Change is difficult for most people. It often requires moving outside of one’s comfort zone, doing something different, or acquiring new skills. Understanding the dynamics of change management is another necessary leadership skill when implementing quality and safety initiatives. Though there are many different models of change, this article will be focusing on Kurt Lewin’s …
The United States has one of the highest rates of healthcare costs in comparison to countries of similar economic development. Unfortunately, this does not equate to a better quality of care. Despite high costs, the U.S. ranks poorly in the areas of life expectancy and other quality areas (Burke & Ryan, 2014). According to Dr. …
When integrating change into practice, it’s important to understand the challenges involved with quality and safety implementation and sustainability. This will allow for adequate planning and preparation. This is the second article in a series describing challenges encountered in this area, and it highlights lack of upper-level support, project fatigue, inadequate personnel, and competing priorities. …
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Tracking change with quality improvement efforts requires establishing clear data definitions, using a standardized method of data collection, and displaying the data in a manner that generates meaningful information. To begin, in order to determine if improvement has been made, one must establish that a change has occurred and that it has led to improvement. …
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What is Six Sigma? Six Sigma is a quality improvement model originally developed by Motorola in 1985. The goal of Six Sigma is twofold: find and remove defects in processes, and develop processes that are carried out the same way each and every time in order to decrease variation. Sigma is defined as standard deviation. …
There are several different improvement models that can be used to guide quality improvement and safety efforts in healthcare. This article focuses on the Lean approach. History Henry Ford was one of the first individuals to apply some of the basic principles of Lean to Ford manufacturing in the early twentieth century. He did this …