Six Sigma Quality Management System and Design of Risk-based Statistical Quality Control.

PubMed

Westgard, James O; Westgard, Sten A

2017-03-01

Six sigma concepts provide a quality management system (QMS) with many useful tools for managing quality in medical laboratories. This Six Sigma QMS is driven by the quality required for the intended use of a test. The most useful form for this quality requirement is the allowable total error. Calculation of a sigma-metric provides the best predictor of risk for an analytical examination process, as well as a design parameter for selecting the statistical quality control (SQC) procedure necessary to detect medically important errors. Simple point estimates of sigma at medical decision concentrations are sufficient for laboratory applications. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigation of priorities in water quality management based on correlations and variations.

PubMed

Boyacıoğlu, Hülya; Gündogdu, Vildan; Boyacıoğlu, Hayal

2013-04-15

The development of water quality assessment strategies investigating spatial and temporal changes caused by natural and anthropogenic phenomena is an important tool in management practices. This paper used cluster analysis, water quality index method, sensitivity analysis and canonical correlation analysis to investigate priorities in pollution control activities. Data sets representing 22 surface water quality parameters were subject to analysis. Results revealed that organic pollution was serious threat for overall water quality in the region. Besides, oil and grease, lead and mercury were the critical variables violating the standard. In contrast to inorganic variables, organic and physical-inorganic chemical parameters were influenced by variations in physical conditions (discharge, temperature). This study showed that information produced based on the variations and correlations in water quality data sets can be helpful to investigate priorities in water management activities. Moreover statistical techniques and index methods are useful tools in data - information transformation process. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Quality management in intensive care medicine].

PubMed

Martin, J; Braun, J-P

2014-02-01

Treatment of critical ill patients in the intensive care unit is tantamount to well-designed risk or quality management. Several tools of quality management and quality assurance have been developed in intensive care medicine. In addition to external quality assurance by benchmarking with regard to the intensive care medicine, peer review procedures have been established for external quality assurance in recent years. In the process of peer review of an intensive care unit (ICU), external physicians and nurses visit the ICU, evaluate on-site proceedings, and discuss with the managing team of the ICU possibilities for optimization. Furthermore, internal quality management in the ICU is possible based on the 10 quality indicators of the German Interdisciplinary Society for Intensive Care Medicine (DIVI, "Deutschen Interdisziplinären Vereinigung für Intensiv- und Notfallmedizin"). Thereby every ICU has numerous possibilities to improve their quality management system.

[Quality management in intensive care medicine].

PubMed

Martin, J; Braun, J-P

2013-09-01

Treatment of critical ill patients in the intensive care unit is tantamount to well-designed risk or quality management. Several tools of quality management and quality assurance have been developed in intensive care medicine. In addition to extern quality assurance by benchmarking with regard to the intensive care medicine, peer review procedures have been established for external quality assurance in recent years. In the process of peer review of an intensive care unit (ICU), external physicians and nurses visit the ICU, evaluate on-site proceedings, and discuss with the managing team of the ICU possibilities for optimization. Furthermore, internal quality management in the ICU is possible based on the 10 quality indicators of the German Interdisciplinary Society for Intensive Care Medicine (DIVI, "Deutschen Interdisziplinären Vereinigung für Intensiv- und Notfallmedizin"). Thereby every ICU has numerous possibilities to improve their quality management system.

School-Based Management: An Approach to Decision-Making Quality in Egyptian General Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elmelegy, Reda Ibrahim

2015-01-01

The current research aims at clarifying how school-based management (SBM) can contribute to achieve the decision-making quality in Egyptian general secondary schools and determine the requirements of quality decision-making. It depends on the descriptive method in order to acknowledge the basics of the SBM and its relationship with the quality of…

Reverse quality management: developing evidence-based best practices in health emergency management.

PubMed

Lynch, Tim; Cox, Paul

2006-01-01

The British Columbia Ministry of Health's Framework for Core Functions in Public Health was the catalyst that inspired this review of best practices in health emergency management. The fieldwork was conducted in the fall of 2005 between hurricane Katrina and the South Asia earthquake. These tragedies, shown on 24/7 television news channels, provided an eyewitness account of disaster management, or lack of it, in our global village world. It is not enough to just have best practices in place. There has to be a governance structure that can be held accountable. This review of best practices lists actions in support of an emergency preparedness culture at the management, executive, and corporate/governance levels of the organization. The methodology adopted a future quality management approach of the emergency management process to identify the corresponding performance indictors that correlated with practices or sets of practices. Identifying best practice performance indictors needed to conduct a future quality management audit is described as reverse quality management. Best practices cannot be assessed as stand-alone criteria; they are influenced by organizational culture. The defining of best practices was influenced by doubt about defining a practice it is hoped will never be performed, medical staff involvement, leadership, and an appreciation of the resources required and how they need to be managed. Best practice benchmarks are seen as being related more to "measures" of performance defined locally and agreed on by 2 or more parties rather than to achieving industrial standards. Relating practices to performance indicators and then to benchmarks resulted in the development of a Health Emergency Management Best Practices Matrix that lists specific practice in the different phases of emergency management.

Management of common gastrointestinal disorders: quality criteria based on patients' views and practice guidelines

PubMed Central

Jones, Roger; Hunt, Claire; Stevens, Richard; Dalrymple, Jamie; Driscoll, Richard; Sleet, Sarah; Smith, Jonathan Blanchard

2009-01-01

Background Although gastrointestinal disorders are common in general practice, clinical guidelines are not always implemented, and few patient-generated quality criteria are available to guide management. Aim To develop quality criteria for the management of four common gastrointestinal disorders: coeliac disease, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), inflammatory bowel disease, and irritable bowel syndrome. Design of study Qualitative study including thematic analysis of transcripts from patient focus groups and content analysis of published clinical practice guidelines. Emergent themes were synthesised by a consensus panel, into quality criteria for each condition. Setting Community-based practice in England, UK. Methods Fourteen focus groups were conducted (four for coeliac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease, and two for GORD) involving a total of 93 patients (64 females, 29 males; mean age 55.4 years). Quality criteria were based on patients' views and expectations, synthesised with an analysis of clinical practice guidelines. Results A chronic disease management model was developed for each condition. Key themes included improving the timeliness and accuracy of diagnosis, appropriate use of investigations, better provision of information for patients, including access to patient organisations, better communication with, and access to, secondary care providers, and structured follow-up and regular review, particularly for coeliac disease and inflammatory bowel disease. Conclusion This study provides a model for the development of quality markers for chronic disease management in gastroenterology, which is likely to be applicable to other chronic conditions. PMID:19520018

Process Reengineering for Quality Improvement in ICU Based on Taylor's Management Theory.

PubMed

Tao, Ziqi

2015-06-01

Using methods including questionnaire-based surveys and control analysis, we analyzed the improvements in the efficiency of ICU rescue, service quality, and patients' satisfaction, in Xuzhou Central Hospital after the implementation of fine management, with an attempt to further introduce the concept of fine management and implement the brand construction. Originating in Taylor's "Theory of Scientific Management" (1982), fine management uses programmed, standardized, digitalized, and informational approaches to ensure each unit of an organization is running with great accuracy, high efficiency, strong coordination, and at sustained duration (Wang et al., Fine Management, 2007). The nature of fine management is a process that breaks up the strategy and goal, and executes it. Strategic planning takes place at every part of the process. Fine management demonstrates that everybody has a role to play in the management process, every area must be examined through the management process, and everything has to be managed (Zhang et al., The Experience of Hospital Nursing Precise Management, 2006). In other words, this kind of management theory demands all people to be involved in the entire process (Liu and Chen, Med Inf, 2007). As public hospital reform is becoming more widespread, it becomes imperative to "build a unified and efficient public hospital management system" and "improve the quality of medical services" (Guidelines on the Pilot Reform of Public Hospitals, 2010). The execution of fine management is of importance in optimizing the medical process, improving medical services and building a prestigious hospital brand.

Probability concepts in quality risk management.

PubMed

Claycamp, H Gregg

2012-01-01

Essentially any concept of risk is built on fundamental concepts of chance, likelihood, or probability. Although risk is generally a probability of loss of something of value, given that a risk-generating event will occur or has occurred, it is ironic that the quality risk management literature and guidelines on quality risk management tools are relatively silent on the meaning and uses of "probability." The probability concept is typically applied by risk managers as a combination of frequency-based calculation and a "degree of belief" meaning of probability. Probability as a concept that is crucial for understanding and managing risk is discussed through examples from the most general, scenario-defining and ranking tools that use probability implicitly to more specific probabilistic tools in risk management. A rich history of probability in risk management applied to other fields suggests that high-quality risk management decisions benefit from the implementation of more thoughtful probability concepts in both risk modeling and risk management. Essentially any concept of risk is built on fundamental concepts of chance, likelihood, or probability. Although "risk" generally describes a probability of loss of something of value, given that a risk-generating event will occur or has occurred, it is ironic that the quality risk management literature and guidelines on quality risk management methodologies and respective tools focus on managing severity but are relatively silent on the in-depth meaning and uses of "probability." Pharmaceutical manufacturers are expanding their use of quality risk management to identify and manage risks to the patient that might occur in phases of the pharmaceutical life cycle from drug development to manufacture, marketing to product discontinuation. A probability concept is typically applied by risk managers as a combination of data-based measures of probability and a subjective "degree of belief" meaning of probability. Probability as

EDUCATING MANAGERS ABOUT QUALITY THROUGH CUSTOMER-SUPPLIER UNDERSTANDING

EPA Science Inventory

The successful implementation of a Quality System depends largely on the commitment to Quality by managers and their participation in the quality management process. oday, an accepted definition of quality is largely based on the concept of customer and supplier partnerships in a...

Total Quality Management in Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherr, Lawrence A.; Lozier, G. Gredgory

1991-01-01

Total Quality Management, based on theories of W. Edward Deming and others, is a style of management using continuous process improvement characterized by mission and customer focus, a systematic approach to operations, vigorous development of human resources, long-term thinking, and a commitment to ensuring quality. The values espoused by this…

Managing Change from a Quality Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snyder, Karolyn J.

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the change process in 28 schools, with a focus on how principals went about transforming traditional school-work cultures into quality systems. The principals had participated in Managing Productive Schools (MPS), a comprehensive systems-approach program based on quality management concepts.…

Public health laboratory quality management in a developing country.

PubMed

Wangkahat, Khwanjai; Nookhai, Somboon; Pobkeeree, Vallerut

2012-01-01

The article aims to give an overview of the system of public health laboratory quality management in Thailand and to produce a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis that is relevant to public health laboratories in the country. The systems for managing laboratory quality that are currently employed were described in the first component. The second component was a SWOT analysis, which used the opinions of laboratory professionals to identify any areas that could be improved to meet quality management systems. Various quality management systems were identified and the number of laboratories that met both international and national quality management requirements was different. The SWOT analysis found the opportunities and strengths factors offered the best chance to improve laboratory quality management in the country. The results are based on observations and brainstorming with medical laboratory professionals who can assist laboratories in accomplishing quality management. The factors derived from the analysis can help improve laboratory quality management in the country. This paper provides viewpoints and evidence-based approaches for the development of best possible practice of services in public health laboratories.

Total quality management in blood transfusion.

PubMed

Smit-Sibinga, C T

2000-01-01

Quality management is an ongoing development resulting in consistency products and services and ever increasing customer satisfaction. The ultimum is Total Quality Management. Quality systems and quality management in transfusion medicine have gained considerable attention since the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic. Where product orientation has long been applied through quality control, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) principles were introduced, shifting the developments in the direction of process orientation. Globally, and particularly in the more industrialised world people and system orientation has come along with the introduction of the ISO9001 concept. Harmonisation and a degree of uniformity are needed to implement a universally applicable Quality System and related Quality Management. Where the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) is the professional organisation with the most extensive experience in quality systems in blood transfusion, the European Union and the Council of Europe now are in the process to design a quality system and management applicable to a larger variety of countries, based on a hybrid of current GMP and ISO9001 principles. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has developed a more universally to implement Quality Manual, with a pilot project in Honduras. It is recommendable to harmonise the various designs and bring the approaches under one common denominator.

Web-based decision support and visualization tools for water quality management in the Chesapeake Bay watershed

USGS Publications Warehouse

Mullinix, C.; Hearn, P.; Zhang, H.; Aguinaldo, J.

2009-01-01

Federal, State, and local water quality managers charged with restoring the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem require tools to maximize the impact of their limited resources. To address this need, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) are developing a suite of Web-based tools called the Chesapeake Online Assessment Support Toolkit (COAST). The goal of COAST is to help CBP partners identify geographic areas where restoration activities would have the greatest effect, select the appropriate management strategies, and improve coordination and prioritization among partners. As part of the COAST suite of tools focused on environmental restoration, a water quality management visualization component called the Nutrient Yields Mapper (NYM) tool is being developed by USGS. The NYM tool is a web application that uses watershed yield estimates from USGS SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed (SPARROW) attributes model (Schwarz et al., 2006) [6] to allow water quality managers to identify important sources of nitrogen and phosphorous within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The NYM tool utilizes new open source technologies that have become popular in geospatial web development, including components such as OpenLayers and GeoServer. This paper presents examples of water quality data analysis based on nutrient type, source, yield, and area of interest using the NYM tool for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. In addition, we describe examples of map-based techniques for identifying high and low nutrient yield areas; web map engines; and data visualization and data management techniques.

Using Total Quality Management Principles To Implement School-Based Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Terry, Paul M.

Those engaged in school restructuring can find direction in the philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, which has guided the operations of many American corporations. This paper provides an overview of Deming's Fourteen Points of Total Quality Management (TQM) and discusses their applications to education. To develop a successful TQM system, the school…

Measuring management's perspective of data quality in Pakistan's Tuberculosis control programme: a test-based approach to identify data quality dimensions.

PubMed

Ali, Syed Mustafa; Anjum, Naveed; Kamel Boulos, Maged N; Ishaq, Muhammad; Aamir, Javariya; Haider, Ghulam Rasool

2018-01-16

Data quality is core theme of programme's performance assessment and many organizations do not have any data quality improvement strategy, wherein data quality dimensions and data quality assessment framework are important constituents. As there is limited published research about the data quality specifics that are relevant to the context of Pakistan's Tuberculosis control programme, this study aims at identifying the applicable data quality dimensions by using the 'fitness-for-purpose' perspective. Forty-two respondents pooled a total of 473 years of professional experience, out of which 223 years (47%) were in TB control related programmes. Based on the responses against 11 practical cases, adopted from the routine recording and reporting system of Pakistan's TB control programme (real identities of patient were masked), completeness, accuracy, consistency, vagueness, uniqueness and timeliness are the applicable data quality dimensions relevant to the programme's context, i.e. work settings and field of practice. Based on a 'fitness-for-purpose' approach to data quality, this study used a test-based approach to measure management's perspective and identified data quality dimensions pertinent to the programme and country specific requirements. Implementation of a data quality improvement strategy and achieving enhanced data quality would greatly help organizations in promoting data use for informed decision making.

Quality Management in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tribus, Myron

When transferring the methods of quality management from industry to academia, there are important differences that must be considered. This paper describes the differences between traditional management and quality management, and shows how Deming's principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) can be applied to education. Some of these principles…

Verification of a quality management theory: using a delphi study.

PubMed

Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

2013-11-01

A model of quality management called Strategic Collaborative Quality Management (SCQM) model was developed based on the quality management literature review, the findings of a survey on quality management assessment in healthcare organisations, semi-structured interviews with healthcare stakeholders, and a Delphi study on healthcare quality management experts. The purpose of this study was to verify the SCQM model. The proposed model was further developed using feedback from thirty quality management experts using a Delphi method. Further, a guidebook for its implementation was prepared including a road map and performance measurement. The research led to the development of a context-specific model of quality management for healthcare organisations and a series of guidelines for its implementation. A proper model of quality management should be developed and implemented properly in healthcare organisations to achieve business excellence.

The role of risk-based prioritization in total quality management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bennett, C.T.

1994-10-01

The climate in which government managers must make decisions grows more complex and uncertain. All stakeholders - the public, industry, and Congress - are demanding greater consciousness, responsibility, and accountability of programs and their budgets. Yet, managerial decisions have become multifaceted, involve greater risk, and operate over much longer time periods. Over the last four or five decades, as policy analysis and decisions became more complex, scientists from psychology, operations research, systems science, and economics have developed a more or less coherent process called decision analysis to aid program management. The process of decision analysis - a systems theoretic approachmore » - provides the backdrop for this paper. The Laboratory Integrated Prioritization System (LIPS) has been developed as a systems analytic and risk-based prioritization tool to aid the management of the Tri-Labs` (Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia) operating resources. Preliminary analyses of the effects of LIPS has confirmed the practical benefits of decision and systems sciences - the systematic, quantitative reduction in uncertainty. To date, the use of LIPS - and, hence, its value - has been restricted to resource allocation within the Tri-Labs` operations budgets. This report extends the role of risk-based prioritization to the support of DOE Total Quality Management (TQM) programs. Furthermore, this paper will argue for the requirement to institutionalize an evolutionary, decision theoretic approach to the policy analysis of the Department of Energy`s Program Budget.« less

[Informatics data quality and management].

PubMed

Feng, Rung-Chuang

2009-06-01

While the quality of data affects every aspect of business, it is frequently overlooked in terms of customer data integration, data warehousing, business intelligence and enterprise applications. Regardless of which data terms are used, a high level of data quality is a critical base condition essential to satisfy user needs and facilitate the development of effective applications. In this paper, the author introduces methods, a management framework and the major factors involved in data quality assessment. Author also integrates expert opinions to develop data quality assessment tools.

Verification of a Quality Management Theory: Using a Delphi Study

PubMed Central

Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

2013-01-01

Background: A model of quality management called Strategic Collaborative Quality Management (SCQM) model was developed based on the quality management literature review, the findings of a survey on quality management assessment in healthcare organisations, semi-structured interviews with healthcare stakeholders, and a Delphi study on healthcare quality management experts. The purpose of this study was to verify the SCQM model. Methods: The proposed model was further developed using feedback from thirty quality management experts using a Delphi method. Further, a guidebook for its implementation was prepared including a road map and performance measurement. Results: The research led to the development of a context-specific model of quality management for healthcare organisations and a series of guidelines for its implementation. Conclusion: A proper model of quality management should be developed and implemented properly in healthcare organisations to achieve business excellence. PMID:24596883

Quality management in home care: models for today's practice.

PubMed

Verhey, M P

1996-01-01

In less than a decade, home care providers have been a part of two major transitions in health care delivery. First, because of the advent of managed care and a shift from inpatient to community-based services, home care service delivery systems have experienced tremendous growth. Second, the principles and practices of total quality management and continuous quality improvement have permeated the organization, administration, and practice of home health care. Based on the work of Deming, Juran, and Crosby, the basic tenets of the new quality management philosophy involve a focus on the following five key areas: (1) systems and processes rather than individual performance; (2) involvement, collaboration, and empowerment; (3) internal and external "customers"; (4) data and measurement; and (5) standards, guidelines, and outcomes of care. Home care providers are among those in the forefront who are developing and implementing programs that integrate these foci into the delivery of quality home care services. This article provides a summary of current home care programs that address these five key areas of quality management philosophy and provide models for innovative quality management practice in home care. For further information about each program, readers are referred to the original reports in the home care and quality management journal literature, as cited herein.

Quality management of human resources. Providers should begin by focusing on education, performance management, and reward systems.

PubMed

Blair, C S; Fordyce, M; Barney, S M

1993-10-01

For a quality management transformation to occur, a healthcare organization must focus on education and development, performance management, and recognition and reward systems during the first years of implementation. Education and development are perhaps the most important human resource management functions when implementing quality management principles and processes because behavioral changes will be required at all organizational levels. Specific programs that support an organization's quality management effort will vary but should include the conceptual, cultural, and technical aspects of quality management. The essence of quality management is to always satisfy the customer and to continuously improve the services and products the organization offers. The approach to performance management should therefore rely on customer feedback and satisfaction. An organization committed to quality management should base its performance management approach on customer orientation, process improvement, employee involvement, decision making with data, and continuous improvement. Managers and trustees are being challenged to provide innovative recognition and reward systems that reinforce the values and behaviors consistent with quality management. Such systems must also be aligned with the behaviors and outcomes that support the philosophy, mission, and values of the Catholic healthcare ministry. The following components should be considered for a recognition and reward system: base pay, incentives, benefits, and nonmonetary rewards.

[Quality Manager 2.0 in hospitals: A practical guidance for executive managers, medical directors, senior consultants, nurse managers and practicing quality managers].

PubMed

Pilz, Stefan; Hülsmann, Sylvia; Michallik, Stefan; Rimbach-Schurig, Monika; Schollmeier, Margarita; Sommerhoff, Benedikt; Weßling, Adelheid

2013-01-01

Aiming at the development of perspectives and recommendations for modern quality management in health services the GQMG conducted a study on the role and self-conception of quality managers in hospitals. It seems obvious that the effectiveness of quality management clearly depends on the executive board's skilful installation of quality management, their support of quality managers and, particularly in larger-sized institutions on the coordination of staff units and cross-sectional functions.(As supplied by author). Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Quality data collection and management technology of aerospace complex product assembly process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weng, Gang; Liu, Jianhua; He, Yongxi; Zhuang, Cunbo

2017-04-01

Aiming at solving problems of difficult management and poor traceability for discrete assembly process quality data, a data collection and management method is proposed which take the assembly process and BOM as the core. Data collection method base on workflow technology, data model base on BOM and quality traceability of assembly process is included in the method. Finally, assembly process quality data management system is developed and effective control and management of quality information for complex product assembly process is realized.

The reliability-quality relationship for quality systems and quality risk management.

PubMed

Claycamp, H Gregg; Rahaman, Faiad; Urban, Jason M

2012-01-01

Engineering reliability typically refers to the probability that a system, or any of its components, will perform a required function for a stated period of time and under specified operating conditions. As such, reliability is inextricably linked with time-dependent quality concepts, such as maintaining a state of control and predicting the chances of losses from failures for quality risk management. Two popular current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) and quality risk management tools, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and root cause analysis (RCA) are examples of engineering reliability evaluations that link reliability with quality and risk. Current concepts in pharmaceutical quality and quality management systems call for more predictive systems for maintaining quality; yet, the current pharmaceutical manufacturing literature and guidelines are curiously silent on engineering quality. This commentary discusses the meaning of engineering reliability while linking the concept to quality systems and quality risk management. The essay also discusses the difference between engineering reliability and statistical (assay) reliability. The assurance of quality in a pharmaceutical product is no longer measured only "after the fact" of manufacturing. Rather, concepts of quality systems and quality risk management call for designing quality assurance into all stages of the pharmaceutical product life cycle. Interestingly, most assays for quality are essentially static and inform product quality over the life cycle only by being repeated over time. Engineering process reliability is the fundamental concept that is meant to anticipate quality failures over the life cycle of the product. Reliability is a well-developed theory and practice for other types of manufactured products and manufacturing processes. Thus, it is well known to be an appropriate index of manufactured product quality. This essay discusses the meaning of reliability and its linkages with quality

Total Quality Management in a Knowledge Management Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johannsen, Carl Gustav

2000-01-01

Presents theoretical considerations on both similarities and differences between information management and knowledge management and presents a conceptual model of basic knowledge management processes. Discusses total quality management and quality control in the context of information management. (Author/LRW)

Quality-Focused Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Needham, Robbie Lee

1993-01-01

Presents the quality-focused management (QFM) system and explains the departure QFM makes from established community college management practices. Describes the system's self-directed teams engaged in a continuous improvement process driven by customer demand and long-term commitment to quality and cost control. (13 references.) (MAB)

Are performance indicators used for hospital quality management: a qualitative interview study amongst health professionals and quality managers in The Netherlands.

PubMed

Botje, Daan; Ten Asbroek, Guus; Plochg, Thomas; Anema, Helen; Kringos, Dionne S; Fischer, Claudia; Wagner, Cordula; Klazinga, Niek S

2016-10-13

Hospitals are under increasing pressure to share indicator-based performance information. These indicators can also serve as a means to promote quality improvement and boost hospital performance. Our aim was to explore hospitals' use of performance indicators for internal quality management activities. We conducted a qualitative interview study among 72 health professionals and quality managers in 14 acute care hospitals in The Netherlands. Concentrating on orthopaedic and oncology departments, our goal was to gain insight into data collection and use of performance indicators for two conditions: knee and hip replacement surgery and breast cancer surgery. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and summarised. Based on the data, themes were synthesised and the analyses were executed systematically by two analysts independently. The findings were validated through comparison. The hospitals we investigated collect data for performance indicators in different ways. Similarly, these hospitals have different ways of using such data to support their quality management, while some do not seem to use the data for this purpose at all. Factors like 'linking pin champions', pro-active quality managers and engaged medical specialists seem to make a difference. In addition, a comprehensive hospital data infrastructure with electronic patient records and robust data collection software appears to be a prerequisite to produce reliable external performance indicators for internal quality improvement. Hospitals often fail to use performance indicators as a means to support internal quality management. Such data, then, are not used to its full potential. Hospitals are recommended to focus their human resource policy on 'linking pin champions', the engagement of professionals and a pro-active quality manager, and to invest in a comprehensive data infrastructure. Furthermore, the differences in data collection processes between Dutch hospitals make it difficult to draw

Total Quality Management and Organizational Behavior Management: An Integration for Continual Improvement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mawhinney, Thomas C.

1992-01-01

The history and main features of organizational behavior management (OBM) are compared and integrated with those of total quality management (TQM), with emphasis on W.E. Deming's 14 points and OBM's operant-based approach to performance management. Interventions combining OBM, TQM, and statistical process control are recommended. (DB)

Development of Innovative Business Model of Modern Manager's Qualities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yashkova, Elena V.; Sineva, Nadezda L.; Shkunova, Angelika A.; Bystrova, Natalia V.; Smirnova, Zhanna V.; Kolosova, Tatyana V.

2016-01-01

The paper defines a complex of manager's qualities based on theoretical and methodological analysis and synthesis methods, available national and world literature, research papers and publications. The complex approach methodology was used, which provides an innovative view of the development of modern manager's qualities. The methodological…

Certifying leaders? high-quality management practices and healthy organisations: an ISO-9000 based standardisation approach

PubMed Central

MONTANO, Diego

2016-01-01

The present study proposes a set of quality requirements to management practices by taking into account the empirical evidence on their potential effects on health, the systemic nature of social organisations, and the current conceptualisations of management functions within the framework of comprehensive quality management systems. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses focusing on the associations between leadership and/or supervision and health in occupational settings are evaluated, and the core elements of an ISO 9001 standardisation approach are presented. Six major occupational health requirements to high-quality management practices are identified pertaining to communication processes, organisational justice, role clarity, decision making, social influence processes and management support. It is concluded that the quality of management practices may be improved by developing a quality management system of management practices that ensures not only conformity to product but also to occupational safety and health requirements. Further research may evaluate the practicability of the proposed approach. PMID:26860787

Certifying leaders? high-quality management practices and healthy organisations: an ISO-9000 based standardisation approach.

