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  • Essay / Operational Analysis and Quality Improvement

    The initial concepts of quality improvement were actually concepts from the manufacturing industry striving to improve the quality of its products and ensure efficiency of its production processes, by reducing waste. In 1910, Ernest Codman launched the idea of ​​improving hospital care by monitoring patients to ensure treatments were effective. Codman's ideas laid the groundwork for the American College of Surgeons' development of a "minimum standard" of care, generally focused on improving the care provided in the hospital. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay By 1924, Walter A. Shewhart had developed the first known control chart, which later became known as the Shewhart cycle. The Shewhart Cycle combined quality improvement and statistical approaches to effectively manage and continue improvement processes within companies, thereby developing and better controlling how final products were produced. Quality improvement became a serious topic when the United States entered World War II and after Japan's defeat. , when Edward Deming helped rebuild Japan and shared his knowledge allowing the Japanese to be industrial leaders in several sectors after World War II. While manufacturing industries are highly mechanized, specialized and automated, healthcare management requires human contact and interaction to function. Healthcare management relies heavily on the latest technology, just like the manufacturing industry, but technology only complements the practitioners who interact, diagnose patients and initiate treatment. Quality is the new niche market in healthcare. Where there is quality health care, there will be demand, and in areas where there is no quality health care, losses will be incurred and liability will be high. As technology has evolved, especially in the healthcare industry, people's lifespans now tend to lengthen. Similarly, health care has evolved from a simple scientific and social issue to an economic issue. The economics of health care involve costs, dollars and cents and this is in my opinion the greatest challenge to health care reforms today. The justification for the cost of health care is the subject of ongoing debate at all levels between the consumer, the provider and the legislation. Besides cost, other challenges are accessibility and of course quality. Performance indicators are also a major issue for healthcare. For what? There are too many variables and each institution has developed its own unique metrics on how it will measure performance. Within a healthcare facility itself, different departments will have their own performance measurement as well as consolidated indicators for the facility as a whole. As a result, the key indicators are reduced to certain key factors, (i) quality (ii) cost and customer satisfaction, to name a few. Unfortunately, there is no single solution to fixing the healthcare industry. There is no miracle solution. It is therefore important that quality improvement programs are implemented in the various health care sectors; these improvement programs will also have to evolve. The health sector will have to think outside the box, evaluate programs to improve the quality of the financial sector, adopt.