one of the first industries to utilize it (Sallis, 2014). As a result, the quality of Japanese services and goods improved dramatically. Today in America, the health care as well as the educational organizations is adopting continuous quality improvement to improve the quality of services provided. The approach of continuous quality improvement is a positive philosophy as most issues relate to the processes and not specifically faults from individual efforts. The paper seeks to evaluate that CQI can lead to better outcomes in the quality of health care and health promotion, as if offers quality improvement, controlling of medical costs and reduction of medical errors. Essentially, continuous quality improvement encourages respect, trust, responsibility, communication, collaboration, recognition as well as empowerment between members of the management team as well as the employees. Additionally, the philosophy encourages leaders to educate, share powers, recognize when to intervene, learn to share power and gain knowledge on the job. Therefore, the philosophy can lead to better health promotion and quality of health because the philosophy offers medical cost control, reduction in the medical errors and quality improvement among others.
Ideally, continuous quality improvement discourages blame and fear. A successful implementation of the philosophy remains a difficult and long term endeavor aimed at changing the culture of an organization. Notably, implementation of continuous quality improvement program in an organization requires the emotional and financial commitment of the leaders. The implementation of the continuous quality improvement program requires the participation of all the stakeholders to jointly develop he vision, mission and value statement as well as the guiding principles. More so, as this is a continuous process, it requires teams that are functional and utilizes the approach such a team to decisively assess the process as well as to devise solutions to issues and new services and products. Ideally, such teams have various tangible and intangible tools for evaluation and function. Apply the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle or other alternative methodology can be employed in the process of problem solving, analysis as well as implementation of a possible solution(HITRC, 2013).. A desirable trait that serves best on individual basis for continuous quality improvement is interdependency and complete collaboration.
The Joint Commission for Accreditation of Health Care Organization, abbreviated as JCAHO, launched what was referred to as an Agenda for Change in 1987. As a multiyear initiative, the agenda was based on the authorization of health care institutions such as clinics, long-term health care organizations as well as hospitals on the adoption of a management that stressed on the improvement model. JCAHO completed the refocusing of the standards, which was to serve as a template for the implementation of the improvement of quality in 1995 almost seven years later. Today, all the accredited facilities that provide health care in the United States of America should have a structure of continuous quality improvement in place (HITRC, 2013).
* History of CQI/Origins
Continuous quality improvement refers to a system of approach that when effectively utilized can improve an existing product or service or can be used to in the designing process of a new service or product. Walter Stewhart who worked at the Bell Laboratories did the initial research for continuous quality improvement in the 1930s. In his research, Walter studied whether variations in a process were impacted by random issues or were due to the process of the faulty by utilizing an intricate statistical means. The researches done by Walter become a foundation block for numerous scholars such as W.E. Deming and others who developed unique approaches and philosophies in their research on the concept of continuous quality improvement (Sallis, 2014). Consulting with Deming, the Japanese industry was the first to adopt the idea on a wide scale. Several companies consequently adopted the philosophy in the United States of America as it presented a series of advantages in the 1970s.
* Methodology, philosophy and approaches of continuous quality improvement
The system approach utilized in continuous quality improvement is a management method and a management philosophy. The philosophical foundation of the continuous quality improvement refers to the assumption that issues arising from the production process of a service or a good does not arise from a lack of skill, will or benevolent intentions among the employees in most cases but from unclear purpose, poor design of the job and or failure in then leadership. Notably, the fundamental principle of continuous quality improvement is that people are generally good. On the other hand, there is a general realization from the leadership teams that the subordinate staff is better knowledgeable on their work than those in the management team. As such, it is vital to involve the staff on the analysis of the processes of work. Furthermore, as noted by a vast majority of scholars, approximately 94 percent of the errors that occur during an operation are as a result of the processes of work and not due to the fault of the individuals working (HITRC, 2013).
Therefore, the basis of the principles of continuous quality improvement is not on assigning blames or the creation of fear among the employees but rather on the principle of establishing respect and trust among all the employees and the management team. As such, the fundamental tenets of continuous quality improvement discourage fear. Essentially, theory of continuous quality improvement indicates that actual improvement in the production of a quality service or good is in the revising and understanding the process of production. The evaluation process helps in reducing complexities, waste, as well as rework consequently reducing the overall cost. Essentially, the basic principle implicit in continuous quality improvement appears to be honest collaboration and communication about the processes of health care provision, or simply put, the way things are done within an organization as well as the aptitude to implement the necessary changes in such procedures and processes. In addition, analysis and discussion provide for plans as well as ideas for different and new services or products and processes. As such, the method of implementing continuous quality improvement remains a critical part in its formation.
One of the best quality improvement models includes a Plan, Do, Check and Act Cycle. Cycle of Plan, Do, Check, Act also referred to as the Deming cycle is an essential tool of continuous quality improvement and is applicable on almost all the sectors of the health care industry. In essence, the Deming cycle is similar to the nursing process of assessment, nursing diagnosis, planning, implementation as well as evaluation (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Typically, the Deming cycle is always changing and evolving as the processes are reevaluated and reviewed to ascertain the effectiveness of the interventions put in place. Therefore, the Deming cycle remains an ongoing dynamic tool. In a nutshell, the team of health care providers assesses the processes in place, identifies the p...