PubMed

Montano, Diego

2016-08-05

The present study proposes a set of quality requirements to management practices by taking into account the empirical evidence on their potential effects on health, the systemic nature of social organisations, and the current conceptualisations of management functions within the framework of comprehensive quality management systems. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses focusing on the associations between leadership and/or supervision and health in occupational settings are evaluated, and the core elements of an ISO 9001 standardisation approach are presented. Six major occupational health requirements to high-quality management practices are identified pertaining to communication processes, organisational justice, role clarity, decision making, social influence processes and management support. It is concluded that the quality of management practices may be improved by developing a quality management system of management practices that ensures not only conformity to product but also to occupational safety and health requirements. Further research may evaluate the practicability of the proposed approach.

A Bayesian-based two-stage inexact optimization method for supporting stream water quality management in the Three Gorges Reservoir region.

PubMed

Hu, X H; Li, Y P; Huang, G H; Zhuang, X W; Ding, X W

2016-05-01

In this study, a Bayesian-based two-stage inexact optimization (BTIO) method is developed for supporting water quality management through coupling Bayesian analysis with interval two-stage stochastic programming (ITSP). The BTIO method is capable of addressing uncertainties caused by insufficient inputs in water quality model as well as uncertainties expressed as probabilistic distributions and interval numbers. The BTIO method is applied to a real case of water quality management for the Xiangxi River basin in the Three Gorges Reservoir region to seek optimal water quality management schemes under various uncertainties. Interval solutions for production patterns under a range of probabilistic water quality constraints have been generated. Results obtained demonstrate compromises between the system benefit and the system failure risk due to inherent uncertainties that exist in various system components. Moreover, information about pollutant emission is accomplished, which would help managers to adjust production patterns of regional industry and local policies considering interactions of water quality requirement, economic benefit, and industry structure.

Total Quality Management: Public Sector Applications for Training Programs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, David S.

Total quality management (TQM) is based on the fundamental philosophy that it is always more effective to do something right the first time than it is to correct deficiencies. It seeks to improve quality and increase customer satisfaction by restructuring traditional management and organizational practices. Common characteristics of TQM include…

Leadership and management in quality radiology

PubMed Central

2007-01-01

The practice of medical imaging and interventional radiology are undergoing rapid change in recent years due to technological advances, workload escalation, workforce shortage, globalisation, corporatisation, commercialisation and commoditisation of healthcare. These professional and economical changes are challenging the established norm but may bring new opportunities. There is an increasing awareness of and interest in the quality of care and patient safety in medical imaging and interventional radiology. Among the professional organisations, a range of quality systems are available to address individual, facility and system needs. To manage the limited resources successfully, radiologists and professional organisations must be leaders and champion for the cause of quality care and patient safety. Close collaboration with other stakeholders towards the development and management of proactive, long-term, system-based strategies and infrastructures will underpin a sustainable future in quality radiology. The International Radiology Quality Network can play a useful facilitating role in this worthwhile but challenging endeavour. PMID:21614284

Technology usage, quality management system, and service quality in Thailand.

PubMed

Sivabrovornvatana, Nilubon; Siengthai, Sununta; Krairit, Donyaprueth; Paul, Himangshu

2005-01-01

This article aims to explore the relationship between technology and quality management for enhancing Thai hospital service quality. The paper presents the findings of an exploratory study that investigates service quality from the customer and service provider perception. In-depth interviews were conducted with respondents in Thai hospitals. The interviews explored service-related factors that patients and service providers perceive to be important for hospital services. The first interview group consisted of professionals as internal customers in direct contact with external customers, while the second group consisted of external customers of the same hospitals. The study's outcomes clearly suggest factors that make significant contribution to service quality. These factors can be categorized according to five SERVQUAL dimensions (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibility), although some factors required slightly different interpretation. The findings suggest that hospitals can develop an appropriate approach to their advantage, which can yield sustainable improvement in service quality as perceived by patients and professionals. Hospitals can make better quality decisions based on structured measurement and knowledge. It is recommended that managers apply this knowledge for successful implementation of activities related to service quality in their organizations.

Improved quality of management of eclampsia patients through criteria based audit at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Bridging the quality gap.

PubMed

Kidanto, Hussein Lesio; Wangwe, Peter; Kilewo, Charles D; Nystrom, Lennarth; Lindmark, Gunnila

2012-11-21

Criteria-based audits (CBA) have been used to improve clinical management in developed countries, but have only recently been introduced in the developing world. This study discusses the use of a CBA to improve quality of care among eclampsia patients admitted at a University teaching hospital in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. The prevalence of eclampsia in MNH is high (≈6%) with the majority of cases arriving after start of convulsions. In 2004-2005 the case-fatality rate in eclampsia was 5.1% of all pregnant women admitted for delivery (MNH obstetric data base). A criteria-based audit (CBA) was used to evaluate the quality of care for eclamptic mothers admitted at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania after implementation of recommendations of a previous audit. A CBA of eclampsia cases was conducted at MNH. Management practices were evaluated using evidence-based criteria for appropriate care. The Ministry of Health (MOH) guidelines, local management guidelines, the WHO manual supplemented by the WHO Reproductive Health Library, standard textbooks, the Cochrane database and reviews in peer reviewed journals were adopted. At the initial audit in 2006, 389 case notes were assessed and compared with the standards, gaps were identified, recommendations made followed by implementation. A re-audit of 88 cases was conducted in 2009 and compared with the initial audit. There was significant improvement in quality of patient management and outcome between the initial and re-audit: Review of management plan by senior staff (76% vs. 99%; P=0.001), urine for albumin test (61% vs. 99%; P=0.001), proper use of partogram to monitor labour (75% vs. 95%; P=0.003), treatment with steroids for lung maturity (2.0% vs. 24%; P=0.001), Caesarean section within 2 hours of decision (33% vs. 61%; P=0.005), full blood count (28% vs. 93%; P=0.001), serum urea and creatinine (44% vs. 86%; P=0.001), liver enzymes (4.0% vs. 86%; P=0.001), and specialist review within 2 hours of

Total Quality Management of Information System for Quality Assessment of Pesantren Using Fuzzy-SERVQUAL

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Faizah, Arbiati; Syafei, Wahyul Amien; Isnanto, R. Rizal

2018-02-01

This research proposed a model combining an approach of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Fuzzy method of Service Quality (SERVQUAL) to asses service quality. TQM implementation was as quality management orienting on customer's satisfaction by involving all stakeholders. SERVQUAL model was used to measure quality service based on five dimensions such as tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Fuzzy set theory was to accommodate subjectivity and ambiguity of quality assessment. Input data consisted of indicator data and quality assessment aspect. Input data was, then, processed to be service quality assessment questionnaires of Pesantren by using Fuzzy method to get service quality score. This process consisted of some steps as follows : inputting dimension and questionnaire data to data base system, filling questionnaire through system, then, system calculated fuzzification, defuzzification, gap of quality expected and received by service receivers, and calculating each dimension rating showing quality refinement priority. Rating of each quality dimension was, then, displayed at dashboard system to enable users to see information. From system having been built, it could be known that tangible dimension had the highest gap, -0.399, thus it needs to be prioritized and gets evaluation and refinement action soon.

Total Quality Management. ERIC Digest, Number 73.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weaver, Tyler

The Japanese success story has made W. Edwards Deming's Total Quality Management (TQM) theory increasingly popular among American managers, from car manufacturers to educational leaders. TQM is based on two tenets: the primacy of customer satisfaction and the necessity of tapping nontraditional sources (especially employee ideas) to institute…

Total Quality Management: Getting Started

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-08-01

Quality Management (TQM) program using Organizational Development (OD) intervention techniques to gain acceptance of the program. It emphasizes human behavior and the need for collaborative management and consensus in organizational change. Lessons learned stress the importance of choosing a skilled TQM facilitator, training process action teams, and fostering open communication and teamwork to minimize resistance to change. Keywords: Management planning and control, Quality control, Quality , Management , Organization change, Organization development,

An assessment model for quality management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Völcker, Chr.; Cass, A.; Dorling, A.; Zilioli, P.; Secchi, P.

2002-07-01

SYNSPACE together with InterSPICE and Alenia Spazio is developing an assessment method to determine the capability of an organisation in the area of quality management. The method, sponsored by the European Space Agency (ESA), is called S9kS (SPiCE- 9000 for SPACE). S9kS is based on ISO 9001:2000 with additions from the quality standards issued by the European Committee for Space Standardization (ECSS) and ISO 15504 - Process Assessments. The result is a reference model that supports the expansion of the generic process assessment framework provided by ISO 15504 to nonsoftware areas. In order to be compliant with ISO 15504, requirements from ISO 9001 and ECSS-Q-20 and Q-20-09 have been turned into process definitions in terms of Purpose and Outcomes, supported by a list of detailed indicators such as Practices, Work Products and Work Product Characteristics. In coordination with this project, the capability dimension of ISO 15504 has been revised to be consistent with ISO 9001. As contributions from ISO 9001 and the space quality assurance standards are separable, the stripped down version S9k offers organisations in all industries an assessment model based solely on ISO 9001, and is therefore interesting to all organisations, which intend to improve their quality management system based on ISO 9001.

Total quality management in American industry.

PubMed

Widtfeldt, A K; Widtfeldt, J R

1992-07-01

The definition of total quality management is conformance to customer requirements and specifications, fitness for use, buyer satisfaction, and value at an affordable price. The three individuals who have developed the total quality management concepts in the United States are W.E. Deming, J.M. Juran, and Philip Crosby. The universal principles of total quality management are (a) a customer focus, (b) management commitment, (c) training, (d) process capability and control, and (e) measurement through quality improvement tools. Results from the National Demonstration Project on Quality Improvement in Health Care showed the principles of total quality management could be applied to healthcare.

Quality transitivity and traceability system of herbal medicine products based on quality markers.

PubMed

Liu, Changxiao; Guo, De-An; Liu, Liang

2018-05-15

Due to a variety of factors to affect the herb quality, the existing quality management model is unable to evaluate the process control. The development of the concept of "quality marker" (Q-marker) lays basis for establishing an independent process quality control system for herbal products. To ensure the highest degree of safety, effectiveness and quality process control of herbal products, it is aimed to establish a quality transitivity and traceability system of quality and process control from raw materials to finished herbal products. Based on the key issues and challenges of quality assessment, the current status of quality and process controls from raw materials to herbal medicinal products listed in Pharmacopoeia were analyzed and the research models including discovery and identification of Q-markers, analysis and quality management of risk evaluation were designed. Authors introduced a few new technologies and methodologies, such as DNA barcoding, chromatographic technologies, fingerprint analysis, chemical markers, bio-responses, risk management and solution for quality process control. The quality and process control models for herbal medicinal products were proposed and the transitivity and traceability system from raw materials to the finished products was constructed to improve the herbal quality from the entire supply and production chain. The transitivity and traceability system has been established based on quality markers, especially on how to control the production process under Good Engineering Practices, as well as to implement the risk management for quality and process control in herbal medicine production. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

[Comprehensive quality management in hospitals--experience and recommendations].

PubMed

Schubert, H J

1999-03-01

Total quality management concepts, increasingly being introduced into hospitals, offer opportunities for integrative leadership concepts because of their multidimensional character viewed from the aspects of results and from the standpoint of organisational design. Customized for leadership and organisation of hospitals in Germany, questions of introduction strategies as well as recommendations for the integration of total quality understanding into the daily practice of management and employees are discussed. The active support of top and middle management and a combination of radical change in selected problem areas and continual incremental improvements on a broad base have been proven as significant factors for the success in the introductory phase. For a lasting integration of the principles of a comprehensive quality management concept in a hospital, it will be necessary to carry out regularly relevant measurements of success. The results become an important part of agreements with management.

Reinforcement as a means for quality improvement in management of coronary syndromes: adherence to evidence-based medicine.

PubMed

Khan, Ijaz A; Mehta, Nirav J; Gowda, Ramesh M; Sacchi, Terrence J; Vasavada, Balendu C

2004-06-01

To study the effect of reinforcement as a quality improvement intervention in the evidence-based management of the coronary syndromes. In the pre-intervention phase, the charts of 140 consecutive patients with ICD-9 codes 410-414 for coronary syndromes were reviewed for measurement of total cholesterol on admission and fasting low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, implementation of aspirin therapy on admission, beta-blockers' use during hospitalization, and treatment with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Reinforcement was used as an intervention for quality improvement. All personnel of Division of Cardiology including nursing staff, medical residents, cardiology fellows, and attending physicians were reinforced to adhere to the evidence-based management. In the post-intervention phase, charts of 140 consecutive patients with ICD-9 codes 410-414 for coronary syndromes were reviewed to assess the improvement in the same quality of care parameters. By reinforcement, a significant improvement was noted in all quality of care parameters studied. Proportion of patients who had total cholesterol measured on admission increased from 78% to 92% (P<0.005), and those who had fasting LDL cholesterol measured increased from 22% to 70% (P<0.0001). Use of aspirin at admission (in 74% of patients pre- vs. 80% of patients post-intervention, P<0.05), beta-blockers during hospitalization (in 62% of patients pre- vs. 78% of patients post-intervention, P<0.001), and ACE inhibitors in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (in 58% of patients pre- vs. 89% of patients post-intervention, P<0.001) improved significantly after reinforcement to the medical personal. Reinforcement to adhere to the evidence-based management results in a significant improvement in the quality of care provided to the patients with coronary syndromes.

A methodology model for quality management in a general hospital.

PubMed

Stern, Z; Naveh, E

1997-01-01

A reappraisal is made of the relevance of industrial modes of quality management to the issues of medical care. Analysis of the nature of medical care, which differentiates it from the supplier-client relationships of industry, presents the main intrinsic characteristics, which create problems in application of the industrial quality management approaches to medical care. Several examples are the complexity of the relationship between the medical action and the result obtained, the client's nonacceptance of economic profitability as a value in his medical care, and customer satisfaction biased by variable standards of knowledge. The real problems unique to hospitals are addressed, and a methodology model for their quality management is offered. Included is a sample of indicator vectors, measurements of quality care, cost of medical care, quality of service, and human resources. These are based on the trilogy of planning quality, quality control, and improving quality. The conclusions confirm the inadequacy of industrial quality management approaches for medical institutions and recommend investment in formulation of appropriate concepts.

A Quality Improvement Collaborative Program for Neonatal Pain Management in Japan

PubMed Central

Yokoo, Kyoko; Funaba, Yuuki; Fukushima, Sayo; Fukuhara, Rie; Uchida, Mieko; Aiba, Satoru; Doi, Miki; Nishimura, Akira; Hayakawa, Masahiro; Nishimura, Yutaka; Oohira, Mitsuko

2017-01-01

Background: Neonatal pain management guidelines have been released; however, there is insufficient systematic institutional support for the adoption of evidence-based pain management in Japan. Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a collaborative quality improvement program on the implementation of pain management improvements in Japanese neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Methods: Seven Japanese level III NICUs participated in a neonatal pain management quality improvement program based on an Institute for Healthcare Improvement collaborative model. The NICUs developed evidence-based practice points for pain management and implemented these over a 12-month period. Changes were introduced through a series of Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, and throughout the process, pain management quality indicators were tracked as performance measures. Jonckheere's trend test and the Cochran-Armitage test for trend were used to examine the changes in quality indicator implementations over time (baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months). Findings: Baseline pain management data from the 7 sites revealed substantial opportunities for improvement of pain management, and testing changes in the NICU setting resulted in measurable improvements in pain management. During the intervention phase, all participating sites introduced new pain assessment tools, and all sites developed electronic medical record forms to capture pain score, interventions, and infant responses to interventions. Implications for Practice: The use of collaborative quality improvement techniques played a key role in improving pain management in the NICUs. Implications for Research: Collaborative improvement programs provide an attractive strategy for solving evidence-practice gaps in the NICU setting. PMID:28114148

"Power quality system," a new system of quality management for globalization: towards innovation and competitive advantages.

PubMed

Abdul-Rahman, H; Berawi, M A

Knowledge Management (KM) addresses the critical issues of organizational adoption, survival and competence in the face of an increasingly changing environment. KM embodies organizational processes that seek a synergistic combination of the data and information processing capabilities of information and communication technologies (ICT), and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings to improve ICT In that role, knowledge management will improve quality management and avoid or minimize losses and weakness that usually come from poor performance as well as increase the competitive level of the company and its ability to survive in the global marketplace. To achieve quality, all parties including the clients, company consultants, contractors, entrepreneurs, suppliers, and the governing bodies (i.e., all involved stake-holders) need to collaborate and commit to achieving quality. The design based organizations in major business and construction companies have to be quality driven to support healthy growth in today's competitive market. In the march towards vision 2020 and globalization (i.e., the one world community) of many companies, their design based organizations need to have superior quality management and knowledge management to anticipate changes. The implementation of a quality system such as the ISO 9000 Standards, Total Quality Management, or Quality Function Deployment (QFD) focuses the company's resources towards achieving faster and better results in the global market with less cost. To anticipate the needs of the marketplace and clients as the world and technology change, a new system, which we call Power Quality System (PQS), has been designed. PQS is a combination of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings to meet the challenges of the new world business and to develop high quality products.

Project officer's perspective: quality assurance as a management tool.

PubMed

Heiby, J

1993-06-01

Advances in the management of health programs in less developed countries (LDC) have not kept pace with the progress of the technology used. The US Agency for International Development mandated the Quality Assurance Project (QAP) to provide quality improvement technical assistance to primary health care systems in LDCs while developing appropriate quality assurance (QA) strategies. The quality of health care in recent years in the US and Europe focused on the introduction of management techniques developed for industry into health systems. The experience of the QAP and its predecessor, the PRICOR Project, shows that quality improvement techniques facilitate measurement of quality of care. A recently developed WHO model for the management of the sick child provides scientifically based standards for actual care. Since 1988, outside investigators measuring how LDC clinicians perform have revealed serious deficiencies in quality compared with the program's own standards. This prompted developed of new QA management initiatives: 1) communicating standards clearly to the program staff; 2) actively monitoring actual performance corresponds to these standards; and 3) taking action to improve performance. QA means that managers are expected to monitor service delivery, undertake problem solving, and set specific targets for quality improvement. Quality improvement methods strengthen supervision as supervisors can objectively assess health worker performance. QA strengthens the management functions that support service delivery, e.g., training, records management, finance, logistics, and supervision. Attention to quality can contribute to improved health worker motivation and effective incentive programs by recognition for a job well done and opportunities for learning new skills. These standards can also address patient satisfaction. QA challenges managers to aim for the optimal level of care attainable.

Assessment of the quality of fall detection and management in primary care in the Netherlands based on the ACOVE quality indicators.

PubMed

Askari, M; Eslami, S; van Rijn, M; Medlock, S; Moll van Charante, E P; van der Velde, N; de Rooij, S E; Abu-Hanna, A

2016-02-01

We determined adherence to nine fall-related ACOVE quality indicators to investigate the quality of management of falls in the elderly population by general practitioners in the Netherlands. Our findings demonstrate overall low adherence to these indicators, possibly indicating insufficiency in the quality of fall management. Most indicators showed a positive association between increased risk for functional decline and adherence, four of which with statistical significance. This study aims to investigate the quality of detection and management of falls in the elderly population by general practitioners in the Netherlands, using the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) quality indicators. Community-dwelling persons aged 70 years or above, registered in participating general practices, were asked to fill in a questionnaire designed to determine general practitioner (GP) adherence to fall-related indicators. We used logistic regression to estimate the association between increased risk for functional decline-quantified by the Identification of Seniors At Risk for Primary Care score-and adherence. We then cross-validated the self-reported falls with medical records. Of the 950 elders responding to our questionnaire, only 10.6 % reported that their GP proactively asked them about falls. Of the 160 patients who reported two or more falls, or one fall for which they visited the GP, only 23.1 % had fall documentation in their records. Adherence ranged between 13.6 and 48.6 %. There was a significant positive association between the ISAR-PC scores and adherence in four QIs. Documentation of falls was highest (36.7 %) in patients whom the GP had proactively asked about falls. Based on patient self-reports, adherence to the ACOVE fall-related indicators was poor, suggesting that the quality of evaluation and management of falls in community-dwelling older persons in the Netherlands is poor. The documentation of falls and fall-related risk factors was also poor

[Data supporting quality circle management of inpatient depression treatment].

PubMed

Brand, S; Härter, M; Sitta, P; van Calker, D; Menke, R; Heindl, A; Herold, K; Kudling, R; Luckhaus, C; Rupprecht, U; Sanner, Dirk; Schmitz, D; Schramm, E; Berger, M; Gaebel, W; Schneider, F

2005-07-01

Several quality assurance initiatives in health care have been undertaken during the past years. The next step consists of systematically combining single initiatives in order to built up a strategic quality management. In a German multicenter study, the quality of inpatient depression treatment was measured in ten psychiatric hospitals. Half of the hospitals received comparative feedback on their individual results in comparison to the other hospitals (bench marking). Those bench markings were used by each hospital as a statistic basis for in-house quality work, to improve the quality of depression treatment. According to hospital differences concerning procedure and outcome, different goals were chosen. There were also differences with respect to structural characteristics, strategies, and outcome. The feedback from participants about data-based quality circles in general and the availability of bench-marking data was positive. The necessity of carefully choosing quality circle members and professional moderation became obvious. Data-based quality circles including bench-marking have proven to be useful for quality management in inpatient depression care.

Quality Management and Information Brokerage.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Halm, Johan

1995-01-01

To compete effectively, information brokers need to adopt management and marketing tools; Total Quality Management can upgrade an organization's performance by using customer feedback of its services. SERVQUAL identifies gaps in service by assessing quality expectations versus quality experiences. (AEF)

DUQuE quality management measures: associations between quality management at hospital and pathway levels.

PubMed

Wagner, Cordula; Groene, Oliver; Thompson, Caroline A; Dersarkissian, Maral; Klazinga, Niek S; Arah, Onyebuchi A; Suñol, Rosa

2014-04-01

The assessment of integral quality management (QM) in a hospital requires measurement and monitoring from different perspectives and at various levels of care delivery. Within the DUQuE project (Deepening our Understanding of Quality improvement in Europe), seven measures for QM were developed. This study investigates the relationships between the various quality measures. It is a multi-level, cross-sectional, mixed-method study. As part of the DUQuE project, we invited a random sample of 74 hospitals in 7 countries. The quality managers of these hospitals were the main respondents. Furthermore, data of site visits of external surveyors assessing the participating hospitals were used. Three measures of QM at hospitals level focusing on integral systems (QMSI), compliance with the Plan-Do-Study-Act quality improvement cycle (QMCI) and implementation of clinical quality (CQII). Four measures of QM activities at care pathway level focusing on Specialized expertise and responsibility (SER), Evidence-based organization of pathways (EBOP), Patient safety strategies (PSS) and Clinical review (CR). Positive significant associations were found between the three hospitals level QM measures. Results of the relationships between levels were mixed and showed most associations between QMCI and department-level QM measures for all four types of departments. QMSI was associated with PSS in all types of departments. By using the seven measures of QM, it is possible to get a more comprehensive picture of the maturity of QM in hospitals, with regard to the different levels and across various types of hospital departments.

Total Quality Management Implementation Plan for Military Personnel Management

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-01

2050.. )ATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES CO VERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5,rrmir18 . FUNDING NUMBERS Total Quality Management Implementation Plan for...SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Military Personnel Management, Continuous Process Improvement 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY...UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED UL NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-16 296-102 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT I

75 FR 41798 - Solicitation of Letters of Interest to Participate in Biotechnology Quality Management System...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-19

...] Solicitation of Letters of Interest to Participate in Biotechnology Quality Management System Program AGENCY... participate in the APHIS Biotechnology Quality Management System Program. The Biotechnology Quality Management..., audit-based compliance assistance program known as the Biotechnology Quality Management System Program...

Total Quality Management (TQM) Bibliography

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-04-01

GTE FIE COPY DTIC c" ECTE 8JUL 25 1990u TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) BIBLIOGRAPHY APRIL-1990 Jointly supported by __’__________-_________ Jointly...Arsenal, AL 35898-5241 1I. TITLE (Include Security Classification) TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) BIBL IRAPHY APRIL-1990 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) Knott...implementation of the concept of total quality management (TQM). The selected coverage includes books, periodical articles, conference papers and reports. Coded

[Quality management is associated with high quality services in health care].

PubMed

Nielsen, Tenna Hassert; Riis, Allan; Mainz, Jan; Jensen, Anne-Louise Degn

2013-12-09

In these years, quality management has been the focus in order to meet high quality services for the patients in Danish health care. This article provides information on quality management and quality improvement and it evaluates its effectiveness in achieving better organizational structures, processes and results in Danish health-care organizations. Our findings generally support that quality management is associated with high quality services in health care.

[Document management systems to support quality management systems at university hospitals - an interview-based study].

PubMed

Holderried, Martin; Bökel, Ann-Catrin; Ochsmann, Elke

2018-05-01

In order to save and control the processes and quality of medical services, a suitable steering system of all relevant documents is essential from the point of view of clinical quality management. Systems supporting an automated steering system of documents are called document management systems (DMS), and they also enter the healthcare sector. The use of DMS in the German healthcare sector has hardly been investigated so far. To close this knowledge gap, interviews were carried out with German university hospitals over a six-month period and subjected to a qualitative content analysis according to Mayring. In total, 25 university hospitals agreed to participate in this study, 19 of which have been working with a digital DMS for about six years on average. There was a great variety among the IT systems used. Document management and usability of the DMS as well as its integration into existing IT structures were key decision-making criteria for the selection of a digital DMS. In general, the long-term usability of the DMS is supported by regular evaluation of one's own requirements for the system, administration and training programs. In addition, DMS have a positive effect on patient safety and the quality of medical care. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Nurse managers' conceptions of quality management as promoted by peer supervision.

PubMed

Hyrkäs, Kristiina; Koivula, Meeri; Lehti, Kristiina; Paunonen-Ilmonen, Marita

2003-01-01

The aim of the study was to describe nurse managers' conceptions of quality management in their work as promoted by peer supervision. Quality management is one of the topical issues in a nurse manager's demanding and changing work. As first-line managers, they have a key role in quality management which is seen to create the system and environment for high quality services and quality improvement. Despite the official recommendations and definitions of quality management, several published reports have shown that there is no single solution for quality management. Peer supervision or the support provided by it to nursing managers have rarely been a subject of study. This study was carried out at Tampere University Hospital between 1996 and 1998. The peer supervision intervention was organized once a month, 2 hours at a time and in closed supervisor-led groups of nine nurse managers. Data were collected by themed interviews. Fifteen nurse managers participated in the study. The data were analysed using the phenomenographic method. Two main categories were formed of nurse managers' conceptions. The first described supportive and reflective characteristics of peer supervision. This main category was described by horizontal, hierarchical categories of support from peer group and reflection. The second main category described nurse managers' conceptions of individual development of leadership during peer supervision. This main category was also described by three horizontal categories: personal growth, finding psychological resources and internalization of leadership. The finding of this study show that peer supervision benefited nurse managers in quality management through reflection and support. The reflective and supportive characteristics of peer supervision promoted the nurse managers' individual development, but also that of leadership. It can be concluded that peer supervision promotes quality management in nurse managers' work.

