Healthcare Quality Management and Improvement - Research Paper Example

 Quality Management/Quality Improvement Model Introduction: The concept of Quality Management has four components like planning, controlling, assurance and improvement of quality as well as quality related aspects. It focuses attention not merely on product or service quality, but also the resources deployed to manufacture the product or rendering the service. Quality management, consequently, uses quality assurance to attain the intended quality of goods and services and to constantly maintain quality. Purpose of the Study: The importance of the study is to develop quality standards for the hospital to enable them to deliver long term health care for the patients. The primary focus is to develop quality standards and the second purpose is to implement best practices for long term care for patients. The main intention of the study is attaining customer satisfaction among the patients by creating a good quality product and by giving excellent services. A benchmarking code of conduct has to be framed, and, based on this a checklist has been prepared to understand the factors that affect the objective of the study. The study is mainly carried out to understand the activities that are undertaken by hospitals to deliver quality treatment and services to patients who visit them frequently. The study will facilitate good knowledge about various quality standards that are being implemented in the organization. Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA): FMEA is a systematic method in product development and operations management for investigating possible malfunction areas inside a scheme for categorization and probability of the failure. A proper FMEA action helps a team in recognizing possible failure areas, based on past knowledge. It also enables the team to plan strategies to confront the problems and to eliminate the possibilities of failure from the system with minimum efforts and resources. This will help them in reducing growth time and costs. It is extensively used in developed industries in various stages of product life cycle. In the modern world, it is being progressively used in the service industry. Failure Mode is any error or defect in a procedure, plan, or article, which is the basic aspects that negatively influence the purchaser. Special effects examination refers to studying the penalty of those failures. “FMEA is a systematic analysis of potential failure modes aimed at preventing failures. This is intended to be a preventative action process carried out before implementing new or changes in products or processes. An effective FMEA identifies corrective actions required to prevent failures from reaching the customer and to assure the highest possible yield, quality and reliability” (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), 2011, P.1). Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) is a practical approach for classifying all probable failure in a plan, a developed or meeting process, or a manufactured goods or service. “Failure modes” can interrupt can result in the entire breakdown of an industry’s growth. Failures are any error or imperfection, particularly ones that influence the customer, and can be possible or real. “Effects Analysis” refers to a study of the results of those failures. Failures are prioritized according to how severe their results can be, how regularly they occur and how they can be detect in time. The reason for implementing FMEA is to take measure to eliminate or minimize failures, initially those of the highest-priority nature. Failure modes and effects analysis also provide knowledge and information about the risk of failure, which can be used to attain constant improvement. FMEA is used throughout plan to stop failures. Later it is used to manage the continuing process of quality control. Preferably, FMEA begins during the initial theoretical stage of plan and continues throughout the life of the product or service. Step2: Customer Satisfaction: A customer becomes satisfied only if the product or service meets or exceeds their expectations. Their pleasure will also be based upon their awareness of the knowledge of the product or service. This awareness is his/her understanding of the worth. The provider’s connection with the purchaser, the promises made to customers in the communication etc create the base for satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary for business organization to manage these aspects in a practical manner to achieve Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction, a word regularly used in marketing, is to determine how products and services provided by a business meet or exceeds the anticipation. Customer satisfaction is distinct as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose experience with a product or service exceeds particular goals. “Customer satisfaction is the most common form of market research in business-to-business markets and is often connected to quality and production measurement, rather than as straight marketing based research” (Customer satisfaction, 2010, P.1). As customer satisfaction is a significant topic in health and the medical fields it is highly necessary for them to implement quality standards, which play a vital role and they give importance to customer satisfaction. Inside the organization, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They provide incentives to employees based on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they caution their employees of troubles that can influence sales and productivity. These metrics enumerate a significant dynamic. When a product has faithful customers, it gains positive word-of-mouth advertising, which is both free and highly effective. Therefore, it is necessary for business to successfully administer customer satisfaction. To be able do this, firms need dependable and timely actions for ensuring quality. Customer satisfaction is a vague term and it is a theoretical concept. The definite demonstration of the state of happiness will differ from one another, depending on the product or service. The state of approval depends on a number of both emotional and corporal variables which associate with fulfillment behaviors such as come back and suggest rate. The intensity of fulfillment can also vary depending on other options the client may have and other products alongside of which the purchaser can evaluate the organization's products. Conclusion: Customer satisfaction mainly relates to various kinds of the quality aspects of products or services. This is especially relevant to healthcare industry. Various quality related aspects and the customer satisfaction provide clear ideas on the various kinds of the criterias that the health care and the medical sector will consider. Reference List Customer satisfaction, (2010). Dobney. Retrieved July 14, 2011, from http://www.dobney.com/Research/customersatisfaction.htm Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), (2011). National Semiconductor Corporation. Retrieved July 14, 2011, from http://www.national.com/en/quality/fmea.html Read More