Healthcare & Hospital Management

Biography

Biography: Uche Nwabueze

Abstract

Quality management improvement programs is being implemented in a vacuum, for example in a piecemeal fashion due to the fact that managerially and strategically many hospital systems lack the time required for detailed thinking, planning and execution, thus quality management programs is seen as a political, reactive activity rather than an integrated approach to improving the quality of patient care and caring. Evidence from a structured interview of twenty healthcare quality managers suggest the lack of managerial understanding, but more importantly, the belief in the holistic nature of quality management and improvement programs in achieving improved standards of patient care. There seems to be continued confusion as to what constitutes the implementation variables that would ensure success in driving the operations, people and strategic alliances required in a quality culture. For example, many hospitals focus on the quality assurance requirements of standard setting and monitoring and then think that by so doing they are implementing quality management. However, what these hospitals are actually doing is installing methods to inspect, correct and elevate medical performance rather than embarking upon an organizations wide strategic initiative to improve quality of care and caring for patients. The paper presents a model for the time constrained manager; a model that offers an understanding of the essential requirements for the success of quality management is the six sigma of total quality management in healthcare organizations.