Sunway Medical Laboratory Quality Control Plans Based on Six Sigma, Risk Management and Uncertainty.

PubMed

Jairaman, Jamuna; Sakiman, Zarinah; Li, Lee Suan

2017-03-01

Sunway Medical Centre (SunMed) implemented Six Sigma, measurement uncertainty, and risk management after the CLSI EP23 Individualized Quality Control Plan approach. Despite the differences in all three approaches, each implementation was beneficial to the laboratory, and none was in conflict with another approach. A synthesis of these approaches, built on a solid foundation of quality control planning, can help build a strong quality management system for the entire laboratory. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NASA total quality management 1990 accomplishments report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

NASA's efforts in Total Quality Management are based on continuous improvement and serve as a foundation for NASA's present and future endeavors. Given here are numerous examples of quality strategies that have proven effective and efficient in a time when cost reduction is critical. These accomplishment benefit our Agency and help to achieve our primary goal, keeping American in the forefront of the aerospace industry.

Region 7 Quality Management Plan

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

To document adherence to EPA Order 5360.1 A2, EPA requires each organizational unitto develop a quality management plan per the specifications in EPA Requirements for QualityManagement Plans, EPA QA R-2.

Defense Depot Tracy Total Quality Management Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Depot Operations, Continuous Process Improvement 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY...make up our pcrceptions of Total Quality Management . Our goal is to improve those proven management processes that have brought us success while being...MANIAGEMENT F. QUALITY AUDITS OF PRODUCTS AND OPERATIONS ASSETS MANAGEMENT 00 i .......... / ~899 29 03 1 EFENSE DEPOT TACY TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLAN

Determinants of quality management systems implementation in hospitals.

PubMed

Wardhani, Viera; Utarini, Adi; van Dijk, Jitse Pieter; Post, Doeke; Groothoff, Johan Willem

2009-03-01

To identify the problems and facilitating factors in the implementation of quality management system (QMS) in hospitals through a systematic review. A search strategy was performed on the Medline database for articles written in English published between 1992 and early 2006. Using the thesaurus terms 'Total Quality Management' and 'Quality Assurance Health Care', combined with the term 'hospital' and 'implement*', we identified 533 publications. The screening process was based on empirical articles describing organization-wide QMS implementation. Fourteen empirical articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were reviewed in this paper. An organization culture emphasizing standards and values associated with affiliation, teamwork and innovation, assumption of change and risk taking, play as the key success factor in QMS implementation. This culture needs to be supported by sufficient technical competence to apply a scientific problem-solving approach. A clear distribution of QMS function within the organizational structure is more important than establishing a formal quality structure. In addition to management leadership, physician involvement also plays an important role in implementing QMS. Six supporting and limiting factors determining QMS implementation are identified in this review. These are the organization culture, design, leadership for quality, physician involvement, quality structure and technical competence.

Evidence-based characteristics of nurse-managed health centers for quality and outcomes.

PubMed

Holt, Jeana; Zabler, Bev; Baisch, Mary Jo

2014-01-01

There are approximately 250 nurse-managed health centers (NMHC) in the United States, but there are few consistent descriptions of their functions and even fewer reports of their outcomes. Because NMHCs have been identified as a unique and effectual health care delivery care model (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), a description of their characteristics and a framework for outcome evaluation are required for their continued evolution and expansion. This study identifies the principal characteristics of U.S. NMHCs described in the professional literature through an integrative review and classifies these characteristics through a multistage qualitative analysis in relation to Donabedian's structure-process-outcomes model, a well-established model for evaluating quality in health care. This study yielded an evidence-based definition of NMHCs that is more reflective of current NMHC practice across settings and recognizes the full scope of nursing practice that is considered one solution to the health care crisis in the country. Using the results from this study, NMHCs will be able to structure self-evaluations of quality care and compare their quality related to structure, processes, and outcomes with other primary health care delivery systems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Design and realization of high quality prime farmland planning and management information system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Manchun; Liu, Guohong; Liu, Yongxue; Jiang, Zhixin

2007-06-01

The article discusses the design and realization of a high quality prime farmland planning and management information system based on SDSS. Models in concept integration, management planning are used in High Quality Prime Farmland Planning in order to refine the current model system and the management information system is deigned with a triangular structure. Finally an example of Tonglu county high quality prime farmland planning and management information system is introduced.

Assessing the quality of cost management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fayne, V.; McAllister, A.; Weiner, S.B.

1995-12-31

Managing environmental programs can be effective only when good cost and cost-related management practices are developed and implemented. The Department of Energy`s Office of Environmental Management (EM), recognizing this key role of cost management, initiated several cost and cost-related management activities including the Cost Quality Management (CQM) Program. The CQM Program includes an assessment activity, Cost Quality Management Assessments (CQMAs), and a technical assistance effort to improve program/project cost effectiveness. CQMAs provide a tool for establishing a baseline of cost-management practices and for measuring improvement in those practices. The result of the CQMA program is an organization that has anmore » increasing cost-consciousness, improved cost-management skills and abilities, and a commitment to respond to the public`s concerns for both a safe environment and prudent budget outlays. The CQMA program is part of the foundation of quality management practices in DOE. The CQMA process has contributed to better cost and cost-related management practices by providing measurements and feedback; defining the components of a quality cost-management system; and helping sites develop/improve specific cost-management techniques and methods.« less

Air Quality Management Process Cycle

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Air quality management are activities a regulatory authority undertakes to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution. The process of managing air quality can be illustrated as a cycle of inter-related elements.

Total Quality Management Implementation Plan.

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-06-01

Quality Management Implementation Plan 6. AUTHOR(S) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION Defense General...E 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES TOM (Total Quality Management ), Continuous Process Improvement,_________ Depot Operations, Supply Support 16

Total quality management in orthodontic practice.

PubMed

Atta, A E

1999-12-01

Quality is the buzz word for the new Millennium. Patients demand it, and we must serve it. Yet one must identify it. Quality is not imaging or public relations; it is a business process. This short article presents quality as a balance of three critical notions: core clinical competence, perceived values that our patients seek and want, and the cost of quality. Customer satisfaction is a variable that must be identified for each practice. In my practice, patients perceive quality as communication and time, be it treatment or waiting time. Time is a value and cost that must be managed effectively. Total quality management is a business function; it involves diagnosis, design, implementation, and measurement of the process, the people, and the service. Kazien is a function that reduces value services, eliminates waste, and manages time and cost in the process. Total quality management is a total commitment for continuous improvement.

TU-AB-BRD-04: Development of Quality Management Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thomadsen, B.

2015-06-15

Current quality assurance and quality management guidelines provided by various professional organizations are prescriptive in nature, focusing principally on performance characteristics of planning and delivery devices. However, published analyses of events in radiation therapy show that most events are often caused by flaws in clinical processes rather than by device failures. This suggests the need for the development of a quality management program that is based on integrated approaches to process and equipment quality assurance. Industrial engineers have developed various risk assessment tools that are used to identify and eliminate potential failures from a system or a process before amore » failure impacts a customer. These tools include, but are not limited to, process mapping, failure modes and effects analysis, fault tree analysis. Task Group 100 of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine has developed these tools and used them to formulate an example risk-based quality management program for intensity-modulated radiotherapy. This is a prospective risk assessment approach that analyzes potential error pathways inherent in a clinical process and then ranks them according to relative risk, typically before implementation, followed by the design of a new process or modification of the existing process. Appropriate controls are then put in place to ensure that failures are less likely to occur and, if they do, they will more likely be detected before they propagate through the process, compromising treatment outcome and causing harm to the patient. Such a prospective approach forms the basis of the work of Task Group 100 that has recently been approved by the AAPM. This session will be devoted to a discussion of these tools and practical examples of how these tools can be used in a given radiotherapy clinic to develop a risk based quality management program. Learning Objectives: Learn how to design a process map for a radiotherapy process Learn

Stand quality management in a late-rotation, red oak-sweetgum stand in east Mississippi: preliminary results following thinning

Treesearch

James S. Meadows; Daniel A. Skojac

2012-01-01

Stand quality management is a new management strategy in which thinning prescriptions are based solely on tree quality rather than a quantitative level of residual stand density. As long as residual density falls within fairly broad limits, prescriptions are based on tree quality alone. We applied four thinning prescriptions based on stand quality management, along...

Quality Dashboards: Technical and Architectural Considerations of an Actionable Reporting Tool for Population Management

PubMed Central

Olsha-Yehiav, Maya; Einbinder, Jonathan S.; Jung, Eunice; Linder, Jeffrey A.; Greim, Julie; Li, Qi; Schnipper, Jeffrey L.; Middleton, Blackford

2006-01-01

Quality Dashboards (QD) is a condition-specific, actionable web-based application for quality reporting and population management that is integrated into the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Using server-based graphic web controls in a .Net environment to construct Quality Dashboards allows customization of the reporting tool without the need to rely on commercial business intelligence tool. Quality Dashboards will improve patient care and quality outcomes as clinicians utilize the reporting tool for population management. PMID:17238671

Lean management systems: creating a culture of continuous quality improvement.

PubMed

Clark, David M; Silvester, Kate; Knowles, Simon

2013-08-01

This is the first in a series of articles describing the application of Lean management systems to Laboratory Medicine. Lean is the term used to describe a principle-based continuous quality improvement (CQI) management system based on the Toyota production system (TPS) that has been evolving for over 70 years. Its origins go back much further and are heavily influenced by the work of W Edwards Deming and the scientific method that forms the basis of most quality management systems. Lean has two fundamental elements--a systematic approach to process improvement by removing waste in order to maximise value for the end-user of the service and a commitment to respect, challenge and develop the people who work within the service to create a culture of continuous improvement. Lean principles have been applied to a growing number of Healthcare systems throughout the world to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of services for patients and a number of laboratories from all the pathology disciplines have used Lean to shorten turnaround times, improve quality (reduce errors) and improve productivity. Increasingly, models used to plan and implement large scale change in healthcare systems, including the National Health Service (NHS) change model, have evidence-based improvement methodologies (such as Lean CQI) as a core component. Consequently, a working knowledge of improvement methodology will be a core skill for Pathologists involved in leadership and management.

The quality assurance-risk management interface.

PubMed

Little, N

1992-08-01

Involvement with both risk management and quality assurance programs has led many authors to the conclusion that the fundamental differences between these activities are, in fact, very small. "At the point of overlap, it is almost impossible to distinguish the purposes and methods of both functions from one another." "Good risk management includes real improvement in patient care through organized quality assurance activities." The interface between a proactive risk management program and a quality assurance program is dynamic and can serve the legitimate interests of both. There is little to be gained by thinking of them as separate entities and much to be gained by sharing the lessons of both. If one thinks of risk management in terms of "risk" to quality patient care, and that "assuring quality" is the most productive type of risk management, then there is no practical reason to separate one from the other.

Total Quality Management Implementation Strategy: Directorate of Quality Assurance

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-05-01

Total Quality Control Harrington, H. James The Improvement Process Imai, Masaaki Kaizen Ishikawa , Kaoru What is Total Quality Control Ishikawa ... Kaoru Statistical Quality Control Juran, J. M. Managerial Breakthrough Juran, J. M. Quality Control Handbook Mizuno, Ed Managing for Quality Improvements

40 CFR 130.6 - Water quality management plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Water quality management plans. 130.6... QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT § 130.6 Water quality management plans. (a) Water quality management (WQM... when they are needed to address water quality problems. (1) Total maximum daily loads. TMDLs in...

Quality management in Irish health care.

PubMed

Ennis, K; Harrington, D

1999-01-01

This paper reports on the findings from a quantitative research study of quality management in the Irish health-care sector. The study findings suggest that quality management is what hospitals require to become more cost-effective and efficient. The research also shows that the culture of health-care institutions must change to one where employees experience pride in their work and where all are involved and committed to continuous quality improvement. It is recommended that a shift is required from the traditional management structures to a more participative approach. Furthermore, all managers whether from a clinical or an administration background must understand one another's role in the organisation. Finally, for quality to succeed in the health-care sector, strong committed leadership is required to overcome tensions in quality implementation.

Nurse managers' experiences in continuous quality improvement in resource-poor healthcare settings.

PubMed

Kakyo, Tracy Alexis; Xiao, Lily Dongxia

2017-06-01

Ensuring safe and quality care for patients in hospitals is an important part of a nurse manager's role. Continuous quality improvement has been identified as one approach that leads to the delivery of quality care services to patients and is widely used by nurse managers to improve patient care. Nurse managers' experiences in initiating continuous quality improvement activities in resource-poor healthcare settings remain largely unknown. Research evidence is highly demanded in these settings to address disease burden and evidence-based practice. This interpretive qualitative study was conducted to gain an understanding of nurse managers' Continuous Quality Improvement experiences in rural hospitals in Uganda. Nurse managers in rural healthcare settings used their role to prioritize quality improvement activities, monitor the Continuous Quality Improvement process, and utilize in-service education to support continuous quality improvement. The nurse managers in our sample encountered a number of barriers during the implementation of Continuous Quality Improvement, including: limited patient participation, lack of materials, and limited human resources. Efforts to address the challenges faced through good governance and leadership development require more attention. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Quality dimensions in health evaluation: manager's conceptions.

PubMed

Bosi, Maria Lúcia Magalhães; Pontes, Ricardo José Soares; Vasconcelos, Suziana Martins de

2010-04-01

To understand manager's perceptions and experiences in regards to qualitative evaluations in basic health care. A qualitative study, based on the critical interpretive approach, was performed in 2006, in the city of Fortaleza, Northeastern Brazil. The sample consisted of the group responsible for planning basic health care at the state level. In order to obtain the empirical data, the focus group technique was utilized. Two central themes emerged concerning the perceptions about quality and the dimensions of quality employed in health evaluations, which were revealed in distinct ways. The concepts of quality evaluation and qualitative evaluation did not appear clearly understood, confusing qualitative evaluation with formal quality evaluations. Likewise, the inherent multidimensionality of quality was not recognized. Despite the criticism expressed by the participants regarding the improper quantification of certain dimensions, the necessary technical skills and understanding were not observed for the approach to include the distinct dimensions of quality in the evaluation process. The conceptions of managers responsible for the planning of basic health care at the state level revealed an important disassociation from the premises of qualitative evaluation, especially those evaluations oriented by the fourth generation approach. Therefore, the model adopted by these actors for the evaluation of program and service quality did not consider their multidimensionality.

Risk-based water resources planning: Coupling water allocation and water quality management under extreme droughts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mortazavi-Naeini, M.; Bussi, G.; Hall, J. W.; Whitehead, P. G.

2016-12-01

The main aim of water companies is to have a reliable and safe water supply system. To fulfil their duty the water companies have to consider both water quality and quantity issues and challenges. Climate change and population growth will have an impact on water resources both in terms of available water and river water quality. Traditionally, a distinct separation between water quality and abstraction has existed. However, water quality can be a bottleneck in a system since water treatment works can only treat water if it meets certain standards. For instance, high turbidity and large phytoplankton content can increase sharply the cost of treatment or even make river water unfit for human consumption purposes. It is vital for water companies to be able to characterise the quantity and quality of water under extreme weather events and to consider the occurrence of eventual periods when water abstraction has to cease due to water quality constraints. This will give them opportunity to decide on water resource planning and potential changes to reduce the system failure risk. We present a risk-based approach for incorporating extreme events, based on future climate change scenarios from a large ensemble of climate model realisations, into integrated water resources model through combined use of water allocation (WATHNET) and water quality (INCA) models. The annual frequency of imposed restrictions on demand is considered as measure of reliability. We tested our approach on Thames region, in the UK, with 100 extreme events. The results show increase in frequency of imposed restrictions when water quality constraints were considered. This indicates importance of considering water quality issues in drought management plans.

Total Quality Management (TQM). Implementers Workshop

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-05-15

SHEE’T :s t’ii ,rrl DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE May 15, 1990 Lfl CN I TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) Implementers Workshop © Copyright 1990 Booz.Allen...must be continually performed in order to achieve successful TQM implementation. 1-5 = TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Implementers Workshop Course Content...information, please refer to the student manual, Total Quality Management (TOM) Awareness Seminar, that was provided for the Awareness Course. You may

[Quality management in cardiovascular echography].

PubMed

Gullace, Giuseppe

2002-12-01

The quality management of an organization can be defined as the ability to identify, plan and implement programs of measure, analysis, verification and control that allow to monitor management, resources, activities, processes and output/outcome of the same organization, including the satisfaction of the customers. Whatever the model used, it is demonstrated that the management-quality system, either for professional quality or for organization, turns out to be effective even in the health organizations within and to any level of organizational-structural complexity. The present paper concerns the experience of the Italian Society of Cardiovascular Echography (SIEC) on quality certification, both as a scientific society compared to other health organizations and to cardiovascular echo laboratories, and the definition of minimum requirements for the accreditation of the same laboratories. The model most frequently used for quality management is represented by the ISO 9000: Vision 2000, that is a management model with specific reference to the organization and the customer satisfaction. The model applied to the health structure needs a rapid change in mentality that addresses the operators to define, share and achieve objectives to be brought on by means of an active collaboration, group activity and deep sense of belonging necessary to the attainment of expected objectives. When the model is applied by a scientific society, it is necessary to take into account the different structural and functional organization, the constitution and the operators differing on the point of view of origin, experiences, mentality, and roles. The ISO 9000: Vision 2000 model can be applied also to the cardiovascular echo laboratory which may be compared to a simple organization; for its corrected functioning, SIEC has defined minimal requirements for the accreditation, realization and modalities to carry out and manage quality. The quality system represents a new way of operating of an

Quality risk management in pharmaceutical development.

PubMed

Charoo, Naseem Ahmad; Ali, Areeg Anwer

2013-07-01

The objective of ICH Q8, Q9 and Q10 documents is application of systemic and science based approach to formulation development for building quality into product. There is always some uncertainty in new product development. Good risk management practice is essential for success of new product development in decreasing this uncertainty. In quality by design paradigm, the product performance properties relevant to the patient are predefined in target product profile (TPP). Together with prior knowledge and experience, TPP helps in identification of critical quality attributes (CQA's). Initial risk assessment which identifies risks to these CQA's provides impetus for product development. Product and process are designed to gain knowledge about these risks, devise strategies to eliminate or mitigate these risks and meet objectives set in TPP. By laying more emphasis on high risk events the protection level of patient is increased. The process being scientifically driven improves the transparency and reliability of the manufacturer. The focus on risk to the patient together with flexible development approach saves invaluable resources, increases confidence on quality and reduces compliance risk. The knowledge acquired in analysing risks to CQA's permits construction of meaningful design space. Within the boundaries of the design space, variation in critical material characteristics and process parameters must be managed in order to yield a product having the desired characteristics. Specifications based on product and process understanding are established such that product will meet the specifications if tested. In this way, the product is amenable to real time release, since specifications only confirm quality but they do not serve as a means of effective process control.

A Web-Based Decision Support System for Assessing Regional Water-Quality Conditions and Management Actions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Booth, N.L.; Everman, E.J.; Kuo, I.-L.; Sprague, L.; Murphy, L.

2011-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program has completed a number of water-quality prediction models for nitrogen and phosphorus for the conterminous United States as well as for regional areas of the nation. In addition to estimating water-quality conditions at unmonitored streams, the calibrated SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models can be used to produce estimates of yield, flow-weighted concentration, or load of constituents in water under various land-use condition, change, or resource management scenarios. A web-based decision support infrastructure has been developed to provide access to SPARROW simulation results on stream water-quality conditions and to offer sophisticated scenario testing capabilities for research and water-quality planning via a graphical user interface with familiar controls. The SPARROW decision support system (DSS) is delivered through a web browser over an Internet connection, making it widely accessible to the public in a format that allows users to easily display water-quality conditions and to describe, test, and share modeled scenarios of future conditions. SPARROW models currently supported by the DSS are based on the modified digital versions of the 1:500,000-scale River Reach File (RF1) and 1:100,000-scale National Hydrography Dataset (medium-resolution, NHDPlus) stream networks. ?? 2011 American Water Resources Association. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

Factual Approach in Decision Making - the Prerequisite of Success in Quality Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kučerová, Marta; Škůrková Lestyánszka, Katarína

2013-12-01

In quality management system as well as in other managerial systems, effective decisions must be always based on the data and information analysis, i.e. based on facts, in accordance with the factual approach principle in quality management. It is therefore necessary to measure and collect the data and information about processes. The article presents the results of a conducted survey, which was focused on application of factual approach in decision making. It also offers suggestions for improvements of application of the principle in business practice. This article was prepared using the research results of VEGA project No. 1/0229/08 "Perspectives of the quality management development in relation to the requirements of market in the Slovak Republic".

Managers and the new definition of quality.

PubMed

Chilgren, Allison A

2008-01-01

The manager, particularly the mid-level manager, has a vital role in the success of any healthcare organization, especially in the realm of patient perception of quality. To patients, "quality" means how well a service was delivered, not how technically superior the actual service or clinical component turned out. This definition of quality can also be referred to as patient satisfaction. Managers, with help of an integrative team, can develop quality processes geared toward patient expectations by doing a number of things, including the following: clearly identify outcomes, and empower employees to achieve those goals; form an integrated quality development team to establish quality metrics; build in cultural competence into quality processes; and align the organization's mission to the overall quality program. With a successful quality program, managers can expect a considerable return on investment, satisfied patients and staff, and improved clinical outcomes.

40 CFR 130.6 - Water quality management plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Water quality management plans. 130.6 Section 130.6 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS WATER QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT § 130.6 Water quality management plans. (a) Water quality management (WQM...

40 CFR 130.6 - Water quality management plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 23 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Water quality management plans. 130.6 Section 130.6 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS WATER QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT § 130.6 Water quality management plans. (a) Water quality management (WQM...

40 CFR 130.6 - Water quality management plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 22 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Water quality management plans. 130.6 Section 130.6 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED) WATER PROGRAMS WATER QUALITY PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT § 130.6 Water quality management plans. (a) Water quality management (WQM...

Contribution to systematic education of quality management in Slovak health care.

PubMed

Rusnakova, V; Bacharova, L

2001-01-01

Of the study was to contribute to quality improvement initiatives in Slovak health services through systematic approach to the education and training in quality management (QM). Consequently, the main objectives were to analyse the content of the education in QM abroad, to conduct an audit of perceived training needs in Slovakia, and to propose the design of QM training programme to be applied within CME scheme based on the study results. Triangular method in the design of the study was implemented. Review of relevant information, data from the questionnaire and semi-structured interview in the sample of 67 Slovak trainees from Health Management School and School of Public Health--were adopted in complementary fashion. Highlighted in the survey are positive attitudes to training in quality management documented by the median score higher than 6 in all tested areas, on scale 0-10. No significant differences in profession groups as physicians, nurses, HC managers or among training institutions involved were displayed. However, potential obstacles were identified in deeper study using interviews. The absence of knowledge and skills in management in general and in quality management approaches especially are observed. Typically, the role of strategic planning is undermined. The large scale of quality management approaches is converted to problems of accreditation. Barriers to participative culture, innovation, devolution of accountability, resistance to change and to team based management are authentic findings as well. Drawn from the study were related to: fostering managers--"transformational leaders" for locally driven decision making in health care policy and practice; need of training activities for the continuing education in quality with respect to specific target groups interests and their level of knowledge in management; content of training oriented towards combination of rational utilization of information, critical analytical skills and planning for quality

Longitudinal analysis on the development of hospital quality management systems in the Netherlands.

PubMed

Dückers, Michel; Makai, Peter; Vos, Leti; Groenewegen, Peter; Wagner, Cordula

2009-10-01

Many changes have been initiated in the Dutch hospital sector to optimize health-care delivery: national agenda-setting, increased competition and transparency, a new system of hospital reimbursement based on diagnosis-treatment combinations, intensified monitoring of quality and a multi-layered organizational development programme based on quality improvement collaboratives. The objective is to answer the question as to whether these changes were accompanied by a further development of hospital quality management systems and to what extent did the development within the multi-layered programme hospitals differ from that in other hospitals. Longitudinal data were collected in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2007 using a validated questionnaire. Descriptive analyses and multi-level modelling were applied to test whether: (1) quality management system development stages in hospitals differ over time, (2) development stages and trends differ between hospitals participating or not participating in the multi-layered programme and (3) hospital size has an effect on development stage. Dutch hospital sector between 1995 and 2007. Hospital organizations. Changes through time. Quality management system development stage. Since 1995, hospital quality management systems have reached higher development levels. Programme participants have developed their quality management system more rapidly than have non-participants. However, this effect is confounded by hospital size. Study results suggest that the combination of policy measures at macro level was accompanied by an increase in hospital size and the further development of quality management systems. Hospitals are entering the stage of systematic quality improvement.

Total Quality Management: A Recipe for Success

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-04-02

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a high level Department of Defense (DOD) initiative that is being touted as the primary management tool to force...to create a DOD wide organizational climate that will stimulate and perpetuate individual productivity enhancing contributions. Keywords: Quality control; Quality management ; TQM.

[Quality management in emergency departments: Lack of uniform standards for fact-based controlling].

PubMed

Ries, M; Christ, M

2015-11-01

The general high occupancy of emergency departments during the winter months of 2014/2015 outlined deficits in health politics. Whether on the regional, province, or federal level, verifiable and accepted figures to enable in depth analysis and fact-based controlling of emergency care systems are lacking. As the first step, reasons for the current situation are outlined in order to developed concrete recommendations for individual hospitals. This work is based on a selective literature search with focus on quality management, ratio driven management, and process management within emergency departments as well as personal experience with implementation of a key ratio system in a German maximum care hospital. The insufficient integration of emergencies into the DRG systematic, the role as gatekeeper between inpatient and outpatient care sector, the decentralized organization of emergency departments in many hospitals, and the inconsistent representation within the medical societies can be mentioned as reasons for the lack of key ratio systems. In addition to the important role within treatment procedures, emergency departments also have an immense economic importance. Consequently, the management of individual hospitals should promote implementation of key ratio systems to enable controlling of emergency care processes. Thereby the perspectives finance, employees, processes as well as partners and patients should be equally considered. Within the process perspective, milestones could be used to enable detailed controlling of treatment procedures. An implementation of key ratio systems without IT support is not feasible; thus, existing digital data should be used and future data analysis should already be considered during implementation of new IT systems.

Total Quality Management: Institutional Research Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heverly, Mary Ann

Total Quality Management (TQM), a technique traditionally reserved for the manufacturing sector, has recently spread to service companies, government agencies, and educational institutions. TQM places responsibility for quality problems with management rather than on the workers. A principal concept of TQM is the management of Process Variation,…

[From quality management to dynamic management through quality: Deployment within a radiotherapy group].

