Management Information |
Quality Improvement is Free
The point of a quality improvement program should not only be to improve a product or the delivery of healthcare but it should also be to save time and money by reducing or eliminating waste or errors. For example, a doctor or nurse practitioner writes a prescription. We wouldn't deliver some of the best quality pills along with a few randomly chosen pills and we wouldn't completely incorrectly fill the prescription. To do either could create serious consequences. Rather, we want to only deliver the best quality. But there is another side to not achieving the best quality. If we incorrectly fill the prescription, even if there is no patient harm, there is waste. Once the error is found, the prescription must be refilled and paperwork redone. Wasted time and money for the healthcare provider! Quality projects build processes that prevent errors and waste. In fact, the main goal of lean healthcare is to eliminate waste in a structured approach. The Japanese use the term kaisen event. They use this idea to eliminate waste in any environment, whether manufacturing or service orientated. Quality projects that I have done have always resulted in avoidance of waste and thus a savings in time and cost. Almost all projects I have read about in journals present the savings of cost and time. Hence, if you are involved in a quality project you need to calculate the costs in time and money of accomplishing a process as it currently exists and then do the same for the "quality improved" process. There should be a substantial savings of both time and money. After all, time is money. To make the required analysis I suggest that one of the project team members be your cost accountant or chief financial officer. Doing so will improve the accuracy of calculations of savings. Plus, you will impress upon one of the leaders of your healthcare unit the importance of continuing quality projects. In fact, your project team will probably be lauded for their achievement. Finally, in totaling the costs of a project, don't forget to factor in the costs of the team in time and money. Count the costs of materials used, the pays of all involved and the time spent by all on the project. If the project is well executed and planned, you should realize a substantial cost/benefit ratio. That is, the costs of executing the project should be a fraction of the realized savings. Calculating this ratio speaks the language of upper management and directors and produces positive benefits, such as the demand for more of such projects. You will be able to aptly demonstrate that "Quality is Free." Overall, as demonstrated, quality improvement projects should not only deliver a superior product but also should demonstrate the savings in time and money. Doing so ensures the continuance of quality improvement at a site, which will produce superior products with little waste. Donald Bryant helps healthcare providers meet their challenges. If you liked this article and want more free tips, visit http://www.bryantsstatisticalconsulting.com for a free article to help you start making improvements at your site immediately.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
When Change Is In the Wind...Heads Up! In these days of takeovers and mergers, of downsizings and lean management, chances are that you are going to be caught in a job upheaval at least once in your career. Probably more than once!Change in the wind may come like an invigorating breeze on a hot humid night. 3 Reasons Why CRM Strategies Fail Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the most effective tools for improving customer relationships and therefore increasing revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. Unfortunately, some CRM strategies fail. Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness. Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences. Five Steps to Better Employee Management Hiring employees is a huge responsibility. Before hiring anyone, be sure to carefully analyze your needs in terms of extra assistance. Unlock the Hidden Creativity of Your Employees To release creativity in employees, managers must get involved in their employees' work. Look at each employee as if he or she is the expert on the job and tap into their creative energy. Business Fails When We Do Not Talk You may remember being told as a child, "Keep quiet!""Children should be seen, not heard," and "You talktoo much." You were a "good" kid if you kept quiet. 13 Comments on Bad Meetings Bad meetings are a cultural malady that senior executives pass on to new employees.Long pointless meetings are useful in that they keep incompetent people from interfering with those who are working. What Personal Assistants Really Want What would happen if the personal assistants in your organisation were away for a week? How would it affect the running of your business or department? How would it affect you?personally?If you are fortunate to have a personal assistant whom you heavily rely on to assist you, in most instances you would find yourself run ragged if they were absent for longer than a day.This week I spoke with two clients who were in the situation where their p. Issue Management Methodology for Tracking Project Issues 1. What is an Issue?An issue is an incident, circumstance, problem or inquiry that affects or potentially affects the timely delivery of the project, product or service, it may also impact the quality of deliverables and the cost of production. Process and Procedures Investments - How to Get Money Back In September 2004, President Bush signed the $146 billion tax cut bill restoring the recently expired business Research & Experimentation Tax Credit. The 18-month renewal of the research and experimentation tax credit, which expired June 30 2004, was the most expensive item with an expected $7. People Skills: Eight Essential People Skills Being able to communicate effectively with others requires people skills, and here's eight essential ones:1. Understanding people People not only come in all shapes and sizes, but they come with different personality types as well. Eight Skills of Highly Successful Consultants With deference to Dr. Covey and his very popular Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (all habits that will make us better consultants!), here are eight skills that all of us as consultants can work on to improve. 2 Steps For Increasing Company Profits or Performing Business Turnarounds 1. Eliminate wasteEliminate reports, habits, products, duplicate input, and processes that waste time and money. Implementing Change There are different reactions that individuals experience during time of change. Understanding the emotions of an individual may better help them get through the period of unexpected change. Change Management: Getting Everyone on Board the Change Train How do you get everyone on board the change train that is gaining speed and heading out of the station? How do you get your people to, not only go through the motions, but also actually "buy into" the changes that are necessary? People's resistance to change is not entirely irrational; it stems from good and understandable concerns. Here are the six most common reasons people resist change and tactics to convert this resistance to commitment. Performance Appraisals: Nightmares or Sweet Dreams Some managers think of performance appraisal meetings and recollections of torn Achilles' heels or root canals immediately surface. They're sort of "been there, don't want to go again" situations. Try It Out On Your Team First Wow! You're brilliant! You have a great idea. You've looked at it every possible way to find holes in your logic, fallacies in your assumptions. 5 Ideas To Leverage The 3 Stages Of Career Development In Your Organization In most industrialized nations, the average age a student graduates from high school is 18 years old and the average retirement age is 65 years old - a difference of 47 years. On average, most people work 40 to 50 years of their lives. Performance Management - By Assuming Nothing Unhappy as Jenny undoubtedly was, she held on very tightly to her job. After all, she had worked her way up over the years to the supervisory role she was in - and she wasn't going to let go. One Bad Apple One Bad AppleI know what you are thinking but no, I am not doing atribute to Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. Although I will admit that their hit song from the 70's keeps rolling around in my mind as I type this. |
home | site map | contact us |