A survey of TQM Application in

Healthcare Case Analysis

Chanthini.V
MBA-HSM
3rd sem

INTRODUCTION

A recent survey of hospitals carried out by the authors in India

found that 56% of urbanized healthcare systems had begun to
use basic quality concepts.

These organizations are hoping that the quality concepts and

tools that have been widely used in manufacturing can
successfully be transplanted to healthcare.

Findings These quality concepts cannot be simply be

transplanted ; instead their implementation requires
fundamental changes in org. culture and work methods.

By gathering & analyzing data from 150 healthcare Org. that

have implemented quality programs, one can assess the
current status, identify common problems and provide
recommendations for successful implementation.
The following findings can be highlighted from the survey results :
Degree implementation

Quality programs are implemented

Implemented only in
certain department
Implemented only in
all department

Typical departments chosen were pharmacy,

patient admissions , waiting area , radiology and
nursing. Of the hospitals that had limited its
implementation to certain departments.

54% reported that they didnt think resources

would be available to support an org. wide
implementation in the near future;

65% indicated that the benefits of the quality

programs were difficult/slow by the lack of an org.
wide program;

Only 35% viewed the programs as permanent.

Cultural support
An org. culture can be defined as the values,
beliefs and norms that spread and help shape
behavior
of
its
members.
Successful
implementation of quality program requires a
supportive culture that emphasizes employee
empowerment.
The survey results indicate that top management
is highly supportive in most of the respondent
organization.

Satisfaction and benefits:

58% reported that they are satisfied with the
quality program.
67% stated that they have seen measurable

improvements, mostly in the areas of cost

reduction, increased efficiency and discipline.

45% indicated that their investment have not

paid off.

Physician Involvement :
47% of respondents expressed the problems encountered in
involving physicians in quality implementation.
78% of respondents were taking measures to deal with this
issue, including
Requiring physician representation on teams and steering
committee;
Creating liaison role between management and physicians;
Using physicians as champions;
Instituting medical staff agreements that require physicians
to spend a certain amount time on organizational duties
and
Targeting training specifically at physicians.

Training :
43% of respondents use in-house staff to train
general employees. And remaining 37% were
trained by consultants.
A comparison of the method of training used and
quality program satisfaction reveals that 89% of
those satisfied have used in-house training staff. The
use of consultants didnt lead to successful
implementation because the consultants didnt
leave a lasting culture behind.

Incentive
42% of respondents didnt use a formal incentive system
because they believed that being part of the quality
implementation was incentive enough.
11% stated that they use merit pay as an incentive.
23% indicated that they use other means to provide
incentives such as hosting special events for individual
or team recognition, providing T-shirts with slogans etc.
etc.

IMPLEMENTATION PROBLEMS :

Many problems encountered when implementing

quality programs.
Time implementation.
2nd major problem was getting the right data was
difficult.
Lack
of measurements and benchmarking
contributed to their difficulties in getting the right
data.

Suggestions provided on how best to implement

quality processes in healthcare organizations, a
variety of suggestions were made. They are :
Integrating
the quality program into the
organizational culture and daily life;
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Having a quality steering committee to plan the

implementation so that all the activities are timely
and coordinated;

Spending enough time in the planning phase,

rather than becoming overzealous and proceeding
with process when not fully prepared;
TYPICAL COMPANY
SUCCESSFUL COMPANY
5% 11%

18%
26%
18%

55%
9%

58%

PLAN
PLAN
DO
DO
CHECK
CHECK
ACT
ACT

Educating and involving enough staff from the very

beginning.

Thank you