PubMed

Guerrier, B; Halm, É; Craman, M; Dujols, J-P; Norkowski, J-L; Meynard, K

2017-10-01

In 2015, the quality group of the radiotherapy clinic Groupement de Radiothérapie et d'Oncologie des Pyrénées (GROP, Pau, France) decided to review the deployment of its quality approach in order to optimize it continuously. For this, two improvements were proposed: an involvement of process drivers and a material and financial investment in document management software. The implementation of these organizational and managerial provisions enabled us to better cover the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard, the international reference in quality management. Copyright © 2017 Société française de radiothérapie oncologique (SFRO). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Assessing the impact of continuous quality improvement/total quality management: concept versus implementation.

PubMed

Shortell, S M; O'Brien, J L; Carman, J M; Foster, R W; Hughes, E F; Boerstler, H; O'Connor, E J

1995-06-01

This study examines the relationships among organizational culture, quality improvement processes and selected outcomes for a sample of up to 61 U. S. hospitals. Primary data were collected from 61 U. S. hospitals (located primarily in the midwest and the west) on measures related to continuous quality improvement/total quality management (CQI/TQM), organizational culture, implementation approaches, and degree of quality improvement implementation based on the Baldrige Award criteria. These data were combined with independently collected data on perceived impact and objective measures of clinical efficiency (i.e., charges and length of stay) for six clinical conditions. The study involved cross-sectional examination of the named relationships. Reliable and valid scales for the organizational culture and quality improvement implementation measures were developed based on responses from over 7,000 individuals across the 61 hospitals with an overall completion rate of 72 percent. Independent data on perceived impact were collected from a national survey and independent data on clinical efficiency from a companion study of managed care. A participative, flexible, risk-taking organizational culture was significantly related to quality improvement implementation. Quality improvement implementation, in turn, was positively associated with greater perceived patient outcomes and human resource development. Larger-size hospitals experienced lower clinical efficiency with regard to higher charges and higher length of stay, due in part to having more bureaucratic and hierarchical cultures that serve as a barrier to quality improvement implementation. What really matters is whether or not a hospital has a culture that supports quality improvement work and an approach that encourages flexible implementation. Larger-size hospitals face more difficult challenges in this regard.

Drinking water quality management: a holistic approach.

PubMed

Rizak, S; Cunliffe, D; Sinclair, M; Vulcano, R; Howard, J; Hrudey, S; Callan, P

2003-01-01

A growing list of water contaminants has led to some water suppliers relying primarily on compliance monitoring as a mechanism for managing drinking water quality. While such monitoring is a necessary part of drinking water quality management, experiences with waterborne disease threats and outbreaks have shown that compliance monitoring for numerical limits is not, in itself, sufficient to guarantee the safety and quality of drinking water supplies. To address these issues, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has developed a Framework for Management of Drinking Water Quality (the Framework) for incorporation in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, the primary reference on drinking water quality in Australia. The Framework was developed specifically for drinking water supplies and provides a comprehensive and preventive risk management approach from catchment to consumer. It includes holistic guidance on a range of issues considered good practice for system management. The Framework addresses four key areas: Commitment to Drinking Water Quality Management, System Analysis and System Management, Supporting Requirements, and Review. The Framework represents a significantly enhanced approach to the management and regulation of drinking water quality and offers a flexible and proactive means of optimising drinking water quality and protecting public health. Rather than the primary reliance on compliance monitoring, the Framework emphasises prevention, the importance of risk assessment, maintaining the integrity of water supply systems and application of multiple barriers to assure protection of public health. Development of the Framework was undertaken in collaboration with the water industry, regulators and other stakeholder, and will promote a common and unified approach to drinking water quality management throughout Australia. The Framework has attracted international interest.

Total Quality Management Practices in Turkish Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Toremen, Fatih; Karakus, Mehmet; Yasan, Tezcan

2009-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of total quality management (TQM) practices in primary schools based on teachers' perceptions, and how their perceptions are related to different variables. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, a survey based descriptive scanning model was used. This study was carried out in…

[Evidence-based management of medical disposable materials].

PubMed

Yang, Hai

2009-03-01

Evidence-based management of medical disposable materials pays attention to collect evidence comprehensively and systematically, accumulate and create evidence through its own work and also evaluate evidence strictly. This can be used as a function to guide out job. Medical disposable materials evidence system contains product register qualification, product quality certification, supplier's behavior, internal and external communication evidence. Managers can find different ways in creating and using evidence referring to specific inside and outside condition. Evidence-based management can help accelerating the development of management of medical disposable materials from traditional experience pattern to a systematic and scientific pattern. It also has the very important meaning to improve medical quality, control the unreasonable growth of medical expense and make purchase and supply chain be more efficient.

Quality Management Systems Implementation Compared With Organizational Maturity in Hospital.

PubMed

Moradi, Tayebeh; Jafari, Mehdi; Maleki, Mohammad Reza; Naghdi, Seyran; Ghiasvand, Hesam

2015-07-27

A quality management system can provide a framework for continuous improvement in order to increase the probability of customers and other stakeholders' satisfaction. The test maturity model helps organizations to assess the degree of maturity in implementing effective and sustained quality management systems; plan based on the current realities of the organization and prioritize their improvement programs. We aim to investigate and compare the level of organizational maturity in hospitals with the status of quality management systems implementation. This analytical cross sectional study was conducted among hospital administrators and quality experts working in hospitals with over 200 beds located in Tehran. In the first step, 32 hospitals were selected and then 96 employees working in the selected hospitals were studied. The data were gathered using the implementation checklist of quality management systems and the organization maturity questionnaire derived from ISO 10014. The content validity was calculated using Lawshe method and the reliability was estimated using test - retest method and calculation of Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS 18 software. According to the table, the mean score of organizational maturity among hospitals in the first stage of quality management systems implementation was equal to those in the third stage and hypothesis was rejected (p-value = 0.093). In general, there is no significant difference in the organizational maturity between the first and third level hospitals (in terms of implementation of quality management systems). Overall, the findings of the study show that there is no significant difference in the organizational maturity between the hospitals in different levels of the quality management systems implementation and in fact, the maturity of the organizations cannot be attributed to the implementation of such systems. As a result, hospitals

Quality Management Systems Implementation Compared With Organizational Maturity in Hospital

PubMed Central

Moradi, Tayebeh; Jafari, Mehdi; Maleki, Mohammad Reza; Naghdi, Seyran; Ghiyasvand, Hesam

2016-01-01

Background: A quality management system can provide a framework for continuous improvement in order to increase the probability of customers and other stakeholders’ satisfaction. The test maturity model helps organizations to assess the degree of maturity in implementing effective and sustained quality management systems; plan based on the current realities of the organization and prioritize their improvement programs. Objectives: We aim to investigate and compare the level of organizational maturity in hospitals with the status of quality management systems implementation. Materials and Methods: This analytical cross sectional study was conducted among hospital administrators and quality experts working in hospitals with over 200 beds located in Tehran. In the first step, 32 hospitals were selected and then 96 employees working in the selected hospitals were studied. The data were gathered using the implementation checklist of quality management systems and the organization maturity questionnaire derived from ISO 10014. The content validity was calculated using Lawshe method and the reliability was estimated using test - retest method and calculation of Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data using SPSS 18 software. Results: According to the table, the mean score of organizational maturity among hospitals in the first stage of quality management systems implementation was equal to those in the third stage and hypothesis was rejected (p-value = 0.093). In general, there is no significant difference in the organizational maturity between the first and third level hospitals (in terms of implementation of quality management systems). Conclusions: Overall, the findings of the study show that there is no significant difference in the organizational maturity between the hospitals in different levels of the quality management systems implementation and in fact, the maturity of the organizations cannot be

Total Quality Management: Implications for Educational Assessment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rankin, Stuart C.

1992-01-01

Deming's "System of Profound Knowledge" is even more fundamental than his 14-principle system transformation guide and is based on 4 elements: systems theory, statistical variation, a theory of knowledge, and psychology. Management should revamp total system processes so that quality of product is continually improved. Implications for…

Strengthening the regulatory system through the implementation and use of a quality management system.

PubMed

Eisner, Reinhold; Patel, Rakeshkumar

2017-04-20

Quality management systems (QMS), based on ISO 9001 requirements, are applicable to government service organizations such as Health Canada's Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate (BGTD). This communication presents the process that the BGTD followed since the early 2000s to implement a quality management system and describes how the regulatory system was improved as a result of this project. BGTD undertook the implementation of a quality management system based on ISO 9001 and containing aspects of ISO 17025 with the goal of strengthening the regulatory system through improvements in the people, processes, and services of the organization. We discuss the strategy used by BGTD to implement the QMS and the benefits that were realized from the various stages of implementation. The eight quality principals upon which the QMS standards of the ISO 9000 series are based were used by senior management as a framework to guide QMS implementation.

Total Quality Management Simplified.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arias, Pam

1995-01-01

Maintains that Total Quality Management (TQM) is one method that helps to monitor and improve the quality of child care. Lists four steps for a child-care center to design and implement its own TQM program. Suggests that quality assurance in child-care settings is an ongoing process, and that TQM programs help in providing consistent, high-quality…

Quality management, a directive approach to patient safety.

PubMed

Ayuso-Murillo, Diego; de Andrés-Gimeno, Begoña; Noriega-Matanza, Concha; López-Suárez, Rafael Jesús; Herrera-Peco, Ivan

Nowadays the implementation of effective quality management systems and external evaluation in healthcare is a necessity to ensure not only transparency in activities related to health but also access to health and patient safety. The key to correctly implementing a quality management system is support from the managers of health facilities, since it is managers who design and communicate to health professionals the strategies of action involved in quality management systems. This article focuses on nursing managers' approach to quality management through the implementation of cycles of continuous improvement, participation of improvement groups, monitoring systems and external evaluation quality models (EFQM, ISO). The implementation of a quality management system will enable preventable adverse effects to be minimized or eliminated, and promote patient safety and safe practice by health professionals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Evaluating University-Industry Collaboration: The European Foundation of Quality Management Excellence Model-Based Evaluation of University-Industry Collaboration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kauppila, Osmo; Mursula, Anu; Harkonen, Janne; Kujala, Jaakko

2015-01-01

The growth in university-industry collaboration has resulted in an increasing demand for methods to evaluate it. This paper presents one way to evaluate an organization's collaborative activities based on the European Foundation of Quality Management excellence model. Success factors of collaboration are derived from literature and compared…

Total Quality Management in Education. Second Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallis, Edward

Quality is at the top of most agendas, and improving quality is probably the most important task facing any institution. In addition, quality is difficult to define or measure. This book, the second edition of "Total Quality Management in Education," introduces the key concepts of Total Quality Management (TQM) and demonstrates how they…

Stand quality management of a water oak plantation in Louisiana: preliminary results following thinning

Treesearch

James S. Meadows; Daniel A., Jr. Skojac

2010-01-01

Stand quality management is a new guiding principle in which thinning prescriptions are based on tree quality rather than on residual stand density. We recently initiated a series of hardwood thinning studies to determine the effects of four stand quality management thinning prescriptions on both stand-level and individual-tree-level growth, quality, and value: (1) no...

Strategic Issues in Quality Management: 1. Theoretical Considerations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johannsen, Carl Gustav

1996-01-01

Examines the relationship between strategic management and quality management concepts in a library and information services setting. Conceptual frameworks are presented and a new strategic quality management framework, inspired by the Japanese policy deployment approach, is developed that also discusses total quality management. (Author/LRW)

Data-base development for water-quality modeling of the Patuxent River basin, Maryland

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fisher, G.T.; Summers, R.M.

1987-01-01

Procedures and rationale used to develop a data base and data management system for the Patuxent Watershed Nonpoint Source Water Quality Monitoring and Modeling Program of the Maryland Department of the Environment and the U.S. Geological Survey are described. A detailed data base and data management system has been developed to facilitate modeling of the watershed for water quality planning purposes; statistical analysis; plotting of meteorologic, hydrologic and water quality data; and geographic data analysis. The system is Maryland 's prototype for development of a basinwide water quality management program. A key step in the program is to build a calibrated and verified water quality model of the basin using the Hydrological Simulation Program--FORTRAN (HSPF) hydrologic model, which has been used extensively in large-scale basin modeling. The compilation of the substantial existing data base for preliminary calibration of the basin model, including meteorologic, hydrologic, and water quality data from federal and state data bases and a geographic information system containing digital land use and soils data is described. The data base development is significant in its application of an integrated, uniform approach to data base management and modeling. (Lantz-PTT)

Assessing the impact of continuous quality improvement/total quality management: concept versus implementation.

PubMed Central

Shortell, S M; O'Brien, J L; Carman, J M; Foster, R W; Hughes, E F; Boerstler, H; O'Connor, E J

1995-01-01

OBJECTIVE: This study examines the relationships among organizational culture, quality improvement processes and selected outcomes for a sample of up to 61 U. S. hospitals. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: Primary data were collected from 61 U. S. hospitals (located primarily in the midwest and the west) on measures related to continuous quality improvement/total quality management (CQI/TQM), organizational culture, implementation approaches, and degree of quality improvement implementation based on the Baldrige Award criteria. These data were combined with independently collected data on perceived impact and objective measures of clinical efficiency (i.e., charges and length of stay) for six clinical conditions. STUDY DESIGN: The study involved cross-sectional examination of the named relationships. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Reliable and valid scales for the organizational culture and quality improvement implementation measures were developed based on responses from over 7,000 individuals across the 61 hospitals with an overall completion rate of 72 percent. Independent data on perceived impact were collected from a national survey and independent data on clinical efficiency from a companion study of managed care. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A participative, flexible, risk-taking organizational culture was significantly related to quality improvement implementation. Quality improvement implementation, in turn, was positively associated with greater perceived patient outcomes and human resource development. Larger-size hospitals experienced lower clinical efficiency with regard to higher charges and higher length of stay, due in part to having more bureaucratic and hierarchical cultures that serve as a barrier to quality improvement implementation. CONCLUSIONS: What really matters is whether or not a hospital has a culture that supports quality improvement work and an approach that encourages flexible implementation. Larger-size hospitals face more difficult

Total Quality Management Implementation Plan: Defense Depot, Ogden

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

NUMBERS Total Quality Management Implementation Plan Defense Depot Ogden 6. AUTHOR(S) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING...PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Continuous Process Improvement, Depot Operations, Process Action Teams 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY...034 A Message From The Commander On Total Quality Management i fully support the DLA aoproacii to Total Quality Management . As stated by General

[A strategy of constructing the technological system for quality control of Chinese medicine based on process control and management].

PubMed

Cheng, Yi-Yu; Qian, Zhong-Zhi; Zhang, Bo-Li

2017-01-01

The current situation, bottleneck problems and severe challenges in quality control technology of Chinese Medicine (CM) are briefly described. It is presented to change the phenomenon related to the post-test as the main means and contempt for process control in drug regulation, reverse the situation of neglecting the development of process control and management technology for pharmaceutical manufacture and reconstruct the technological system for quality control of CM products. The regulation and technology system based on process control and management for controlling CM quality should be established to solve weighty realistic problems of CM industry from the root causes, including backwardness of quality control technology, weakness of quality risk control measures, poor reputation of product quality and so on. By this way, the obstacles from poor controllability of CM product quality could be broken. Concentrating on those difficult problems and weak links in the technical field of CM quality control, it is proposed to build CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls) regulation for CM products with Chinese characteristics and promote the regulation international recognition as soon as possible. The CMC technical framework, which is clinical efficacy-oriented, manufacturing manner-centered and process control-focused, was designed. To address the clinical characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the production feature of CM manufacture, it is suggested to establish quality control engineering for CM manufacturing by integrating pharmaceutical analysis, TCM chemistry, TCM pharmacology, pharmaceutical engineering, control engineering, management engineering and other disciplines. Further, a theoretical model of quality control engineering for CM manufacturing and the methodology of digital pharmaceutical engineering are proposed. A technology pathway for promoting CM standard and realizing the strategic goal of CM internationalization is

Managed care and total quality management: a necessary integration.

PubMed

Phoon, J; Corder, K; Barter, M

1996-01-01

The process of quality improvement/total quality management (QI/TQM) plays a key role in the delivery of health care in a managed care system. The concepts and ideas surrounding QI/TQM and managed care are interrelated, and the success of health care delivery depends on the integration and coexistence of these two philosophies. In looking more closely at these concepts, it becomes clear that the principles of QI/TQM must underlie strategic decisions involved in the implementation of a managed care system. Nurses play a key role in the success of this integration as nurse case managers, nurse practitioners, and nurse administrators. They have a direct impact on the many variables and goals of both QI/TQM and managed care.

A new approach in the development of quality management systems for (micro)electronics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bacivarov, Ioan C.; Bacivarov, Angelica; Gherghina, Cǎtǎlina

2016-12-01

This paper presents the new approach in the analysis of the Quality Management Systems (QMS) of companies, based on the revised standard ISO 9001:2015. In the first part of the paper, QMS based on ISO 9001 certification are introduced; the changes and the updates proposed for the new version of ISO 9001:2015 are critically analyzed, based on the documents elaborated by ISO/TC 176. The approach based on ISO 9001:2015 could be considered as "beginning of a new era in development of quality management systems". A comparison between the between the "old" standard ISO 9001:2008 and the "new" standard ISO 9001:2015 is made. In the second part of the paper, steps to be followed in a company to implement this new standard are presented. A peculiar attention is given to the new concept of risk-based thinking in order to support and improve application of the process based approach. The authors conclude that, by considering risk throughout the organization the likelihood of achieving stated objectives is improved, output is more consistent and customers can be confident that they will receive the expected results. Finally, the benefits of the new approach in the development of quality management systems are outlined, as well as how they are reflected in the management of companies in general and those in electronics field, in particular. As demonstrated in this paper, well understood and properly applied, the new approach based on the revised standard ISO9001:2015 could offer a better quality management for companies operating in electronics and beyond.

Total Quality Management (TQM) as the Procedure for Management of Integrated Academics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Lowell D.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a way of doing business that involves every employee, both labor and management, in an effort to improve quality and productivity. The quality management concept consists of common principles: (1) customer focus; (2) process focus; (3) failure prevention; (4) mobilization of work force; (5) decision making based…

Transforming an EPA QA/R-2 quality management plan into an ISO 9002 quality management system.

PubMed

Kell, R A; Hedin, C M; Kassakhian, G H; Reynolds, E S

2001-01-01

The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Emergency and Remedial Response (OERR) requires environmental data of known quality to support Superfund hazardous waste site projects. The Quality Assurance Technical Support (QATS) Program is operated by Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure, Inc. to provide EPA's Analytical Operations Center (AOC) with performance evaluation samples, reference materials, on-site laboratory auditing capabilities, data audits (including electronic media data audits), methods development, and other support services. The new QATS contract awarded in November 2000 required that the QATS Program become ISO 9000 certified. In a first for an EPA contractor, the QATS staff and management successfully transformed EPA's QA/R-2 type Quality Management Plan into a Quality Management System (QMS) that complies with the requirements of the internationally recognized ISO 9002 standard and achieved certification in the United States, Canada, and throughout Europe. The presentation describes how quality system elements of ISO 9002 were implemented on an already existing quality system. The psychological and organizational challenges of the culture change in QATS' day-to-day operations will be discussed for the benefit of other ISO 9000 aspirants.

[QUIPS: quality improvement in postoperative pain management].

PubMed

Meissner, Winfried

2011-01-01

Despite the availability of high-quality guidelines and advanced pain management techniques acute postoperative pain management is still far from being satisfactory. The QUIPS (Quality Improvement in Postoperative Pain Management) project aims to improve treatment quality by means of standardised data acquisition, analysis of quality and process indicators, and feedback and benchmarking. During a pilot phase funded by the German Ministry of Health (BMG), a total of 12,389 data sets were collected from six participating hospitals. Outcome improved in four of the six hospitals. Process indicators, such as routine pain documentation, were only poorly correlated with outcomes. To date, more than 130 German hospitals use QUIPS as a routine quality management tool. An EC-funded parallel project disseminates the concept internationally. QUIPS demonstrates that patient-reported outcomes in postoperative pain management can be benchmarked in routine clinical practice. Quality improvement initiatives should use outcome instead of structural and process parameters. The concept is transferable to other fields of medicine. Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Total Quality Management. A Selected Bibliography

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-03-01

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, by Frank L . Lewis and others. Washington: May 1991. 34pp. (TS156 157 1991) Periodical Articles Aggarwal, Sumer. "A Quick Guide...to Total Quality Management." BUSINESS HORIZONS, Vol. 36, May-June 1993, pp. 66-68. Axline, Larry L . "TQM: A Look in the Mirror." MANAGEMENT REVIEW...Schuler, Randall S., and Harris, Drew L . MANAGING QUALITY: THE PRIMER FOR MIDDLE MANAGERS. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1992. 202pp. (HD62.15 S38

Total quality management and nursing: a shared vision.

PubMed

Morey, W

1996-09-01

The application of the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy within the health care sector would enhance the development of nursing power, leadership and knowledge. TQM challenges conventional management techniques as it requires a participative management style in order to be effective. There are many potential benefits for nurses, when quality assurance monitoring within a hierarchical management structure, is replaced with a focus on continuous quality improvement by every member of staff. These benefits are described within the context of both organisational and personal commitment to Total Quality Management.

DLA-X Total Quality Management (TQM) Implementation Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

PAGES TOM (Total Quality Management ), Continuous Process Improvement.( .) 4L-- Administration 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18. SECURITY...NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) Pr.-cr,bed by ANSI Std ,,fl.f 296-102 DLA-X TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) IMPLEMENTATION PLAN o...application of proven Total Quality Management techniques. Quality Policy: Responsibility for quality is delegated to every employee ;11 DLA-X. Every

Promoting quality: the health-care organization from a management perspective.

PubMed

Glickman, Seth W; Baggett, Kelvin A; Krubert, Christopher G; Peterson, Eric D; Schulman, Kevin A

2007-12-01

Although agreement about the need for quality improvement in health care is almost universal, the means of achieving effective improvement in overall care is not well understood. Avedis Donabedian developed the structure-process-outcome framework in which to think about quality-improvement efforts. There is now a robust evidence-base in the quality-improvement literature on process and outcomes, but structure has received considerably less attention. The health-care field would benefit from expanding the current interpretation of structure to include broader perspectives on organizational attributes as primary determinants of process change and quality improvement. We highlight and discuss the following key elements of organizational attributes from a management perspective: (i) executive management, including senior leadership and board responsibilities (ii) culture, (iii) organizational design, (iv) incentive structures and (v) information management and technology. We discuss the relevant contributions from the business and medical literature for each element, and provide this framework as a roadmap for future research in an effort to develop the optimal definition of 'structure' for transforming quality-improvement initiatives.

Quality, management, and the interplay of self-assessment, process assessments, and performance-based observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Willett, D. J.

1993-04-01

In this document, the author presents his observations on the topic of quality assurance (QA). Traditionally the focus of quality management has been on QA organizations, manuals, procedures, audits, and assessments; quality was measured by the degree of conformance to specifications or standards. Today quality is defined as satisfying user needs and is measured by user satisfaction. The author proposes that quality is the responsibility of line organizations and staff and not the responsibility of the QA group. This work outlines an effective Conduct of Operations program. The author concludes his observations with a discussion of how quality is analogous to leadership.

Network-based production quality control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kwon, Yongjin; Tseng, Bill; Chiou, Richard

2007-09-01

This study investigates the feasibility of remote quality control using a host of advanced automation equipment with Internet accessibility. Recent emphasis on product quality and reduction of waste stems from the dynamic, globalized and customer-driven market, which brings opportunities and threats to companies, depending on the response speed and production strategies. The current trends in industry also include a wide spread of distributed manufacturing systems, where design, production, and management facilities are geographically dispersed. This situation mandates not only the accessibility to remotely located production equipment for monitoring and control, but efficient means of responding to changing environment to counter process variations and diverse customer demands. To compete under such an environment, companies are striving to achieve 100%, sensor-based, automated inspection for zero-defect manufacturing. In this study, the Internet-based quality control scheme is referred to as "E-Quality for Manufacturing" or "EQM" for short. By its definition, EQM refers to a holistic approach to design and to embed efficient quality control functions in the context of network integrated manufacturing systems. Such system let designers located far away from the production facility to monitor, control and adjust the quality inspection processes as production design evolves.

Do competition and managed care improve quality?

PubMed

Sari, Nazmi

2002-10-01

In recent years, the US health care industry has experienced a rapid growth of managed care, formation of networks, and an integration of hospitals. This paper provides new insights about the quality consequences of this dynamic in US hospital markets. I empirically investigate the impact of managed care and hospital competition on quality using in-hospital complications as quality measures. I use random and fixed effects, and instrumental variable fixed effect models using hospital panel data from up to 16 states in the 1992-1997 period. The paper has two important findings: First, higher managed care penetration increases the quality, when inappropriate utilization, wound infections and adverse/iatrogenic complications are used as quality indicators. For other complication categories, coefficient estimates are statistically insignificant. These findings do not support the straightforward view that increases in managed care penetration are associated with decreases in quality. Second, both higher hospital market share and market concentration are associated with lower quality of care. Hospital mergers have undesirable quality consequences. Appropriate antitrust policies towards mergers should consider not only price and cost but also quality impacts. Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improving Operational Readiness through Total Quality Management

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-06-21

DTIC AD-A236 611 EL CT F NAVAL WAR COLL GE C Newport, R. I. IMPROVING OPERATIONAL READINESS THROUGH TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT by Herb Westphal Defense...IMPROVING OPERATIONAL READINESS THROUGH TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) A Case Study: The Defense Mapping Agency Combat Support Center (DMACSC) initiated a...of the Defense Mapping Agency Combat Support Center’s (DMACSC) Total Quality Management (TQM) improvement methodology. This allows the reader to

An Integrated Information System for Supporting Quality Management Tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beyer, N.; Helmreich, W.

2004-08-01

In a competitive environment, well defined processes become the strategic advantage of a company. Hence, targeted Quality Management ensures efficiency, trans- parency and, ultimately, customer satisfaction. In the particular context of a Space Test Centre, a num- ber of specific Quality Management standards have to be applied. According to the revision of ISO 9001 dur- ing 2000, and due to the adaptation of ECSS-Q20-07, process orientation and data analysis are key tasks for ensuring and evaluating the efficiency of a company's processes. In line with these requirements, an integrated management system for accessing the necessary infor- mation to support Quality Management and other proc- esses has been established. Some of its test-related fea- tures are presented here. Easy access to the integrated management system from any work place at IABG's Space Test Centre is ensured by means of an intranet portal. It comprises a full set of quality-related process descriptions, information on test facilities, emergency procedures, and other relevant in- formation. The portal's web interface provides direct access to a couple of external applications. Moreover, easy updating of all information and low cost mainte- nance are features of this integrated information system. The timely and transparent management of non- conformances is covered by a dedicated NCR database which incorporates full documentation capability, elec- tronic signature and e-mail notification of concerned staff. A search interface allows for queries across all documented non-conformances. Furthermore, print ver- sions can be generated at any stage in the process, e.g. for distribution to customers. Feedback on customer satisfaction is sought through a web-based questionnaire. The process is initiated by the responsible test manager through submission of an e- mail that contains a hyperlink to a secure website, ask- ing the customer to complete the brief online form, which is directly fed to a database

Manager traits and quality-of-care performance in hospitals.

PubMed

Aij, Kjeld Harald; Aernoudts, René L M C; Joosten, Gepke

2015-07-06

This paper aims to assess the impact of the leadership traits of chief executive officers (CEOs) on hospital performance in the USA. The effectiveness and efficiency of the CEO is of critical importance to the performance of any organization, including hospitals. Management systems and manager behaviours (traits) are of crucial importance to any organization because of their connection with organizational performance. To identify key factors associated with the quality of care delivered by hospitals, the authors gathered perceptions of manager traits from chief executive officers (CEOs) and followers in three groups of US hospitals delivering different levels of quality of care performance. Three high- and three low-performing hospitals were selected from the top and bottom 20th percentiles, respectively, using a national hospital ranking system based on standard quality of care performance measures. Three lean hospitals delivering intermediate performance were also selected. A survey was used to gather perceptions of manager traits (providing a modern or lean management system inclination) from CEOs and their followers in the three groups, which were compared. Four traits were found to be significantly different (alpha < 0.05) between lean (intermediate-) and low-performing hospitals. The different perceptions between these two hospital groups were all held by followers in the low-performing hospitals and not the CEOs, and all had a modern management inclination. No differences were found between lean (intermediate-) and high-performing hospitals, or between high- and low-performing hospitals. These findings support a need for hospital managers to acquire appropriate traits to achieve lean transformation, support a benefit of measuring manager traits to assess progress towards lean transformation and lend weight to improved quality of care that can be delivered by hospitals adopting a lean system of management.

The Role of Peer Influence and Perceived Quality of Teaching in Faculty Acceptance of Web-Based Learning Management Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salajan, Florin D.; Welch, Anita G.; Ray, Chris M.; Peterson, Claudette

2015-01-01

This study's primary investigation is the impact of "peer influence" and "perceived quality of teaching" on faculty members' usage of web-based learning management systems within the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework. These factors are entered into an extended TAM as external variables impacting on the core constructs…

An Introduction to Quality Management: Selected Readings.

DTIC Science & Technology

total quality management (TQM). Through the kind permission of a number of publishers, we have been able to reproduce here some key articles about...TQM. It is not the intent of this technical note to provide a comprehensive study of quality management , but rather to aid in planning for an...implementation of the Deming approach to TQM. Although the Navy aviation community chose the Deming approach to quality management , as reflected in the selected

Quality Services Management: A Consumer-Oriented Model for Systems Audit and Strategic Intervention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Pamela C.

The paper describes Quality Service Management (QSM) as applied to the provision of services to disabled and other special needs persons. QSM is defined as a systems approach to consumer relations based on the belief that quality care may be achieved only within the context of overall services management. Differences among "quality…

Quality Management for Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulligan, Dorothy

1992-01-01

W. Edwards Deming introduced management principles that helped Japan become a world economic power. Virginia is attempting to adapt these techniques to education with a grant that provides training and support for school personnel in several school districts. Describes a quality management program at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School that has…

Quality Management Program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1991-10-01

According to {section} 35.32, Quality Management Program,'' of 10 CFR Part 35, Medical Use of Byproduct Material,'' applicants or licensees, as applicable, are required to establish a quality management (QM) program. This regulatory guide provides guidance to licensees and applicants for developing policies and procedures for the QM program. This guide does not restrict or limit the licensee from using other guidance that may be equally useful in developing a QM program, e.g., information available from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or the American College of Radiology. Any information collection activities mentioned in this regulatory guide aremore » contained as requirements in 10 CFR Part 35, which provides the regulatory basis for this guide. This information collection requirements in 10 CFR Part 35 have been cleared under OMB Clearance No. 3150-0010.« less

Validation of a Quality Management Metric

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-09-01

quality management metric (QMM) was used to measure the performance of ten software managers on Department of Defense (DoD) software development programs. Informal verification and validation of the metric compared the QMM score to an overall program success score for the entire program and yielded positive correlation. The results of applying the QMM can be used to characterize the quality of software management and can serve as a template to improve software management performance. Future work includes further refining the QMM, applying the QMM scores to provide feedback

Total Quality Management: A Selected Bibliography

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-03-01

Total Quality Management (TQM) in the Department of Defense is a strategy for continuously improving performance at every level, and in all areas of...reflects selected books, documents, periodical articles, and videos on the subject of Total Quality Management (TQM) in the collection of the U.S. Army War College Library.

2015/2016 Quality Risk Management Benchmarking Survey.

PubMed

Waldron, Kelly; Ramnarine, Emma; Hartman, Jeffrey

2017-01-01

This paper investigates the concept of quality risk management (QRM) maturity as it applies to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries, using the results and analysis from a QRM benchmarking survey conducted in 2015 and 2016. QRM maturity can be defined as the effectiveness and efficiency of a quality risk management program, moving beyond "check-the-box" compliance with guidelines such as ICH Q9 Quality Risk Management , to explore the value QRM brings to business and quality operations. While significant progress has been made towards full adoption of QRM principles and practices across industry, the full benefits of QRM have not yet been fully realized. The results of the QRM Benchmarking Survey indicate that the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries are approximately halfway along the journey towards full QRM maturity. LAY ABSTRACT: The management of risks associated with medicinal product quality and patient safety are an important focus for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. These risks are identified, analyzed, and controlled through a defined process called quality risk management (QRM), which seeks to protect the patient from potential quality-related risks. This paper summarizes the outcomes of a comprehensive survey of industry practitioners performed in 2015 and 2016 that aimed to benchmark the level of maturity with regard to the application of QRM. The survey results and subsequent analysis revealed that the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries have made significant progress in the management of quality risks over the last ten years, and they are roughly halfway towards reaching full maturity of QRM. © PDA, Inc. 2017.

DESC (Defense Electronics Supply Center) Total Quality Management Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-04-01

Paoerwort Reduction Proodt(0704.01 ge. Washington. DC 20S03 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Api598 . FUNDING NUMBERS DESC Total Quality Management Master Plan...OF PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Continuous Process Improvement,_________ cTainingManagement 16. PRICE CODE 17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18... QUALITY MANAGEMENT As you read the DESC Total Quality Management Plan, I ask each of you to make a commitment to continuously strive for improvement

Total Quality Management Implementation Plan: DLA-N

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

e Wastimto , n. Othe 20 Seato3 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE S. FUNDING NUMBERS DLA-N Total Quality Management 6. AUTHOR(S) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S...PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Continuous Process Improvement.(; , Defense National Stockpile 16. PRICE CODEI17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION 18...IUNCLASSIFIED UL NSN 7540-01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) pr"!Cbed ty ANSI Std Z39’B6 296-102 DLA - N TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN I

77 FR 73320 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-12-10

... Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management District; Prevention of... Implementation Plan (SIP) revision for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD or District... in a August 15, 2012 letter from the South Coast Air Quality Management District regarding specific...

Educational Information Quantization for Improving Content Quality in Learning Management Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rybanov, Alexander Aleksandrovich

2014-01-01

The article offers the educational information quantization method for improving content quality in Learning Management Systems. The paper considers questions concerning analysis of quality of quantized presentation of educational information, based on quantitative text parameters: average frequencies of parts of speech, used in the text; formal…

40 CFR 35.2102 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... Administrator shall first determine that the project is: (a) Included in any water quality management plan being implemented for the area under section 208 of the Act or will be included in any water quality management plan...

Team-based efforts to improve quality of care, the fundamental role of ethics, and the responsibility of health managers: monitoring and management strategies to enhance teamwork.

PubMed

Kossaify, A; Hleihel, W; Lahoud, J-C

2017-12-01

Highlight the importance of teamwork in health care institutions by performing a review and discussion of the relevant literature. Review paper. A MEDLINE/Pubmed search was performed starting from 1990, and the terms 'team, teamwork, managers, healthcare, and cooperation' were searched in titles, abstracts, keywords, and conclusions; other terms 'patient safety, ethics, audits and quality of care' were specifically searched in abstracts and were used as additional filters criteria to select relevant articles. Thirty-three papers were found relevant; factors affecting the quality of care in health care institutions are multiple and varied, including issues related to individual profile, to administrative structure and to team-based effort. Issues affecting teamwork include mainly self-awareness, work environment, leadership, ethics, cooperation, communication, and competition. Moreover, quality improvement plans aiming to enhance and expand teams are essential in this context. Team monitoring and management are vital to achieve efficient teamwork with all the required qualities for a safer health system. In all cases, health managers' responsibility plays a fundamental role in creating and sustaining a teamwork atmosphere. Teamwork is known to improve outcomes in medicine, whether at the clinical, organizational, or scientific level. Teamwork in health care institutions must increasingly be encouraged, given that individual effort is often insufficient for optimal clinical outcome. Copyright © 2017 The Royal Society for Public Health. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality Risk Management: Putting GMP Controls First.

PubMed

O'Donnell, Kevin; Greene, Anne; Zwitkovits, Michael; Calnan, Nuala

2012-01-01

This paper presents a practical way in which current approaches to quality risk management (QRM) may be improved, such that they better support qualification, validation programs, and change control proposals at manufacturing sites. The paper is focused on the treatment of good manufacturing practice (GMP) controls during QRM exercises. It specifically addresses why it is important to evaluate and classify such controls in terms of how they affect the severity, probability of occurrence, and detection ratings that may be assigned to potential failure modes or negative events. It also presents a QRM process that is designed to directly link the outputs of risk assessments and risk control activities with qualification and validation protocols in the GMP environment. This paper concerns the need for improvement in the use of risk-based principles and tools when working to ensure that the manufacturing processes used to produce medicines, and their related equipment, are appropriate. Manufacturing processes need to be validated (or proven) to demonstrate that they can produce a medicine of the required quality. The items of equipment used in such processes need to be qualified, in order to prove that they are fit for their intended use. Quality risk management (QRM) tools can be used to support such qualification and validation activities, but their use should be science-based and subject to as little subjectivity and uncertainty as possible. When changes are proposed to manufacturing processes, equipment, or related activities, they also need careful evaluation to ensure that any risks present are managed effectively. This paper presents a practical approach to how QRM may be improved so that it better supports qualification, validation programs, and change control proposals in a more scientific way. This improved approach is based on the treatment of what are called good manufacturing process (GMP) controls during those QRM exercises. A GMP control can be considered

Population management, systems-based practice, and planned chronic illness care: integrating disease management competencies into primary care to improve composite diabetes quality measures.

PubMed

Kimura, Joe; DaSilva, Karen; Marshall, Richard

2008-02-01

The increasing prevalence of chronic illnesses in the United States requires a fundamental redesign of the primary care delivery system's structure and processes in order to meet the changing needs and expectations of patients. Population management, systems-based practice, and planned chronic illness care are 3 potential processes that can be integrated into primary care and are compatible with the Chronic Care Model. In 2003, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, a multispecialty ambulatory physician group practice based in Boston, Massachusetts, began implementing all 3 processes across its primary care practices. From 2004 to 2006, the overall diabetes composite quality measures improved from 51% to 58% for screening (HgA1c x 2, low-density lipoprotein, blood pressure in 12 months) and from 13% to 17% for intermediate outcomes (HgA1c management functions into the front lines of primary care and the positive impact of those changes on overall diabetes quality of care.

Is having quality as an item on the executive board agenda associated with the implementation of quality management systems in European hospitals: a quantitative analysis.

PubMed

Botje, Daan; Klazinga, N S; Suñol, R; Groene, O; Pfaff, H; Mannion, R; Depaigne-Loth, A; Arah, O A; Dersarkissian, M; Wagner, C

2014-04-01

To assess whether there is a relationship between having quality as an item on the board's agenda, perceived external pressure (PEP) and the implementation of quality management in European hospitals. A quantitative, mixed method, cross-sectional study in seven European countries in 2011 surveying CEOs and quality managers and data from onsite audits. One hundred and fifty-five CEOs and 155 quality managers. One hundred and fifty-five randomly selected acute care hospitals in seven European countries (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey). Main outcome measure(s) Three constructs reflecting quality management based on questionnaire and audit data: (i) Quality Management System Index, (ii) Quality Management Compliance Index and (iii) Clinical Quality Implementation Index. The main predictor was whether quality performance was on the executive board's agenda. Discussing quality performance at executive board meetings more often was associated with a higher quality management system score (regression coefficient b = 2.53; SE = 1.16; P = 0.030). We found a trend in the associations of discussing quality performance with quality compliance and clinical quality implementation. PEP did not modify these relationships. Having quality as an item on the executive board's agenda allows them to review and discuss quality performance more often in order to improve their hospital's quality management. Generally, and as this study found, having quality on the executive board's agenda matters.

[Essential guidelines for Quality Management System].

PubMed

Daunizeau, A

2013-06-01

The guidelines describe the essential parts of the quality management system to fulfil the requirements of the standard EN ISO 15 189. It includes mainly the organisation, the definition of responsibilities, training of personnel, the document control, the quality control, identification and control of nonconformities, corrective actions, preventive actions and evaluation, as audits and the management review.

Drinking-water quality management: the Australian framework.

PubMed

Sinclair, Martha; Rizak, Samantha

The most effective means of assuring drinking-water quality and the protection of public health is through adoption of a preventive management approach that encompasses all steps in water production from catchment to consumer. However, the reliance of current regulatory structures on compliance monitoring of treated water tends to promote a reactive management style where corrective actions are initiated after monitoring reveals that prescribed levels have been exceeded, and generally after consumers have received the noncomplying water. Unfortunately, the important limitations of treated water monitoring are often not appreciated, and there is a widespread tendency to assume that intensification of compliance monitoring or lowering of compliance limits is an effective strategy to improving the protection of public health. To address these issues and emphasize the role of preventive system management, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council in collaboration with the Co-operative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment has developed a comprehensive quality management approach for drinking water. This Framework for Management of Drinking Water Quality will assist water suppliers in providing a higher level of assurance for drinking water quality and safety. The framework integrates quality and risk management principles, and provides a comprehensive, flexible, and proactive means of optimizing, drinking-water quality and protecting public health. It does not eliminate the requirement for compliance monitoring but allows it to be viewed in the proper perspective as providing verification that preventive measures are effective, rather than as the primary means of protecting public health.

Strategic collaborative quality management and employee job satisfaction

PubMed Central

Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

2014-01-01

Background: This study aimed to examine Strategic Collaborative Quality Management (SCQM) impact on employee job satisfaction. Methods: The study presents a case study over six years following the implementation of the SCQM programme in a public hospital. A validated questionnaire was used to measure employees’ job satisfaction. The impact of the intervention was measured by comparing the pre-intervention and post-intervention measures in the hospital. Results: The hospital reported a significant improvement in some dimensions of job satisfaction like management and supervision, organisational policies, task requirement, and working conditions. Conclusion: This paper provides detailed information on how a quality management model implementation affects employees. A well developed, well introduced and institutionalised quality management model can improve employees’ job satisfaction. However, the success of quality management needs top management commitment and stability. PMID:24847482

Strategic collaborative quality management and employee job satisfaction.

PubMed

Mosadeghrad, Ali Mohammad

2014-05-01

This study aimed to examine Strategic Collaborative Quality Management (SCQM) impact on employee job satisfaction. The study presents a case study over six years following the implementation of the SCQM programme in a public hospital. A validated questionnaire was used to measure employees' job satisfaction. The impact of the intervention was measured by comparing the pre-intervention and post-intervention measures in the hospital. The hospital reported a significant improvement in some dimensions of job satisfaction like management and supervision, organisational policies, task requirement, and working conditions. This paper provides detailed information on how a quality management model implementation affects employees. A well developed, well introduced and institutionalised quality management model can improve employees' job satisfaction. However, the success of quality management needs top management commitment and stability.

Total Quality Management for Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greenwood, Malcolm S.; Gaunt, Helen J.

Education in the United Kingdom has been shaped by the advent of local school management and the rapid growth of grant-maintained schools. Total Quality Management (TQM) offers a new way of looking at management principles and structures by identifying the needs of both internal and external customers. This book applies principles of TQM…

Defining quality indicators for best-practice management of inflammatory bowel disease in Canada

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Geoffrey C; Devlin, Shane M; Afif, Waqqas; Bressler, Brian; Gruchy, Steven E; Kaplan, Gilaad G; Oliveira, Liliana; Plamondon, Sophie; Seow, Cynthia H; Williams, Chadwick; Wong, Karen; Yan, Brian M; Jones, Jennifer

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of published data regarding the quality of care of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Canada. Clinical quality indicators are quantitative end points used to guide, monitor and improve the quality of patient care. In Canada, where universal health care can vary significantly among provinces, quality indicators can be used to identify potential gaps in the delivery of IBD care and standardize the approach to interprovincial management. METHODS: The Emerging Practice in IBD Collaborative (EPIC) group generated a shortlist of IBD quality indicators based on a comprehensive literature review. An iterative voting process was used to select quality indicators to take forward. In a face-to-face meeting with the EPIC group, available evidence to support each quality indicator was presented by the EPIC member aligned to it, followed by group discussion to agree on the wording of the statements. The selected quality indicators were then ratified in a final vote by all EPIC members. RESULTS: Eleven quality indicators for the management of IBD within the single-payer health care system of Canada were developed. These focus on accurate diagnosis, appropriate and timely management, disease monitoring, and prevention or treatment of complications of IBD or its therapy. CONCLUSIONS: These quality indicators are measurable, reflective of the evidence base and expert opinion, and define a standard of care that is at least a minimum that should be expected for IBD management in Canada. The next steps for the EPIC group involve conducting research to assess current practice across Canada as it pertains to these quality indicators and to measure the impact of each of these indicators on patient outcomes. PMID:24839622

British Thoracic Society quality standards for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules.

PubMed

Baldwin, David; Callister, Matthew; Akram, Ahsan; Cane, Paul; Draffan, Jeanette; Franks, Kevin; Gleeson, Fergus; Graham, Richard; Malhotra, Puneet; Pearson, Philip; Subesinghe, Manil; Waller, David; Woolhouse, Ian

2018-01-01

The purpose of the quality standards document is to provide healthcare professionals, commissioners, service providers and patients with a guide to standards of care that should be met for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules in the UK, together with measurable markers of good practice. Development of British Thoracic Society (BTS) Quality Standards follows the BTS process of quality standard production based on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence process manual for the development of quality standards. 7 quality statements have been developed, each describing a key marker of high-quality, cost-effective care for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules, and each statement is supported by quality measures that aim to improve the structure, process and outcomes of healthcare. BTS Quality Standards for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules form a key part of the range of supporting materials that the Society produces to assist in the dissemination and implementation of guideline recommendations.

British Thoracic Society quality standards for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules

PubMed Central

Baldwin, David; Callister, Matthew; Akram, Ahsan; Cane, Paul; Draffan, Jeanette; Franks, Kevin; Gleeson, Fergus; Graham, Richard; Malhotra, Puneet; Pearson, Philip; Subesinghe, Manil; Waller, David; Woolhouse, Ian

2018-01-01

Introduction The purpose of the quality standards document is to provide healthcare professionals, commissioners, service providers and patients with a guide to standards of care that should be met for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules in the UK, together with measurable markers of good practice. Methods Development of British Thoracic Society (BTS) Quality Standards follows the BTS process of quality standard production based on the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence process manual for the development of quality standards. Results 7 quality statements have been developed, each describing a key marker of high-quality, cost-effective care for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules, and each statement is supported by quality measures that aim to improve the structure, process and outcomes of healthcare. Discussion BTS Quality Standards for the investigation and management of pulmonary nodules form a key part of the range of supporting materials that the Society produces to assist in the dissemination and implementation of guideline recommendations. PMID:29682290

Defining and improving quality management in Dutch diabetes care groups and outpatient clinics: design of the study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Worldwide, the organisation of diabetes care is changing. As a result general practices and diabetes teams in hospitals are becoming part of new organisations in which multidisciplinary care programs are implemented. In the Netherlands, 97 diabetes care groups and 104 outpatient clinics are working with a diabetes care program. Both types of organisations aim to improve the quality of diabetes care. Therefore, it is essential to understand the comprehensive elements needed for optimal quality management at organisational level. This study aims to assess the current level of diabetes quality management in both care groups and outpatient clinics and its improvement after providing feedback on their quality management system and tailored support. Methods/design This study is a before-after study with a one-year follow-up comparing the levels of quality management before and after an intervention to improve diabetes quality management. To assess the status of quality management, online questionnaires were developed based on current literature. They consist of six domains: organisation of care, multidisciplinary teamwork, patient centeredness, performance management, quality improvement policy and management strategies. Based on the questionnaires, respondents will receive feedback on their score in a radar diagram and an elucidating table. They will also be granted access to an online toolbox with instruments that proved to be effective in quality of care improvement and with practical examples. If requested, personal support in implementing these tools will be available. After one year quality management will be measured again using the same questionnaire. Discussion This study will reveal a nationwide picture of quality management in diabetes care groups and outpatient clinics in the Netherlands and evaluate the effect of offering tailored support. The operationalisation of quality management on organisational level may be of interest for other countries

Defining and improving quality management in Dutch diabetes care groups and outpatient clinics: design of the study.

PubMed

Campmans-Kuijpers, Marjo J E; Lemmens, Lidwien C; Baan, Caroline A; Gorter, Kees J; Groothuis, Jolanda; van Vuure, Klementine H; Rutten, Guy E H M

2013-04-05

Worldwide, the organisation of diabetes care is changing. As a result general practices and diabetes teams in hospitals are becoming part of new organisations in which multidisciplinary care programs are implemented. In the Netherlands, 97 diabetes care groups and 104 outpatient clinics are working with a diabetes care program. Both types of organisations aim to improve the quality of diabetes care. Therefore, it is essential to understand the comprehensive elements needed for optimal quality management at organisational level. This study aims to assess the current level of diabetes quality management in both care groups and outpatient clinics and its improvement after providing feedback on their quality management system and tailored support. This study is a before-after study with a one-year follow-up comparing the levels of quality management before and after an intervention to improve diabetes quality management. To assess the status of quality management, online questionnaires were developed based on current literature. They consist of six domains: organisation of care, multidisciplinary teamwork, patient centeredness, performance management, quality improvement policy and management strategies. Based on the questionnaires, respondents will receive feedback on their score in a radar diagram and an elucidating table. They will also be granted access to an online toolbox with instruments that proved to be effective in quality of care improvement and with practical examples. If requested, personal support in implementing these tools will be available. After one year quality management will be measured again using the same questionnaire. This study will reveal a nationwide picture of quality management in diabetes care groups and outpatient clinics in the Netherlands and evaluate the effect of offering tailored support. The operationalisation of quality management on organisational level may be of interest for other countries as well.

A Synthesis of a Quality Management Model for Education in Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Srikanthan, G.; Dalrymple, John

2004-01-01

The paper attempts to synthesise the features of the model for quality management in education based on the approaches spelt out in four well-articulated methodologies for the practice of quality in higher education. Each methodology contributes to different views of education from the learners' and the institution's perspectives, providing…

Quality of Diabetes Management in Saudi Arabia: A Review of Existing Barriers.

PubMed

Almutairi, Khalid M

2015-12-01

Diabetes mellitus is a complex disorder that requires continuous management and medical care. The purpose of this review is to identify and summarize the barriers that affect diabetes management in Saudi Arabia. Studies that have examined the quality of diabetes management in Saudi Arabia were identified through online and manual literature searches. Two researchers independently searched and assessed for inclusion/exclusion criteria. All studies were screened by a specialist for the significance of the review. Studies that were included were evaluated for relevance, methodological rigor, and credibility by giving a quality score based on Russell and Gregory's criteria. This review presents an overview of the quality of diabetes management and issues and barriers concerning the improvement of diabetes care in Saudi Arabia. The online literature search yielded 11 studies which met the inclusion criteria. Factors affecting the quality of diabetes care can be categorized into patient factors (such as adherence, compliance, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, financial resources and co-morbidities) and healthcare providers' factors (including beliefs, attitudes and knowledge, patient - provider interaction and communication). The identified barriers, both from patients and healthcare providers, will help healthcare authorities to improve diabetes management in Saudi Arabia. Improvement of health awareness about disease and disease management should be tailored through continuous patient education. Continuous training and seminars will also expand providers' knowledge that will ensure quality and effective diabetes management.

Bayesian Framework for Water Quality Model Uncertainty Estimation and Risk Management

EPA Science Inventory

A formal Bayesian methodology is presented for integrated model calibration and risk-based water quality management using Bayesian Monte Carlo simulation and maximum likelihood estimation (BMCML). The primary focus is on lucid integration of model calibration with risk-based wat...

Is having quality as an item on the executive board agenda associated with the implementation of quality management systems in European hospitals: a quantitative analysis

PubMed Central

Botje, Daan; Klazinga, N.S.; Suñol, R.; Groene, O.; Pfaff, H.; Mannion, R.; Depaigne-Loth, A.; Arah, O.A.; Dersarkissian, M.; Wagner, C.; Klazinga, N.; Kringos, D.S.; Lombarts, M.J.M.H.; Plochg, T.; Lopez, M.A.; Vallejo, P.; Saillour-Glenisson, F.; Car, M.; Jones, S.; Klaus, E.; Bottaro, S.; Garel, P.; Saluvan, M.; Bruneau, C.; Depaigne-Loth, A.; Hammer, A.; Ommen, O.; Pfaff, H.; Botje, D.; Escoval, A.; Lívio, A.; Eiras, M.; Franca, M.; Leite, I.; Almeman, F.; Kus, H.; Ozturk, K.; Mannion, R.; Wang, A.; Thompson, A.

2014-01-01

Objective To assess whether there is a relationship between having quality as an item on the board's agenda, perceived external pressure (PEP) and the implementation of quality management in European hospitals. Design A quantitative, mixed method, cross-sectional study in seven European countries in 2011 surveying CEOs and quality managers and data from onsite audits. Participants One hundred and fifty-five CEOs and 155 quality managers. Setting One hundred and fifty-five randomly selected acute care hospitals in seven European countries (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey). Main outcome measure(s) Three constructs reflecting quality management based on questionnaire and audit data: (i) Quality Management System Index, (ii) Quality Management Compliance Index and (iii) Clinical Quality Implementation Index. The main predictor was whether quality performance was on the executive board's agenda. Results Discussing quality performance at executive board meetings more often was associated with a higher quality management system score (regression coefficient b = 2.53; SE = 1.16; P = 0.030). We found a trend in the associations of discussing quality performance with quality compliance and clinical quality implementation. PEP did not modify these relationships. Conclusions Having quality as an item on the executive board's agenda allows them to review and discuss quality performance more often in order to improve their hospital's quality management. Generally, and as this study found, having quality on the executive board's agenda matters. PMID:24550260

POSTER FOR NRMRL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLAN (QMP) TRAINING COURSE

EPA Science Inventory

NRMRL QMP Training Course
Contact: Lauren Drees, NRMRL/STD (drees.lauren@epa.gov)

NRMRL has developed a computer-based course to train personnel in the requirements of the NRMRL Quality Management Plan (QMP). This training course was developed using Trainersoft s...

Engineering Quality Software: 10 Recommendations for Improved Software Quality Management

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-27

lack of user involvement • Inadequate Software Process Management & Control By Contractors • No “Team” of Vendors and users; little SME participation...1990 Quality Perspectives • Process Quality ( CMMI ) • Product Quality (ISO/IEC 2500x) – Internal Quality Attributes – External Quality Attributes... CMMI /ISO 9000 Assessments – Capture organizational knowledge • Identify best practices, lessons learned Know where you are, and where you need to be

Improved quality-of-life of caregivers of children with asthma through guideline-based management.

PubMed

Sheikh, Shahid I; Pitts, Judy; Ryan-Wenger, Nancy A; Kotha, Kavitha; McCoy, Karen S; Stukus, David R

2017-09-01

The quality of life (QOL) of caregivers of children with asthma may be related to children's responses to asthma management. To evaluate change in QOL over time of caregivers of children with asthma through guideline-based management. This was a 3-year prospective cohort study of children with asthma referred to our pediatric asthma center. Families completed Pediatric Asthma Caregiver's Quality of Life Questionnaire (PACQLQ), the Asthma Control Test™ (ACT), and reported the number of days/month of albuterol use and wheezing at each clinic visit. We enrolled 143 children, ages 7-17 years (mean = 10.6 ± 2.9), 56.6% male, 70.6% Caucasian. Patients were managed by the same MD (n = 65,45.5%) or APN (n = 78,54.5%) over time. The mean total PACQLQ significantly increased over the 3-year period (F = 67.418, p < .001). Total scores at the first visit were 4.8 ± 1.6, which improved to 6.1 ± 1 at the 3-month follow-up visit. This improvement was sustained at the 1, 2, and 3-year clinic visits. PACQLQ emotional function (F = 60.798, p < .001) and activity limitation (F = 41.517, p < .001) domains significantly improved as well. PACQLQ scores were significantly associated with improved ACT scores (r = .37 to .47, p < .05), fewer days/month of albuterol use (r = -.25 to -.36., p < .05), and wheezing (r = -.28 to -.33, p < .05). There were no significant differences in PACQLQ, or asthma clinical outcome measures between MD and APN providers. Use of National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP) guidelines significantly improved QOL of caregivers of children with asthma and in asthma-related symptoms. Improvements over time were independent of type of providers.

Nurse managers' work life quality and their participation in knowledge management: a correlational study.

PubMed

Hashemi Dehaghi, Zahra; Sheikhtaheri, Abbas; Dehnavi, Fariba

2015-01-01

The association between quality of work life and participation in knowledge management is unknown. This study aimed to discover the association between quality of work life of nurse managers and their participation in implementing knowledge management. This was a correlational study. All nurse managers (71 people) from 11 hospitals affiliated with the Social Security Organization in Tehran, Iran, were included. They were asked to rate their participation in knowledge management and their quality of work life. Data was gathered by a researcher-made questionnaire (May-June 2012). The questionnaire was validated by content and construct validity approaches. Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate reliability. Finally, 50 questionnaires were analyzed. The answers were scored and analyzed using mean of scores, T-test, ANOVA (or nonparametric test, if appropriate), Pearson's correlation coefficient and linear regression. Nurse managers' performance to implement knowledge management strategies was moderate. A significant correlation was found between quality of work life of nurse managers and their participation in implementing knowledge management strategies (r = 0.82; P < 0.001). The strongest correlations were found between implementation of knowledge management and participation of nurse managers in decision making (r = 0.82; P < 0.001). Improvement of nurse managers' work life quality, especially in decision-making, may increase their participation in implementing knowledge management.

The Grand Challenge of Basin-Scale Groundwater Quality Management Modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fogg, G. E.

2017-12-01

The last 50+ years of agricultural, urban and industrial land and water use practices have accelerated the degradation of groundwater quality in the upper portions of many major aquifer systems upon which much of the world relies for water supply. In the deepest and most extensive systems (e.g., sedimentary basins) that typically have the largest groundwater production rates and hold fresh groundwaters on decadal to millennial time scales, most of the groundwater is not yet contaminated. Predicting the long-term future groundwater quality in such basins is a grand scientific challenge. Moreover, determining what changes in land and water use practices would avert future, irreversible degradation of these massive freshwater stores is a grand challenge both scientifically and societally. It is naïve to think that the problem can be solved by eliminating or reducing enough of the contaminant sources, for human exploitation of land and water resources will likely always result in some contamination. The key lies in both reducing the contaminant sources and more proactively managing recharge in terms of both quantity and quality, such that the net influx of contaminants is sufficiently moderate and appropriately distributed in space and time to reverse ongoing groundwater quality degradation. Just as sustainable groundwater quantity management is greatly facilitated with groundwater flow management models, sustainable groundwater quality management will require the use of groundwater quality management models. This is a new genre of hydrologic models do not yet exist, partly because of the lack of modeling tools and the supporting research to model non-reactive as well as reactive transport on large space and time scales. It is essential that the contaminant hydrogeology community, which has heretofore focused almost entirely on point-source plume-scale problems, direct it's efforts toward the development of process-based transport modeling tools and analyses capable

HACCP-based quality risk management approach to udder health problems on dairy farms

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

Against the background of prevailing udder health problems on dairy farms, this paper discusses a new approach to mastitis control. Current udder health control programmes, such as the 'five-point plan', are highlighted and their drawbacks indicated. The concept and principles of hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) are introduced. The eight core elements of this concept are dealt with by using the example of a dairy herd with a mastitis problem due to Staphylococcus aureus. The various steps to be taken in the development of a HACCP-based quality risk management programme are illustrated through the application of core elements. Finally, it is shown that the HACCP key words, structure, organisation, planning, communication and formalisation; which do not frequently appear in conventional herd health and production management programmes can contribute to better udder health. The role of the veterinarian can be paramount and of added value, if he/she is willing to invest in new knowledge and skills, such as the HACCP concept, farm economics, animal nutrition, and particularly the role of coach to the dairy farmer in the implementation of preventative measures in relation to udder health. PMID:22082372

HACCP-based quality risk management approach to udder health problems on dairy farms.

PubMed

Noordhuizen, Jptm; Cannas da Silva, J

2009-04-01

Against the background of prevailing udder health problems on dairy farms, this paper discusses a new approach to mastitis control. Current udder health control programmes, such as the 'five-point plan', are highlighted and their drawbacks indicated. The concept and principles of hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) are introduced. The eight core elements of this concept are dealt with by using the example of a dairy herd with a mastitis problem due to Staphylococcus aureus. The various steps to be taken in the development of a HACCP-based quality risk management programme are illustrated through the application of core elements. Finally, it is shown that the HACCP key words, structure, organisation, planning, communication and formalisation; which do not frequently appear in conventional herd health and production management programmes can contribute to better udder health. The role of the veterinarian can be paramount and of added value, if he/she is willing to invest in new knowledge and skills, such as the HACCP concept, farm economics, animal nutrition, and particularly the role of coach to the dairy farmer in the implementation of preventative measures in relation to udder health.

Total quality management: It works for aerospace information services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erwin, James; Eberline, Carl; Colquitt, Wanda

1993-01-01

Today we are in the midst of information and 'total quality' revolutions. At the NASA STI Program's Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), we are focused on using continuous improvements techniques to enrich today's services and products and to ensure that tomorrow's technology supports the TQM-based improvement of future STI program products and services. The Continuous Improvements Program at CASI is the foundation for Total Quality Management in products and services. The focus is customer-driven; its goal, to identify processes and procedures that can be improved and new technologies that can be integrated with the processes to gain efficiencies, provide effectiveness, and promote customer satisfaction. This Program seeks to establish quality through an iterative defect prevention approach that is based on the incorporation of standards and measurements into the processing cycle. Four projects are described that utilize cross-functional, problem-solving teams for identifying requirements and defining tasks and task standards, management participation, attention to critical processes, and measurable long-term goals. The implementation of these projects provides the customer with measurably improved access to information that is provided through several channels: the NASA STI Database, document requests for microfiche and hardcopy, and the Centralized Help Desk.

Comparison of approaches to Total Quality Management. Including an examination of the Department of Energy`s position on quality management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bennett, C.T.

1994-03-01

This paper presents a comparison of several qualitatively different approaches to Total Quality Management (TQM). The continuum ranges from management approaches that are primarily standards -- with specific guidelines, but few theoretical concepts -- to approaches that are primarily philosophical, with few specific guidelines. The approaches to TQM discussed in this paper include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 Standard, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, Senge`s the Learning Organization, Watkins and Marsick`s approach to organizational learning, Covey`s Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, and Deming`s Fourteen Points for Management. Some of these approaches (Deming and ISO 9000) aremore » then compared to the DOE`s official position on quality management and conduct of operations (DOE Orders 5700.6C and 5480.19). Using a tabular format, it is shown that while 5700.6C (Quality Assurance) maps well to many of the current approaches to TQM, DOE`s principle guide to management Order 5419.80 (Conduct of Operations) has many significant conflicts with some of the modern approaches to continuous quality improvement.« less

Total Quality Management: A Guide to Implementation

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-08-01

Kaizen. New York: Random House. 1986. Ishikawa , Kaoru . Guide to Quality Control. Asian Productivity Organization. 1984. Ishikawa , Kaoru . What is Total...with the problems and the new management principles are based on the complexities of the new Systems Age. The theories of Deming, Juran, Ishikawa , and...Progress. Jun 1985. Miller, Jeffery G. and Thomas E. Vollmann. "The Hidden Factory." Harvard Business Review. Sep-Oct 1985. Shimoyamada, Kaoru . "The

Systems Science in Support of Total Quality Management,

DTIC Science & Technology

Quality Management (TQM). This paper bridges the gap between these two subjects to illustrate specific means by which systems science can begin to augment TQM. This construction is based upon the consideration of two topics. First, a brief introduction to systems science is provided. Second, systems science is applied through the concept of the Conant-Ashby

[ISO 9001:2015 Certification in Quality Management].

PubMed

Enders, Christian; Lang, Gabriele E; Lang, Gerhard K; Werner, Jens Ulrich

2017-07-01

Quality management improves the structures, processes and results of organizations of all kinds. Many practices and clinics have their existing quality management system certified according to ISO 9001, (e.g., to check their own quality management system or to obtain a testimonial against third parties). The latest version ISO 9001:2015 contains some changes, both structurally and in terms of content. These changes can be met with reasonable efforts. An ISO 9001:2015 certification represents a value for your organization, but these advantages are often not directly measurable. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

An Integrated Decision Support System for Water Quality Management of Songhua River Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Haiping; Yin, Qiuxiao; Chen, Ling

2010-11-01

In the Songhua River Basin of China, many water resource and water environment conflicts interact. A Decision Support System (DSS) for the water quality management has been established for the Basin. The System is featured by the incorporation of a numerical water quality model system into a conventional water quality management system which usually consists of geographic information system (GIS), WebGIS technology, database system and network technology. The model system is built based on DHI MIKE software comprising of a basin rainfall-runoff module, a basin pollution load evaluation module, a river hydrodynamic module and a river water quality module. The DSS provides a friendly graphical user interface that enables the rapid and transparent calculation of various water quality management scenarios, and also enables the convenient access and interpretation of the modeling results to assist the decision-making.

EPA Region 3 Quality Management Plans

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Has links to resources that describe the Region's Quality Assurance Program, which is a collection of the Region's ongoing quality assurance (QA) policies, procedures, responsibilities and management systems.

NASA total quality management 1989 accomplishments report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

Described here are the accomplishments of NASA as a result of the use of Total Quality Management (TQM). The principles in practice which led to these process refinements are important cultural elements to any organization's productivity and quality efforts. The categories of TQM discussed here are top management leadership and support, strategic planning, focus on the customer, employee training and recognition, employee empowerment and teamwork, measurement and analysis, and quality assurance.

[Quality assurance and quality management in intensive care].

PubMed

Notz, K; Dubb, R; Kaltwasser, A; Hermes, C; Pfeffer, S

2015-11-01

Treatment success in hospitals, particularly in intensive care units, is directly tied to quality of structure, process, and outcomes. Technological and medical advancements lead to ever more complex treatment situations with highly specialized tasks in intensive care nursing. Quality criteria that can be used to describe and correctly measure those highly complex multiprofessional situations have only been recently developed and put into practice.In this article, it will be shown how quality in multiprofessional teams can be definded and assessed in daily clinical practice. Core aspects are the choice of a nursing theory, quality assurance measures, and quality management. One possible option of quality assurance is the use of standard operating procedures (SOPs). Quality can ultimately only be achieved if professional groups think beyond their boundaries, minimize errors, and establish and live out instructions and SOPs.

Competency in health care management: a training model in epidemiologic methods for assessing and improving the quality of clinical practice through evidence-based decision making.

PubMed

Hudak, R P; Jacoby, I; Meyer, G S; Potter, A L; Hooper, T I; Krakauer, H

1997-01-01

This article describes a training model that focuses on health care management by applying epidemiologic methods to assess and improve the quality of clinical practice. The model's uniqueness is its focus on integrating clinical evidence-based decision making with fundamental principles of resource management to achieve attainable, cost-effective, high-quality health outcomes. The target students are current and prospective clinical and administrative executives who must optimize decision making at the clinical and managerial levels of health care organizations.

Total Quality Management in Space Shuttle Main Engine manufacturing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ding, J.

1992-01-01

The Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy developed in the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is briefly reviewed and the ongoing TQM implementation effort which is being pursued through the continuous improvement (CI) process is discussed. TQM is based on organizational excellence which integrates the new supportive culture with the technical tools necessary to identify, assess, and correct manufacturing processes. Particular attention is given to the prime contractor's change to the organizational excellence management philosophy in SSME manufacturing facilities.

[Clinical trial data management and quality metrics system].

PubMed

Chen, Zhao-hua; Huang, Qin; Deng, Ya-zhong; Zhang, Yue; Xu, Yu; Yu, Hao; Liu, Zong-fan

2015-11-01

Data quality management system is essential to ensure accurate, complete, consistent, and reliable data collection in clinical research. This paper is devoted to various choices of data quality metrics. They are categorized by study status, e.g. study start up, conduct, and close-out. In each category, metrics for different purposes are listed according to ALCOA+ principles such us completeness, accuracy, timeliness, traceability, etc. Some general quality metrics frequently used are also introduced. This paper contains detail information as much as possible to each metric by providing definition, purpose, evaluation, referenced benchmark, and recommended targets in favor of real practice. It is important that sponsors and data management service providers establish a robust integrated clinical trial data quality management system to ensure sustainable high quality of clinical trial deliverables. It will also support enterprise level of data evaluation and bench marking the quality of data across projects, sponsors, data management service providers by using objective metrics from the real clinical trials. We hope this will be a significant input to accelerate the improvement of clinical trial data quality in the industry.

Total Quality Management (TQM). Process Action Team Course

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-05-30

SHET SC EXHAUSTE May 30,1990 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Lfl N CI TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM) Process Action Team Coursef ©990, Booz.Allen & Hamilton Inc...organization’s TQM infrastructure. If you need additional information, please refer to the student manual, Total Quality Management (TOM) Awareness Seminar that...Programs. These efforts were identified in Appendix A of Booz, Allen’s training manual Qtl Quality Management Awareness Seminar. Revision 5, November 15

78 FR 63934 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; El Dorado County Air Quality Management...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-10-25

...] Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; El Dorado County Air Quality Management District... California for the El Dorado County Air Quality Management District (EDAQMD) portion of the California SIP... 24, 1987 Federal Register, May 25, 1988, U.S. EPA, Air Quality Management Division, Office of Air...

Total Quality Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Focus in Change, 1992

1992-01-01

The philosophy known as Total Quality Management (TQM) is frequently presented as a way to change and improve public education. This issue of "Focus in Change" examines Deming's original 14 TQM points and their application to education. Myron Tribus lays out the core philosophy of the movement and discusses its possible application to…

Resource, quality and safety management.

PubMed

Hovenga, Evelyn J S

2010-01-01

This chapter gives an educational overview of: * Resource management relative to sustainability and the use casemix systems * Types of resources and their information system needs to support their optimal management * Quality, performance measurement options and associated information needs * Casemix systems' characteristics, usage and need for enterprise systems.

Operational, quality, and risk management in the transfusion service: lessons learned.

PubMed

Goodnough, Lawrence Tim

2012-07-01

For general health care, the difference between quality and safety has been unclear for measurable patient outcomes. In contrast, in the transfusion service (TS), the relationship between quality and safety has been direct and demonstrable. Case studies are summarized to illustrate the relationship between operations, quality management, and risk management in the TS. In blood availability for elective surgery over 3 audited intervals, the incidence of patients undergoing elective surgery without available crossmatched blood that had been requested was 1:333, 1:328, and 1:225 for pre-quality improvement, post-quality improvement, and subsequent postintervention audit assessment, respectively. In event discovery reports (EDRs) over 2 years, incidence of biologic product deviation reports (Food and Drug Administration reportable) was successfully reduced from 60 biologic product deviation reports (12%) of 507 EDRs in 2009 to 42 (12%) of 336 EDRs in 2010. In wrong blood in tube, 102 specimens were identified (by a change in patient's ABO/Rh) from 176,711 type and screen/cross-match specimens received over a 5-year interval, detected either by previous patient record of ABO/Rh or by a second specimen for blood type confirmation implemented in our TS for the last 3 years. No known cases of "mismatched" red blood cell transfusion have occurred during this interval. There is an inverse relationship between resources/time expended on quality and risk management relative to volumes of operations in the TS. Laboratory-based initiatives that improve patient safety and clinical outcomes need to have resources aligned with the personnel and time required for quality management and risk management. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

40 CFR 35.2023 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... to the States to carry out water quality management planning including but not limited to: (1... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2023 Water quality...

40 CFR 35.2023 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2023 Water quality... to the States to carry out water quality management planning including but not limited to: (1...

40 CFR 35.2023 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2023 Water quality... to the States to carry out water quality management planning including but not limited to: (1...

40 CFR 35.2023 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2023 Water quality... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... to the States to carry out water quality management planning including but not limited to: (1...

Total quality management - It works for aerospace information services

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erwin, James; Eberline, Carl; Colquitt, Wanda

1993-01-01

Today we are in the midst of information and 'total quality' revolutions. At the NASA STI Program's Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), we are focused on using continuous improvements techniques to enrich today's services and products and to ensure that tomorrow's technology supports the TQM-based improvement of future STI program products and services. The Continuous Improvements Program at CASI is the foundation for Total Quality Management in products and services. The focus is customer-driven; its goal, to identify processes and procedures that can be improved and new technologies that can be integrated with the processes to gain efficiencies, provide effectiveness, and promote customer satisfaction. This Program seeks to establish quality through an iterative defect prevention approach that is based on the incorporation of standards and measurements into the processing cycle.

Air quality management in Mexico.

PubMed

Fernández-Bremauntz, Adrián

2008-01-01

Several significant program and policy measures have been implemented in Mexico over the past 15 yr to improve air quality. This article provides an overview of air quality management strategies in Mexico, including (1) policy initiatives such as vehicle use restrictions, air quality standards, vehicle emissions, and fuel quality standards, and (2) supporting programs including establishment of a national emission inventory, an air pollution episodes program, and the implementation of exposure and health effects studies. Trends in air pollution episodes and ambient air pollutant concentrations are described.

40 CFR 35.2102 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2102 Water quality... Administrator shall first determine that the project is: (a) Included in any water quality management plan being...

40 CFR 35.2102 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2102 Water quality... Administrator shall first determine that the project is: (a) Included in any water quality management plan being...

Defense Depot Mechanicsburg Total Quality Management Implementation Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-06-01

B T I TLEE 5 . FUNDING NUMBERS Defense Depot Mechanicsburg Total Quality Management Implementation Plan 6. AUTHOR(S) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME...Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) L296- 102 Acces.ion For NYI J ... I:: ted DEFENSE DEPOT MECHANICSBURG PENNSYLVANIAL--I By_ TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT K_~ t buty-n...IMPLEMENTATION PLAN Avmail-t!Ilty Codes IvLl c 2Dd/or JUN 3 0 1989 iDizt Special PURPOSE The purpose of this Total Quality Management Implementation

Total Quality Management Implementation Plan Defense Depot Memphis

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

W.ungilon. 0 t :0.O. )RT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED I July 1989 _ 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Total Quality Management Implementation...improvement goals, implementation strategy and milestones. 6’ SEP 291989 /; ELECTE i= E 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Depot...changing work environment where change is the norm. We are talking about changes in attitudes and habits. Total Quality Management is not a panacea

Holistic Quality: Managing, Restructuring, and Empowering Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herman, Jerry J.

Because the quality management (QM) movement can be very important in school improvement efforts, it is essential to determine how QM can fit with relatively new restructuring ideas and whether this approach is consistent with existing school structures and processes. This book presents an integrated approach to holistic quality management that…

Increasing the Use of Earth Science Data and Models in Air Quality Management.

PubMed

Milford, Jana B; Knight, Daniel

2017-04-01

In 2010, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) initiated the Air Quality Applied Science Team (AQAST) as a 5-year, $17.5-million award with 19 principal investigators. AQAST aims to increase the use of Earth science products in air quality-related research and to help meet air quality managers' information needs. We conducted a Web-based survey and a limited number of follow-up interviews to investigate federal, state, tribal, and local air quality managers' perspectives on usefulness of Earth science data and models, and on the impact AQAST has had. The air quality managers we surveyed identified meeting the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and particulate matter, emissions from mobile sources, and interstate air pollution transport as top challenges in need of improved information. Most survey respondents viewed inadequate coverage or frequency of satellite observations, data uncertainty, and lack of staff time or resources as barriers to increased use of satellite data by their organizations. Managers who have been involved with AQAST indicated that the program has helped build awareness of NASA Earth science products, and assisted their organizations with retrieval and interpretation of satellite data and with application of global chemistry and climate models. AQAST has also helped build a network between researchers and air quality managers with potential for further collaborations. NASA's Air Quality Applied Science Team (AQAST) aims to increase the use of satellite data and global chemistry and climate models for air quality management purposes, by supporting research and tool development projects of interest to both groups. Our survey and interviews of air quality managers indicate they found value in many AQAST projects and particularly appreciated the connections to the research community that the program facilitated. Managers expressed interest in receiving continued support for their organizations' use of

[Maturity Levels of Quality and Risk Management at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein].

PubMed

Jussli-Melchers, Jill; Hilbert, Carsten; Jahnke, Iris; Wehkamp, Kai; Rogge, Annette; Freitag-Wolf, Sandra; Kahla-Witzsch, Heike A; Scholz, Jens; Petzina, Rainer

2018-05-16

Quality and risk management in hospitals are not only required by law but also for an optimal patient-centered and process-optimized patient care. To evaluate the maturity levels of quality and risk management at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), a structured analytical tool was developed for easy and efficient application. Four criteria concerning quality management - quality assurance (QS), critical incident reporting system (CIRS), complaint management (BM) and process management (PM) - were evaluated with a structured questionnaire. Self-assessment and external assessment were performed to classify the maturity levels at the UKSH (location Kiel and Lübeck). Every quality item was graded into four categories from "A" (fully implemented) to "D" (not implemented at all). First of all, an external assessment was initiated by the head of the department of quality and risk management. Thereafter, a self-assessment was performed by 46 clinical units of the UKSH. Discrepancies were resolved in a collegial dialogue. Based on these data, overall maturity levels were obtained for every clinical unit. The overall maturity level "A" was reached by three out of 46 (6.5%) clinical units. No unit was graded with maturity level "D". 50% out of all units reached level "B" and 43.5% level "C". The distribution of the four different quality criteria revealed a good implementation of complaint management (maturity levels "A" and "B" in 78.3%), whereas the levels for CIRS were "C" and "D" in 73.9%. Quality assurance and process management showed quite similar distributions for the levels of maturity "B" and "C" (87% QS; 91% PM). The structured analytical tool revealed maturity levels of 46 clinical units of the UKSH and defined the maturity levels of four relevant quality criteria (QS, CIRS, BM, PM). As a consequence, extensive procedures were implemented to raise the standard of quality and risk management. In future, maturity levels will be reevaluated every two

Outpatient management of oral vitamin K antagonist therapy: defining and measuring high-quality management.

PubMed

Phillips, Katherine W; Ansell, Jack

2008-01-01

Oral anticoagulation therapy with warfarin is the mainstay of prevention and treatment of thromboembolic disease. However, it remains one of the leading causes of harmful medication errors and medication-related adverse events. The beneficial outcomes of oral anticoagulation therapy are directly dependent upon the quality of dose and anticoagulation management, but the literature is not robust with regards to what constitutes such management. This review focuses on, and attempts to define, the parameters of high-quality anticoagulation management and identifies the appropriate outcome measures constituting high-quality management. Elements discussed include the most fundamental measure, time in therapeutic range, along with other parameters including therapy initiation, time to therapeutic range, dosing management when patients are not in therapeutic range, perioperative dosing management, patient education, and other important outcome measures. Healthcare providers who manage oral anticoagulation therapy should utilize these parameters as a measure of their performance in an effort to achieve high-quality anticoagulation management.

Quality and Usability of Arthritic Pain Self-Management Apps for Older Adults: A Systematic Review.

PubMed

Bhattarai, Priyanka; Newton-John, T R O; Phillips, Jane L

2018-03-01

To appraise the quality and usability of currently available pain applications that could be used by community-dwelling older adults to self-manage their arthritic pain. A systematic review. Searches were conducted in App Store and Google Play to identify pain self-management apps relevant to arthritic pain management. English language pain management apps providing pain assessment and documentation function and pain management education were considered for inclusion. A quality evaluation audit tool based on the Stanford Arthritis Self-Management Program was developed a priori to evaluate app content quality. The usability of included apps was assessed using an established usability evaluation tool. Out of the 373 apps that were identified, four met the inclusion criteria. The included apps all included a pain assessment and documentation function and instructions on medication use, communication with health professionals, cognitive behavioral therapy-based pain management, and physical exercise. Management of mood, depression, anxiety, and sleep were featured in most apps (N = 3). Three-quarters (N = 3) of the apps fell below the acceptable moderate usability score (≥3), while one app obtained a moderate score (3.2). Few of the currently available pain apps offer a comprehensive pain self-management approach incorporating evidence-based strategies in accordance with the Stanford Arthritis Self-Management Program. The moderate-level usability across the included apps indicates a need to consider the usability needs of the older population in future pain self-management app development endeavors.

What is Total Quality Management?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryan, William A.

1996-01-01

Provides a general overview of Total Quality Management (TQM) and explains why there is pressure for change in higher education institutions. Defines TQM and the various themes, tools, and beliefs that make it different from other management approaches. Presents 14 principles and how they might be applied to student affairs. (RJM)

Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: test of a model.

PubMed

Salvaggio, Amy Nicole; Schneider, Benjamin; Nishii, Lisa H; Mayer, David M; Ramesh, Anuradha; Lyon, Julie S

2007-11-01

This article conceptually and empirically explores the relationships among manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and climate for customer service. Data were collected from 1,486 employees and 145 managers in grocery store departments (N = 145) to test the authors' theoretical model. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that core self-evaluations were positively related to managers' service quality orientation, even after dimensions of the Big Five model of personality were controlled, and that service quality orientation fully mediated the relationship between personality and global service climate. Implications for personality and organizational climate research are discussed. (c) 2007 APA

Disease management: a leap of faith to lower-cost, higher-quality health care.

PubMed

Short, Ashley; Mays, Glen; Mittler, Jessica

2003-10-01

With managed care's promise to reduce costs and improve quality waning, employers and health plans are exploring more targeted ways to control rapidly rising health costs. Disease management programs, which focus on patients with chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes, are growing in popularity, according to findings from the Center for Studying Health System Change's (HSC) 2002-03 site visits to 12 nationally representative communities. In addition to condition-based disease management programs, some health plans and employers are using intensive case management services to coordinate care for high-risk patients with potentially costly and complex medical conditions. Despite high expectations, evidence of both disease management and case management programs' success in controlling costs and improving quality remains limited.

The effects of a team-based continuous quality improvement intervention on the management of primary care: a randomised controlled trial

PubMed Central

Engels, Yvonne; van den Hombergh, Pieter; Mokkink, Henk; van den Hoogen, Henk; van den Bosch, Wil; Grol, Richard

2006-01-01

Aim To study the effects of a team-based model for continuous quality improvement (CQI) on primary care practice management. Design of study Randomised controlled trial. Setting Twenty-six intervention and 23 control primary care practices in the Netherlands. Method Practices interested in taking part in the CQI project were, after assessment of their practice organisation, randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups. During a total of five meetings, a facilitator helped the teams in the intervention group select suitable topics for quality improvement and follow a structured approach to achieve improvement objectives. Checklists completed by an outreach visitor, questionnaires for the GPs, staff and patients were used to assemble data on the number and quality of improvement activities undertaken and on practice management prior to the start of the intervention and 1 year later. Results Pre-test and post-test data were compared for the 26 intervention and 23 control practices. A significant intervention effect was found for the number of improvement objectives actually defined (93 versus 54, P<0.001) and successfully completed (80 versus 69% of the projects, P<0.001). The intervention group also improved on more aspects of practice management, as measured by our practice visit method, than the control group but none of these differences proved statistically significant. Conclusion The intervention exerted a significant effect on the number and quality of improvement projects undertaken and self-defined objectives met. Failure of the effects of the intervention on the other dimensions of practice management to achieve significance may be due to the topics selected for some of the improvement projects being only partly covered by the assessment instrument. PMID:17007709

Analysis of Management Practices in Lagos State Tertiary Institutions through Total Quality Management Structural Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

AbdulAzeez, Abbas Tunde

2016-01-01

This research investigated total quality management practices and quality teacher education in public tertiary institutions in Lagos State. The study was therefore designed to analyse management practices in Lagos state tertiary institutions through total quality management structural framework. The selected public tertiary institutions in Lagos…

A novel, fuzzy-based air quality index (FAQI) for air quality assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sowlat, Mohammad Hossein; Gharibi, Hamed; Yunesian, Masud; Tayefeh Mahmoudi, Maryam; Lotfi, Saeedeh

2011-04-01

The ever increasing level of air pollution in most areas of the world has led to development of a variety of air quality indices for estimation of health effects of air pollution, though the indices have their own limitations such as high levels of subjectivity. Present study, therefore, aimed at developing a novel, fuzzy-based air quality index (FAQI ) to handle such limitations. The index developed by present study is based on fuzzy logic that is considered as one of the most common computational methods of artificial intelligence. In addition to criteria air pollutants (i.e. CO, SO 2, PM 10, O 3, NO 2), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and 1,3-butadiene were also taken into account in the index proposed, because of their considerable health effects. Different weighting factors were then assigned to each pollutant according to its priority. Trapezoidal membership functions were employed for classifications and the final index consisted of 72 inference rules. To assess the performance of the index, a case study was carried out employing air quality data at five different sampling stations in Tehran, Iran, from January 2008 to December 2009, results of which were then compared to the results obtained from USEPA air quality index (AQI). According to the results from present study, fuzzy-based air quality index is a comprehensive tool for classification of air quality and tends to produce accurate results. Therefore, it can be considered useful, reliable, and suitable for consideration by local authorities in air quality assessment and management schemes. Fuzzy-based air quality index (FAQI).

[Quality management in oncology supported by clinical cancer registries].

PubMed

Klinkhammer-Schalke, Monika; Gerken, Michael; Barlag, Hagen; Tillack, Anett

2015-01-01

Efforts in nationwide quality management for oncology have so far failed to comprehensively document all levels of care. New organizational structures such as population-based clinical cancer registries or certified organ cancer centers were supposed to solve this problem more sufficiently, but they have to be accompanied by valid trans-sectoral documentation and evaluation of clinical data. To measure feasibility and qualitative effectiveness of guideline implementation we approached this problem with a nationwide investigation from 2000 to 2011. The rate of neoadjuvant radio/chemotherapy in stage UICC II/III rectum cancer, cut-off point 80% for separating good from insufficient quality, was used as a quality indicator. The nationwide analysis indicates an increase from 45% to 70%, but only with the implementation strategy of CME. The combination of new structures, evidence-based quality indicators, organ cancer center and clinical cancer registries has shown good feasibility and seems promising. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

Data Quality- and Master Data Management - A Hospital Case.

PubMed

Arthofer, Klaus; Girardi, Dominic

2017-01-01

Poor data quality prevents the analysis of data for decisions which are critical for business. It also has a negative impact on business processes. Nevertheless the maturity level of data quality- and master data management is still insufficient in many organizations nowadays. This article discusses the corresponding maturity of companies and a management cycle integrating data quality- and master data management in a case dealing with benchmarking in hospitals. In conclusion if data quality and master data are not properly managed, structured data should not be acquired in the first place due to the added expense and complexity.

Evaluating Quality Management in University Departments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becket, Nina; Brookes, Maureen

2006-01-01

Purpose: Despite the abundance of research on quality management there is no universal consensus on how best to measure quality in higher education. This paper undertakes a critical evaluation of the different methods used to assess the quality of provision in higher education departments in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on relevant…

Information Architecture for Quality Management Support in Hospitals.

PubMed

Rocha, Álvaro; Freixo, Jorge

2015-10-01

Quality Management occupies a strategic role in organizations, and the adoption of computer tools within an aligned information architecture facilitates the challenge of making more with less, promoting the development of a competitive edge and sustainability. A formal Information Architecture (IA) lends organizations an enhanced knowledge but, above all, favours management. This simplifies the reinvention of processes, the reformulation of procedures, bridging and the cooperation amongst the multiple actors of an organization. In the present investigation work we planned the IA for the Quality Management System (QMS) of a Hospital, which allowed us to develop and implement the QUALITUS (QUALITUS, name of the computer application developed to support Quality Management in a Hospital Unit) computer application. This solution translated itself in significant gains for the Hospital Unit under study, accelerating the quality management process and reducing the tasks, the number of documents, the information to be filled in and information errors, amongst others.

Total Quality Management in the Department of Defense

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-01

DTI ELECT SDu TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE THESIS BRUCE E. SPRINGS, B.S. CAPTAIN, USAF AFIT/GLN/LSR/ 89S -57 I1- DEPARTMENT...13 0 3 AFIT/GLM/LSR/89S-57 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE THESIS BRUCE E. SPRINGS, B.S. CAPTAIN, USAF AFIT/GLH/LSR/89S-57...Defense. # AFIT/GLM/LSR/89S-57 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the School of Systems and Logistics

Total Quality Management (TQM): Group Dynamics Workshop

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-05-15

interactions with other OSD decision-making bodies. " Remove barriers /facilitate implementation. " Direct action on unresolved process problems referred...TQM leadership. - Total Quality Management FUNCTIONS: * Translate goals to tangible internal initiatives. " Remove barriers . " Establish and...Quality Management FUNCTIONS: • Identify and remove barriers . " Develop practical process improvements. " Install solutions and measurement systems for

Application of Total Quality Management in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farooq, M. S.; Akhtar, M. S.; Ullah, S. Zia; Memon, R. A.

2007-01-01

The purpose of the paper is to analyzing thoughts of the modern management paradigm "Total Quality Management" (TQM), and its application in the field of education. The basic theme of TQM is participatory approach to address the question(s) of quality in business aswell as in the field of education. Reviewing fresh literature from the internet …

Fit for purpose quality management system for military forensic exploitation.

PubMed

Wilson, Lauren Elizabeth; Gahan, Michelle Elizabeth; Robertson, James; Lennard, Chris

2018-03-01

In a previous publication we described a systems approach to forensic science applied in the military domain. The forensic science 'system of systems' describes forensic science as a sub-system in the larger criminal justice, law enforcement, intelligence, and military systems, with quality management being an important supporting system. Quality management systems help to ensure that organisations achieve their objective and continually improve their capability. Components of forensic science quality management systems can include standardisation of processes, accreditation of facilities to national/international standards, and certification of personnel. A fit for purpose quality management system should be balanced to allow organisations to meet objectives, provide continuous improvement; mitigate risk; and impart a positive quality culture. Considerable attention over the last decades has been given to the need for forensic science quality management systems to meet criminal justice and law enforcement objectives. More recently, the need for the forensic quality management systems to meet forensic intelligence objectives has been considered. This paper, for the first time, discusses the need for a fit for purpose quality management system for military forensic exploitation. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Certification of production-quality gLite Job Management components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andreetto, P.; Bertocco, S.; Capannini, F.; Cecchi, M.; Dorigo, A.; Frizziero, E.; Giacomini, F.; Gianelle, A.; Mezzadri, M.; Molinari, E.; Monforte, S.; Prelz, F.; Rebatto, D.; Sgaravatto, M.; Zangrando, L.

2011-12-01

With the advent of the recent European Union (EU) funded projects aimed at achieving an open, coordinated and proactive collaboration among the European communities that provide distributed computing services, more strict requirements and quality standards will be asked to middleware providers. Such a highly competitive and dynamic environment, organized to comply a business-oriented model, has already started pursuing quality criteria, thus requiring to formally define rigorous procedures, interfaces and roles for each step of the software life-cycle. This will ensure quality-certified releases and updates of the Grid middleware. In the European Middleware Initiative (EMI), the release management for one or more components will be organized into Product Team (PT) units, fully responsible for delivering production ready, quality-certified software and for coordinating each other to contribute to the EMI release as a whole. This paper presents the certification process, with respect to integration, installation, configuration and testing, adopted at INFN by the Product Team responsible for the gLite Web-Service based Computing Element (CREAM CE) and for the Workload Management System (WMS). The used resources, the testbeds layout, the integration and deployment methods, the certification steps to provide feedback to developers and to grant quality results are described.

International perspectives on air quality: risk management principles for policy development--conference statement.

PubMed

Craig, Lorraine; Krewski, Dan; Samet, Jonathan; Shortreed, John; van Bree, Leendert; Krupnick, Alan J

2008-01-01

This statement is the result of discussions held at the 2005 NERAM IV Colloquium "International Perspectives on Air Quality: Risk Management Principles for Policy Development" and represents the collective views of 35 delegates, including international air quality policy analysts, academics, nongovernmental organizations, industry representatives, and decision makers from Mexico, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Hong Kong, and The Netherlands on principles for global air quality management. The objective of the colloquium was to "establish principles for air quality management based on the identification of international best practice in air quality policy development and implementation." This statement represents the main findings of a breakout group discussion session, presentations of an international panel of speakers from Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Hong Kong and views of the delegates expressed in plenary discussions. NERAM undertook a transparent process to try to ensure that the statement would accurately reflect the conference discussions, including documenting the proceedings and inviting delegates' comments on draft versions of the statement.

Association between quality management and performance indicators in Dutch diabetes care groups: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Campmans-Kuijpers, Marjo J E; Baan, Caroline A; Lemmens, Lidwien C; Klomp, Maarten L H; Romeijnders, Arnold C M; Rutten, Guy E H M

2015-05-11

To enhance the quality of diabetes care in the Netherlands, so-called care groups with three to 250 general practitioners emerged to organise and coordinate diabetes care. This introduced a new quality management level in addition to the quality management of separate general practices. We hypothesised that this new level of quality management might be associated with the aggregate performance indicators on the patient level. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association between quality management at the care group level and its aggregate performance indicators. A cross-sectional study. All Dutch care groups (n=97). 23 care groups provided aggregate register-based performance indicators of all their practices as well as data on quality management measured with a questionnaire filled out by 1 or 2 of their quality managers. The association between quality management, overall and in 6 domains ('organisation of care', 'multidisciplinary teamwork', 'patient centredness', 'performance management', 'quality improvement policy' and 'management strategies') on the one hand and 3 process indicators (the percentages of patients with at least 1 measurement of glycated haemoglobin, lipid profile and systolic blood pressure), and 3 intermediate outcome indicators (the percentages of patients with glycated haemoglobin below 53 mmol/mol (7%); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol below 2.5 mmol/L; and systolic blood pressure below 140 mm Hg) by weighted univariable linear regression. The domain 'management strategies' was significantly associated with the percentage of patients with a glycated haemoglobin <53 mmol/mol (β 0.28 (0.09; 0.46) p=0.01) after correction for multiple testing. The other domains as well as overall quality management were not associated with aggregate process or outcome indicators. This first exploratory study on quality management showed weak or no associations between quality management of diabetes care groups and their performance. It remains

Evaluative methodology for comprehensive water quality management planning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dyer, H. L.

Computer-based evaluative methodologies have been developed to provide for the analysis of coupled phenomena associated with natural resource comprehensive planning requirements. Provisions for planner/computer interaction have been included. Each of the simulation models developed is described in terms of its coded procedures. An application of the models for water quality management planning is presented; and the data requirements for each of the models are noted.

How Do Management Students Perceive the Quality of Education in Public Institutions?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Narang, Ritu

2012-01-01

Purpose: Keeping in mind the urgent need to deliver quality education in higher education institutes, the current paper seeks to measure the quality perception of management students in India. Design/methodology/approach: Based on an exploratory study a modified version of SERVQUAL was employed as the research instrument. Data were collected from…

Total Quality Management and Cost of Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hadjicostas, Evsevios

Before we start analysing the philosophy of Total Quality Management it is worthwhile going back to the early days of quality and the quality movement. In fact, the quality concept dates back to the creation of Adam and Eve: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good”. (Genesis A 31). It is remarkable that at the end of each day, looking at his creations God was saying, “This is good”. However, at the end of the sixth day, after he finished the creation of human beings, he said, “This is very good”. It is amazing that he did not say, “This is excellent”. This is because excellence is something that we gain after tireless effort. God left room for improvement in order to challenge us and make our life more attractive, which has really happened!

Quality management in European screening laboratories in blood establishments: A view of current approaches and trends.

PubMed

Pereira, Paulo; Westgard, James O; Encarnação, Pedro; Seghatchian, Jerard; de Sousa, Gracinda

2015-04-01

The screening laboratory has a critical role in the post-transfusion safety. The success of its targets and efficiency depends on the management system used. Even though the European Union directive 2002/98/EC requires a quality management system in blood establishments, its requirements for screening laboratories are generic. Complementary approaches are needed to implement a quality management system focused on screening laboratories. This article briefly discusses the current good manufacturing practices and good laboratory practices, as well as the trends in quality management system standards. ISO 9001 is widely accepted in some European Union blood establishments as the quality management standard, however this is not synonymous of its successful application. The ISO "risk-based thinking" is interrelated with the quality risk-management process of the EuBIS "Standards and criteria for the inspection of blood establishments". ISO 15189 should be the next step on the quality assurance of a screening laboratory, since it is focused on medical laboratory. To standardize the quality management systems in blood establishments' screening laboratories, new national and European claims focused on technical requirements following ISO 15189 is needed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Effectiveness of incorporating a quality management system].

PubMed

Seki, Akira; Hankins, Raleigh W; Miya, Tetsumasa

2010-01-01

In 2003, the ISO 15189 international standardization program on the quality and competence of the clinical reference laboratory was introduced. To date, 46 facilities have committed themselves to providing a higher level of medical service by incorporating a quality management system (QMS) and acquiring accreditation. QMS is defined as "setting up a policy and goals pertaining to quality, and adopting an appropriate system," and is a scheme that includes all managerial and technical factors that can affect test results. Regarding the Health Sciences Research Institute Group, 4 facilities have previously received the accreditation described above, but in the process of implementing the QMS, a number of problems have been identified. Here, we report on the effectiveness of adopting such a QMS based on the results of employee questionnaires, internal audits, customer complaint analyses, and external audits by the Japan Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment (JAB), the official inspection body for accreditation.

Adapting total quality management for general practice: evaluation of a programme.

PubMed Central

Lawrence, M; Packwood, T

1996-01-01

OBJECTIVE: Assessment of the benefits and limitations of a quality improvement programme based on total quality management principles in general practice over a period of one year (October 1993-4). DESIGN: Questionnaires to practice team members before any intervention and after one year. Three progress reports completed by facilitators at four month intervals. Semistructured interviews with a sample of staff from each practice towards the end of the year. SETTING: 18 self selected practices from across the former Oxford Region. Three members of each practice received an initial residential course and three one day seminars during the year. Each practice was supported by a facilitator from their Medical Audit Advisory Group. MEASURES: Extent of understanding and implementation of quality improvement methodology. Number, completeness, and evaluation of quality improvement projects. Practice team members' attitudes to and involvement in team working and quality improvement. RESULTS: 16 of the 18 practices succeeded in implementing the quality improvement methods. 48 initiatives were considered and staff involvement was broad. Practice members showed increased involvement in, and appreciation of, strategic planning and team working, and satisfaction from improved patients services. 11 of the practices intend to continue with the methodology. The commonest barrier expressed was time. CONCLUSION: Quality improvement programmes based on total quality management principles produce beneficial changes in service delivery and team working in most general practices. It is incompatible with traditional doctor centred practice. The methodology needs to be adapted for primary care to avoid quality improvement being seen as separate from routine activity, and to save time. PMID:10161529

Calculation of intercepted runoff depth based on stormwater quality and environmental capacity of receiving waters for initial stormwater pollution management.

PubMed

Peng, Hai-Qin; Liu, Yan; Gao, Xue-Long; Wang, Hong-Wu; Chen, Yi; Cai, Hui-Yi

2017-11-01

While point source pollutions have gradually been controlled in recent years, the non-point source pollution problem has become increasingly prominent. The receiving waters are frequently polluted by the initial stormwater from the separate stormwater system and the wastewater from sewage pipes through stormwater pipes. Consequently, calculating the intercepted runoff depth has become a problem that must be resolved immediately for initial stormwater pollution management. The accurate calculation of intercepted runoff depth provides a solid foundation for selecting the appropriate size of intercepting facilities in drainage and interception projects. This study establishes a separate stormwater system for the Yishan Building watershed of Fuzhou City using the InfoWorks Integrated Catchment Management (InfoWorks ICM), which can predict the stormwater flow velocity and the flow of discharge outlet after each rainfall. The intercepted runoff depth is calculated from the stormwater quality and environmental capacity of the receiving waters. The average intercepted runoff depth from six rainfall events is calculated as 4.1 mm based on stormwater quality. The average intercepted runoff depth from six rainfall events is calculated as 4.4 mm based on the environmental capacity of the receiving waters. The intercepted runoff depth differs when calculated from various aspects. The selection of the intercepted runoff depth depends on the goal of water quality control, the self-purification capacity of the water bodies, and other factors of the region.

Office of General Counsel Total Quality Management Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

20503. IRT DATE 3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED y 1989 5. FUNDING NUMBERS Office of General Counsel Total Quality Management Plan 6. AUTHOR(S) 7...of General Counsel. - r DTIC 65 LE- E CTEn’" SEP291 989 14. SUBJECT TERMS 15. NUMBER OF PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Office of General...89) Pra-ifcr~bed ANSI Sid 139-1S ""-"’- ", ~ mmmmmu10n S S OFFICE OF GENERAL COUNSEL TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PLAN Acc’, ’ 7or. .?:" t ’_7 Codes K 89

International Conference on Harmonisation; guidance on Q9 Quality Risk Management; availability. Notice.

PubMed

2006-06-02

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the availability of a guidance entitled "Q9 Quality Risk Management."' The guidance was prepared under the auspices of the International Conference on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The guidance provides principles and examples of tools for quality risk management that can be applied to all aspects of pharmaceutical quality throughout the lifecycle of drug substances, drug products, and biological and biotechnological products. The guidance is intended to enable regulators and industry to make more effective and consistent risk-based decisions.

TQM (Total Quality Management) SPARC (Special Process Action Review Committees) Handbook

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-08-01

This document describes the techniques used to support and guide the Special Process Action Review Committees for accomplishing their goals for Total Quality Management (TQM). It includes concepts and definitions, checklists, sample formats, and assessment criteria. Keywords: Continuous process improvement; Logistics information; Process analysis; Quality control; Quality assurance; Total Quality Management ; Statistical processes; Management Planning and control; Management training; Management information systems.

Total Quality Management in the Classroom: Applications to University-Level Mathematics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Frank

1995-01-01

Describes a Total Quality Management-based system of instruction that is used in a variety of undergraduate mathematics courses. The courses that incorporate this approach include mathematics appreciation, introductory calculus, and advanced applied linear algebra. (DDR)

Risk-based decision making to manage water quality failures caused by combined sewer overflows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sriwastava, A. K.; Torres-Matallana, J. A.; Tait, S.; Schellart, A.

2017-12-01

Regulatory authorities set certain environmental permit for water utilities such that the combined sewer overflows (CSO) managed by these companies conform to the regulations. These utility companies face the risk of paying penalty or negative publicity in case they breach the environmental permit. These risks can be addressed by designing appropriate solutions such as investing in additional infrastructure which improve the system capacity and reduce the impact of CSO spills. The performance of these solutions is often estimated using urban drainage models. Hence, any uncertainty in these models can have a significant effect on the decision making process. This study outlines a risk-based decision making approach to address water quality failure caused by CSO spills. A calibrated lumped urban drainage model is used to simulate CSO spill quality in Haute-Sûre catchment in Luxembourg. Uncertainty in rainfall and model parameters is propagated through Monte Carlo simulations to quantify uncertainty in the concentration of ammonia in the CSO spill. A combination of decision alternatives such as the construction of a storage tank at the CSO and the reduction in the flow contribution of catchment surfaces are selected as planning measures to avoid the water quality failure. Failure is defined as exceedance of a concentration-duration based threshold based on Austrian emission standards for ammonia (De Toffol, 2006) with a certain frequency. For each decision alternative, uncertainty quantification results into a probability distribution of the number of annual CSO spill events which exceed the threshold. For each alternative, a buffered failure probability as defined in Rockafellar & Royset (2010), is estimated. Buffered failure probability (pbf) is a conservative estimate of failure probability (pf), however, unlike failure probability, it includes information about the upper tail of the distribution. A pareto-optimal set of solutions is obtained by performing mean

Association between quality management and performance indicators in Dutch diabetes care groups: a cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

Campmans-Kuijpers, Marjo J E; Baan, Caroline A; Lemmens, Lidwien C; Klomp, Maarten L H; Romeijnders, Arnold C M; Rutten, Guy E H M

2015-01-01

Objectives To enhance the quality of diabetes care in the Netherlands, so-called care groups with three to 250 general practitioners emerged to organise and coordinate diabetes care. This introduced a new quality management level in addition to the quality management of separate general practices. We hypothesised that this new level of quality management might be associated with the aggregate performance indicators on the patient level. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association between quality management at the care group level and its aggregate performance indicators. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting All Dutch care groups (n=97). Participants 23 care groups provided aggregate register-based performance indicators of all their practices as well as data on quality management measured with a questionnaire filled out by 1 or 2 of their quality managers. Primary outcomes The association between quality management, overall and in 6 domains (‘organisation of care’, ‘multidisciplinary teamwork’, ‘patient centredness’, ‘performance management’, ‘quality improvement policy’ and ‘management strategies’) on the one hand and 3 process indicators (the percentages of patients with at least 1 measurement of glycated haemoglobin, lipid profile and systolic blood pressure), and 3 intermediate outcome indicators (the percentages of patients with glycated haemoglobin below 53 mmol/mol (7%); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol below 2.5 mmol/L; and systolic blood pressure below 140 mm Hg) by weighted univariable linear regression. Results The domain ‘management strategies’ was significantly associated with the percentage of patients with a glycated haemoglobin <53 mmol/mol (β 0.28 (0.09; 0.46) p=0.01) after correction for multiple testing. The other domains as well as overall quality management were not associated with aggregate process or outcome indicators. Conclusions This first exploratory study on quality management showed weak

The Web-Based Osteoarthritis Management Resource My Joint Pain Improves Quality of Care: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

PubMed

Umapathy, Hema; Bennell, Kim; Dickson, Chris; Dobson, Fiona; Fransen, Marlene; Jones, Graeme; Hunter, David J

2015-07-07

Despite the availability of evidence-based guidelines for conservative treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), management is often confined to the use of analgesics and waiting for eventual total joint replacement. This suggests a gap in knowledge for persons with OA regarding the many different treatments available to them. Our objective was to evaluate outcomes after usage of a Web-based resource called My Joint Pain that contains tailored, evidence-based information and tools aimed to improve self-management of OA on self-management and change in knowledge. A quasi-experimental design was used to evaluate the My Joint Pain website intervention over a 12-month period. The intervention provided participants with general and user-specific information, monthly assessments with validated instruments, and progress-tracking tools. A nationwide convenience sample of 195 participants with self-assessed hip and/or knee OA completed both baseline and 12-month questionnaires (users: n=104; nonusers: n=91). The primary outcome measure was the Health Evaluation Impact Questionnaire (heiQ) to evaluate 8 different domains (health-directed activity, positive and active engagement in life, emotional distress, self-monitoring and insight, constructive attitudes and approaches, skill and technique acquisition, social integration and support, health service navigation) and the secondary outcome measure was the 17-item Osteoarthritis Quality Indicator (OAQI) questionnaire to evaluate the change in appropriateness of care received by participants. Independent t tests were used to compare changes between groups for the heiQ and chi-square tests to identify changes within and between groups from baseline to 12 months for each OAQI item. Baseline demographics between groups were similar for gender (152/195, 77.9% female), age (mean 60, SD 9 years) and body mass index (mean 31.1, SD 6.8 kg/m(2)). With the exception of health service navigation, mean effect sizes from all other heiQ domains

Environmental Assessment for Airborne Laser Debris Management Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-07-01

hazardous waste management, water resources, air quality, and biological resources. Based on the analysis of the Proposed Action and No-Action...aesthetics, hazardous materials management, soils and geology, noise, cultural resources, and environmental justice. The resources analyzed in more detail...include: health and safety, hazardous waste management, water resources, air quality, and biological resources. Environmental Effects Under the

Unisys' experience in software quality and productivity management of an existing system

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Munson, John B.

1988-01-01

A summary of Quality Improvement techniques, implementation, and results in the maintenance, management, and modification of large software systems for the Space Shuttle Program's ground-based systems is provided.

A systematic review of instruments that assess the implementation of hospital quality management systems.

PubMed

Groene, Oliver; Botje, Daan; Suñol, Rosa; Lopez, Maria Andrée; Wagner, Cordula

2013-10-01

Health-care providers invest substantial resources to establish and implement hospital quality management systems. Nevertheless, few tools are available to assess implementation efforts and their effect on quality and safety outcomes. This review aims to (i) identify instruments to assess the implementation of hospital quality management systems, (ii) describe their measurement properties and (iii) assess the effects of quality management on quality improvement and quality of care outcomes. We performed a systematic literature search from 1990 to 2011 in PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of Science. In addition, we used snowball strategies, screened the reference lists of eligible papers, reviewed grey literature and contacted experts in the field. and data extraction Two reviewers screened eligible papers based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and all authors extracted data. Eligible papers are described in terms of general characteristics (settings, type and level of respondents, mode of data collection), methodological properties (sampling strategy, item derivation, conceptualization of quality management, assessment of reliability and validity, scoring) and application/implementation (accounting for context, organizational adaptations, sensitivity to change, deployment and effect size). Eighteen papers were deemed eligible for inclusion. While some common domains emerged in measurement conceptualization, substantial differences in scope persist. The instruments' measurement properties were insufficiently described and only few instruments assessed links between the implementation of quality management systems (QMS) and improvement strategies or outcomes. There is currently no well-established measure to assess the implementation and effectiveness of quality management systems. Future research should address this gap.

77 FR 33253 - Regulatory Guide 8.33, Quality Management Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-05

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2012-0126] Regulatory Guide 8.33, Quality Management Program... Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is withdrawing Regulatory Guide (RG) 8.33, ``Quality Management... Quality Management Program was deleted from the regulations as part of an overall revision in 2002 of the...

Total Quality Management Master Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-01-01

Enhanced competitiveness in the private . public and international sectors - Increased cash flow, influenced by contractor’s contributions to quality I...the project applies novel public- sector compensation concepts gleaned from the best in the private sector . Major employee development opportunities...management must strive to upgrade the quality of worklife which will also contribute to an environment which fosters continuous improvement. Individuals

77 FR 52277 - Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-29

... Quality Implementation Plans; California; South Coast Air Quality Management District; Prevention of... rule. SUMMARY: EPA is proposing approval of a permitting rule submitted for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (District) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). The State is...

Research on Air Quality Evaluation based on Principal Component Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xing; Wang, Zilin; Guo, Min; Chen, Wei; Zhang, Huan

2018-01-01

Economic growth has led to environmental capacity decline and the deterioration of air quality. Air quality evaluation as a fundamental of environmental monitoring and air pollution control has become increasingly important. Based on the principal component analysis (PCA), this paper evaluates the air quality of a large city in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area in recent 10 years and identifies influencing factors, in order to provide reference to air quality management and air pollution control.

A residency clinic chronic condition management quality improvement project.

PubMed

Halverson, Larry W; Sontheimer, Dan; Duvall, Sharon

2007-02-01

Quality improvement in chronic disease management is a major agenda for improving health and reducing health care costs. A six-component chronic disease management model can help guide this effort. Several characteristics of the "new model" of family medicine described by the Future of Family Medicine (FFM) Project Leadership Committee are promulgated to foster practice changes that improve quality. Our objective was to implement and assess a quality improvement project guided by the components of a chronic disease management model and FFM new model characteristics. Diabetes was selected as a model chronic disease focus. Multiple practice changes were implemented. A mature electronic medical record facilitated data collection and measurement of quality improvement progress. Data from the diabetes registry demonstrates that our efforts have been effective. Significant improvement occurred in five out of six quality indicators. Multidisciplinary teamwork in a model residency practice guided by chronic disease management principles and the FFM new model characteristics can produce significant management improvements in one important chronic disease.

ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY VERIFICATION PROGRAM: QUALITY AND MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE PILOT PERIOD (1995-2000)

EPA Science Inventory

Based upon the structure and specifications in ANSI/ASQC E4-1994, Specifications and Guidelines for Quality Systems for Environmental Data Collection and Environmental Technology Programs, the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program Quality and Management Plan (QMP) f...

Total Quality Management for Campus Facilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Gary L.

1992-01-01

This article examines the total quality management (TQM) concept as it is applied to higher education campus facilities. Each of the fundamental principles of TQM are examined as follows: customer-centered orientation; leadership; improved communication; continuous improvement; accountability; and quality of life. (GLR)

[Management systems of the quality of health care in Quebec hospitals].

PubMed

François, P

2001-03-31

The aim of this study was to take stock of the development of quality management systems in the Quebec health care services. The study relied on semi-guided interviews and on a documentary analysis. It concerned the structure and the activity of quality management in 4 Montreal university hospitals as well as on outside organizations dealing with quality of care. Quality management of the health care services is dealt with by council on health care accreditation and regional health and social services agencies. In hospitals, the quality of services is managed by structures created by the administration council and the top management: the piloting committee, the head of quality assurance, the executive committees and the multidisciplinary team or self-evaluation of the hospital, and development of plans for improvement. Other activities are management of complaints, users satisfaction evaluation and follow-up of indicators. This system of quality management of services is currently expanding. This change of paradigm leads to accepting the view of services users and to change quality management methods. Those methods have evolved from normative approach to a continuous quality improvement approach.

MapReduce Based Parallel Bayesian Network for Manufacturing Quality Control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Mao-Kuan; Ming, Xin-Guo; Zhang, Xian-Yu; Li, Guo-Ming

2017-09-01

Increasing complexity of industrial products and manufacturing processes have challenged conventional statistics based quality management approaches in the circumstances of dynamic production. A Bayesian network and big data analytics integrated approach for manufacturing process quality analysis and control is proposed. Based on Hadoop distributed architecture and MapReduce parallel computing model, big volume and variety quality related data generated during the manufacturing process could be dealt with. Artificial intelligent algorithms, including Bayesian network learning, classification and reasoning, are embedded into the Reduce process. Relying on the ability of the Bayesian network in dealing with dynamic and uncertain problem and the parallel computing power of MapReduce, Bayesian network of impact factors on quality are built based on prior probability distribution and modified with posterior probability distribution. A case study on hull segment manufacturing precision management for ship and offshore platform building shows that computing speed accelerates almost directly proportionally to the increase of computing nodes. It is also proved that the proposed model is feasible for locating and reasoning of root causes, forecasting of manufacturing outcome, and intelligent decision for precision problem solving. The integration of bigdata analytics and BN method offers a whole new perspective in manufacturing quality control.

Quality Management Plan for the Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Quality management plan (QMP) which identifies the mission, roles, responsibilities of personnel with regard to quality assurance and quality management for the environmental assessment and innovation division.

Effectiveness of a quality-improvement program in improving management of primary care practices.

PubMed

Szecsenyi, Joachim; Campbell, Stephen; Broge, Bjoern; Laux, Gunter; Willms, Sara; Wensing, Michel; Goetz, Katja

2011-12-13

The European Practice Assessment program provides feedback and outreach visits to primary care practices to facilitate quality improvement in five domains (infrastructure, people, information, finance, and quality and safety). We examined the effectiveness of this program in improving management in primary care practices in Germany, with a focus on the domain of quality and safety. In a before-after study, 102 primary care practices completed a practice assessment using the European Practice Assessment instrument at baseline and three years later (intervention group). A comparative group of 102 practices was included that completed their first assessment using this instrument at the time of the intervention group's second assessment. Mean scores were based on the proportion of indicators for which a positive response was achieved by all of the practices, on a scale of 0 to 100. We found significant improvements in all domains between the first and second assessments in the intervention group. In the domain of quality and safety, improvements in scores (mean scores were based on the proportion of indicators for which a positive response was achieved by all of the practices, on a scale of 0 to 100) were observed in the following dimensions: complaint management (from a mean score of 51.2 at first assessment to 80.7 at second assessment); analysis of critical incidents (from 79.1 to 89.6); and quality development, quality policy (from 40.7 to 55.6). Overall scores at the time of the second assessment were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the comparative group. Primary care practices that completed the European Practice Assessment instrument twice over a three-year period showed improvements in practice management. Our findings show the value of the quality-improvement cycle in the context of practice assessment and the use of established organizational standards for practice management with the Europeaen Practice Assessment.

Benchmarking, Total Quality Management, and Libraries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaughnessy, Thomas W.

1993-01-01

Discussion of the use of Total Quality Management (TQM) in higher education and academic libraries focuses on the identification, collection, and use of reliable data. Methods for measuring quality, including benchmarking, are described; performance measures are considered; and benchmarking techniques are examined. (11 references) (MES)

The case for regime-based water quality standards

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poole, Geoffrey C.; Dunham, J.B.; Keenan, D.M.; Sauter, S.T.; McCullough, D.A.; Mebane, Christopher; Lockwood, Jeffrey C.; Essig, Don A.; Hicks, Mark P.; Sturdevant, Debra J.; Materna, E.J.; Spalding, M.; Risley, John; Deppman, Marianne

2004-01-01

Conventional water quality standards have been successful in reducing the concentration of toxic substances in US waters. However, conventional standards are based on simple thresholds and are therefore poorly structured to address human-caused imbalances in dynamic, natural water quality parameters, such as nutrients, sediment, and temperature. A more applicable type of water quality standarda??a a??regime standarda??a??would describe desirable distributions of conditions over space and time within a stream network. By mandating the protection and restoration of the aquatic ecosystem dynamics that are required to support beneficial uses in streams, well-designed regime standards would facilitate more effective strategies for management of natural water quality parameters.

Responsible Student Affairs Practice: Merging Student Development and Quality Management.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitner, Phillip A.; And Others

The merging of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Involvement Theory into a managerial philosophy can assist student affairs professionals with an approach for conducting work that improves student affairs practice. When merged or integrated, accountability can easily be obtained because the base philosophies of qualitative research, TQM, and…

Management-focused approach to investigating coastal water-quality drivers and impacts in the Baltic Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vigouroux, G.; Destouni, G.; Chen, Y.; Bring, A.; Jönsson, A.; Cvetkovic, V.

2017-12-01

Coastal areas link human-driven conditions on land with open sea conditions, and include crucial and vulnerable ecosystems that provide a variety of ecosystem services. Eutrophication is a common problem that is not least observed in the Baltic Sea, where coastal water quality is influenced both by land-based nutrient loading and by partly eutrophic open sea conditions. Robust and adaptive management of coastal systems is essential and necessitates integration of large scale catchment-coastal-marine systems as well as consideration of anthropogenic drivers and impacts, and climate change. To address this coastal challenge, relevant methodological approaches are required for characterization of coupled land, local coastal, and open sea conditions under an adaptive management framework for water quality. In this paper we present a new general and scalable dynamic characterization approach, developed for and applied to the Baltic Sea and its coastal areas. A simple carbon-based water quality model is implemented, dividing the Baltic Sea into main management basins that are linked to corresponding hydrological catchments on land, as well as to each other though aggregated three-dimensional marine hydrodynamics. Relevant hydrodynamic variables and associated water quality results have been validated on the Baltic Sea scale and show good accordance with available observation data and other modelling approaches. Based on its scalability, this methodology is further used on coastal zone scale to investigate the effects of hydrodynamic, hydro-climatic and nutrient load drivers on water quality and management implications for coastal areas in the Baltic Sea.

mtDNAmanager: a Web-based tool for the management and quality analysis of mitochondrial DNA control-region sequences

PubMed Central

Lee, Hwan Young; Song, Injee; Ha, Eunho; Cho, Sung-Bae; Yang, Woo Ick; Shin, Kyoung-Jin

2008-01-01

Background For the past few years, scientific controversy has surrounded the large number of errors in forensic and literature mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data. However, recent research has shown that using mtDNA phylogeny and referring to known mtDNA haplotypes can be useful for checking the quality of sequence data. Results We developed a Web-based bioinformatics resource "mtDNAmanager" that offers a convenient interface supporting the management and quality analysis of mtDNA sequence data. The mtDNAmanager performs computations on mtDNA control-region sequences to estimate the most-probable mtDNA haplogroups and retrieves similar sequences from a selected database. By the phased designation of the most-probable haplogroups (both expected and estimated haplogroups), mtDNAmanager enables users to systematically detect errors whilst allowing for confirmation of the presence of clear key diagnostic mutations and accompanying mutations. The query tools of mtDNAmanager also facilitate database screening with two options of "match" and "include the queried nucleotide polymorphism". In addition, mtDNAmanager provides Web interfaces for users to manage and analyse their own data in batch mode. Conclusion The mtDNAmanager will provide systematic routines for mtDNA sequence data management and analysis via easily accessible Web interfaces, and thus should be very useful for population, medical and forensic studies that employ mtDNA analysis. mtDNAmanager can be accessed at . PMID:19014619

Nuevo Amanecer: results of a randomized controlled trial of a community-based, peer-delivered stress management intervention to improve quality of life in Latinas with breast cancer.

PubMed

Nápoles, Anna María; Ortíz, Carmen; Santoyo-Olsson, Jasmine; Stewart, Anita L; Gregorich, Steven; Lee, Howard E; Durón, Ysabel; McGuire, Peggy; Luce, Judith

2015-07-01

We evaluated a community-based, translational stress management program to improve health-related quality of life in Spanish-speaking Latinas with breast cancer. We adapted a cognitive-behavioral stress management program integrating evidence-based and community best practices to address the needs of Latinas with breast cancer. Spanish-speaking Latinas with breast cancer were randomly assigned to an intervention or usual-care control group. Trained peers delivered the 8-week intervention between February 2011 and February 2014. Primary outcomes were breast cancer-specific quality of life and distress, and general symptoms of distress. Of 151 participants, 95% were retained at 6 months (between May 2011 and May 2014). Improvements in quality of life from baseline to 6 months were greater for the intervention than the control group on physical well-being, emotional well-being, breast cancer concerns, and overall quality of life. Decreases from baseline to 6 months were greater for the intervention group on depression and somatization. Results suggest that translation of evidence-based programs can reduce psychosocial health disparities in Latinas with breast cancer. Integration of this program into community-based organizations enhances its dissemination potential.

Leadership and management for quality.

PubMed

Gillam, Steve; Siriwardena, A Niroshan

2013-01-01

This is the third in a series of articles about the science of quality improvement. Leadership and management are required for change and are therefore important for all quality improvement initiatives. We describe the differences between and features of each, and how they support change in individuals, groups and organisations according to the culture and characteristics of the latter. Finally, we see that leadership competencies are conceptualised in the NHS Leadership Framework and how this can be applied to quality improvement in general practice and healthcare more generally.

Internet of Things technology-based management methods for environmental specimen banks.

PubMed

Peng, Lihong; Wang, Qian; Yu, Ang

2015-02-01

The establishment and management of environmental specimen banks (ESBs) has long been a problem worldwide. The complexity of specimen environment has made the management of ESB likewise complex. Through an analysis of the development and management of ESBs worldwide and in light of the sophisticated Internet of Things (IOT) technology, this paper presents IOT technology-based ESB management methods. An IOT technology-based ESB management system can significantly facilitate ESB ingress and egress management as well as long-term storage management under quality control. This paper elaborates on the design of IOT technology-based modules, which can be used in ESB management to achieve standardized, smart, information-based ESB management. ESB management has far-reaching implications for environmental management and for research in environmental science.

Total Quality Management (TQM), an Overview

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-09-01

Quality Management (TQM). It discusses the reasons TQM is a current growth industry, what it is, and how one implements it. It describes the basic analytical tools, statistical process control, some advanced analytical tools, tools used by process improvement teams to enhance their own operations, and action plans for making improvements. The final sections discuss assessing quality efforts and measuring the quality to knowledge

Quality Management in Hungarian Higher Education: Organisational Responses to Governmental Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Csizmadia, Tibor; Enders, Jurgen; Westerheijden, Don F.

2008-01-01

This article focuses on responses of higher education institutions to governmental policy. We investigate the influence of organisational characteristics on the implementation of quality management in Hungarian higher education institutions. Our theoretical framework is based on organisational theories (resource dependency and…

15 CFR 995.25 - Quality management system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... expertise. (7) CEVAD shall conduct internal audits at planned intervals to determine whether the quality... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Quality management system. 995.25...) NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE QUALITY ASSURANCE AND CERTIFICATION...

The Impact of ISO Quality Management Systems on Primary and Secondary Schools in Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arribas Díaz, Jorge Antonio; Martínez-Mediano, Catalina

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the application of quality management systems (QMS) based on international standards of quality in education (ISO 9001:2008) and ascertain the influence of this quality model on primary and secondary schools in Spain. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted in 26 publicly funded,…

Change in quality management in diabetes care groups and outpatient clinics after feedback and tailored support.

PubMed

Campmans-Kuijpers, Marjo J; Baan, Caroline A; Lemmens, Lidwien C; Rutten, Guy E

2015-02-01

To assess the change in level of diabetes quality management in primary care groups and outpatient clinics after feedback and tailored support. This before-and-after study with a 1-year follow-up surveyed quality managers on six domains of quality management. Questionnaires measured organization of care, multidisciplinary teamwork, patient centeredness, performance results, quality improvement policy, and management strategies (score range 0-100%). Based on the scores, responders received feedback and a benchmark and were granted access to a toolbox of quality improvement instruments. If requested, additional support in improving quality management was available, consisting of an elucidating phone call or a visit from an experienced consultant. After 1 year, the level of quality management was measured again. Of the initially 60 participating care groups, 51 completed the study. The total quality management score improved from 59.8% (95% CI 57.0-62.6%) to 65.1% (62.8-67.5%; P < 0.0001). The same applied to all six domains. The feedback and benchmark improved the total quality management score (P = 0.001). Of the 44 participating outpatient clinics, 28 completed the study. Their total score changed from 65.7% (CI 60.3-71.1%) to 67.3% (CI 62.9-71.7%; P = 0.30). Only the results in the domain multidisciplinary teamwork improved (P = 0.001). Measuring quality management and providing feedback and a benchmark improves the level of quality management in care groups but not in outpatient clinics. The questionnaires might also be a useful asset for other diabetes care groups, such as Accountable Care Organizations. © 2015 by the American Diabetes Association. Readers may use this article as long as the work is properly cited, the use is educational and not for profit, and the work is not altered.

40 CFR 35.2102 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2102 Water quality management planning. Before grant assistance can be awarded for any treatment works project, the Regional... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35...

An initial approach towards quality of service based Spectrum Trading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastidas, Carlos E. Caicedo; Vanhoy, Garret; Volos, Haris I.; Bose, Tamal

Spectrum scarcity has become an important issue as demands for higher data rates increase in diverse wireless applications and aerospace communication scenarios. To address this problem, it becomes necessary to manage radio spectrum assignment in a way that optimizes the distribution of spectrum resources among several users while taking into account the quality of service (QoS) characteristics desired by the users of spectrum. In this paper, a novel approach to managing spectrum assignment based on Spectrum Trading (ST) will be presented. Market based spectrum assignment mechanisms such as spectrum trading are of growing interest to many spectrum management agencies that are planning to increase the use of these mechanisms for spectrum management and reduce their emphasis on command and control methods. This paper presents some of our initial work into incorporating quality of service information into the mechanisms that determine how spectrum should be traded when using a spectrum exchange. Through simulations and a testbed implementation of a QoS aware spectrum exchange our results show the viability of using QoS based mechanisms in spectrum trading and in the enhancement of dynamic spectrum assignment systems.

Ethical issues in using data from quality management programs.

PubMed

Nerenz, David R

2009-08-01

Since the advent of formal, data-driven quality improvement programs in health care in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there are have been questions raised about requirements for ethical committee review of quality improvement activities. A form of consensus emerged through a series of articles published between 1996 and 2007, but there is still significant variation among ethics review committees and individual project leaders in applying broad policies on requirements for committee review and/or written informed consent by participants. Recent developments in quality management, particularly the creation and use of multi-site disease registries, have raised new questions about requirements for review and consent, since the activities often have simultaneous research and quality improvement goals. This article discusses ways in which policies designed for local quality improvement projects and data bases may be adapted to apply to multi-site registries and research projects related to them.

Managing quality and compliance.

PubMed

McNeil, Alice; Koppel, Carl

2015-01-01

Critical care nurses assume vital roles in maintaining patient care quality. There are distinct facets to the process including standard setting, regulatory compliance, and completion of reports associated with these endeavors. Typically, multiple niche software applications are required and user interfaces are varied and complex. Although there are distinct quality indicators that must be tracked as well as a list of serious or sentinel events that must be documented and reported, nurses may not know the precise steps to ensure that information is properly documented and actually reaches the proper authorities for further investigation and follow-up actions. Technology advances have permitted the evolution of a singular software platform, capable of monitoring quality indicators and managing all facets of reporting associated with regulatory compliance.

Total Quality Management Office for Contracting Integrity Implementation Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

REPORT______ANDDATESCOVERED 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE S. FUNDING NUMBERS Total Quality Management Office for Contracting Integrity Implementatiun Plan 6. AUTHOR(S) 7...01-280-5500 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89) P’,croed 1:, ANSI Std 3J9-16 29d. 102 4 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT OFFICE FOR CONTRACTING INTEGRITY...IMPLEMENTATION PLAN According to the Total Quality Management (TQM) Master Plan, each PSE head, supported by Working Groups, will implement the HQ DLA Master

Using standard treatment protocols to manage costs and quality of hospital services.

PubMed

Meyer, J W; Feingold, M G

1993-06-01

The current health care environment has made it critically important that hospital costs and quality be managed in an integrated fashion. Promised health care reforms are expected to make cost reduction and quality enhancement only more important. Traditional methods of hospital cost and quality control have largely been replaced by such approaches as practice parameters, outcomes measurement, clinical indicators, clinical paths, benchmarking, patient-centered care, and a focus on patient selection criteria. This Special Report describes an integrated process for strategically managing costs and quality simultaneously, incorporating key elements of many important new quality and cost control tools. By using a multidisciplinary group process to develop standard treatment protocols, hospitals and their medical staffs address the most important services provided within major product lines. Using both clinical and financial data, groups of physicians, nurses, department managers, financial analysts, and administrators redesign key patterns of care within their hospital, incorporating the best practices of their own and other institutions. The outcome of this process is a new, standardized set of clinical guidelines that reduce unnecessary variation in care, eliminate redundant interventions, establish clear lines of communication for all caregivers, and reduce the cost of each stay. The hospital, medical staff, and patients benefit from the improved opportunities for managed care contracting, more efficient hospital systems, consensus-based quality measures, and reductions in the cost of care. STPs offer a workable and worthwhile approach to positioning the hospital of the 1990s for operational efficiency and cost and quality competitiveness.

E-Service Quality Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Batagan, Lorena; Pocovnicu, Adrian; Capisizu, Sergiu

2009-01-01

A characteristic of today's society is the increasing use of modern information and communication technologies in all areas. Computer applications, called e-services, are being developed to provide efficient access to services, electronically. Quality management systems are needed to provide a consistent way to select, evaluate, prioritize and…

Quality-Oriented Management of Educational Innovation at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sofanudin, Aji; Rokhman, Fathur; Wasino; Rusdarti

2016-01-01

This study aims to explore the quality-oriented management of educational innovation at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah. Quality-Oriented Management of Educational Innovation is the process of managing new resources (ideas, practices, objects, methods) in the field of education to achieve educational goals or solve the problem of education. New ideas,…

DPSC (Defense Personnel Support Center) Total Quality Management Master Plan

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-07-01

SUBTITLE 5. FUNDING NUMBERS DPSC Total Quality Management Master Plan 6. AUTHOR(S) 7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) B. PERFORMING...quality supported solider, sailor, airman and marine. % j cl 1 14. SUBJECT TERMS I 1S. NUMBER OF PAGES TQM (Total Quality Management ), Continuous...THE COMMANDER ON TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT i SECTION I INTRODUCTION 1 II CONCEPTS 6 TQM Basics 7 Continuous Process Improvement 7 DoD TQM Philosophy 9

40 CFR 35.2102 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35.2102 Section 35.2102 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANTS AND OTHER FEDERAL ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2102 Water quality management planning. Before grant...

Quality Management Plus: The Continuous Improvement of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaufman, Roger; Zahn, Douglas

This book applies quality management, an organizational theory that has been successful in business and industry, to education. Chapter 1 describes the basic elements of quality management (QM)--continuous improvement, client satisfaction, positive return on investment, and doing it right the first and every time. Ways to implement Deming's 14…

Managing Air Quality - Emissions Inventories

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This page describes the role of emission inventories in the air quality management process, a description of how emission inventories are developed, and where U.S. emission inventory information can be found.

Developing and marketing a community pharmacy-based asthma management program.

PubMed

Rupp, M T; McCallian, D J; Sheth, K K

1997-01-01

To develop a community pharmacy-based asthma management program and successfully market the program to a managed care organization. Community-based ambulatory care. Independent community pharmacy. Development of a structured, stepwise approach to creating, testing, delivering, and marketing a community pharmacy-based disease management program. Peak expiratory flow rates, quality of life, use of health care services, HMO contract renewal. A pharmacy-based asthma management program was developed, pilot tested, and successfully marketed to a local HMO. During the first full year of the program, HMO patients experienced significant improvements in quality of life and decreases in use of health care services, including a 77% decrease in hospitalization, a 78% decrease in emergency room visits, and a 25% decrease in urgent care visits. A contract that pays the pharmacy a flat fee for each patient admitted to the program has recently been renewed for a third year. The program has proved to be an effective, practical, and profitable addition to the portfolio of services offered by the pharmacy.

Hoshin Kanri: a technique for strategic quality management.

PubMed

Tennant, C; Roberts, P A

2000-01-01

This paper describes a technique for Strategic Quality Management (SQM), known as Hoshin Kanri, which has been operated as a management system in many Japanese companies since the 1960s. It represents a core aspect of Japanese companies' management systems, and is stated as: the means by which the overall control system and Total Quality Management (TQM) are deployed. Hoshin Kanri is not particularly unique in its concept of establishing and tracking individual goals and objectives, but the manner in which the objectives and the means to achieve them are developed and deployed is. The problem with applying the concept of Strategic Quality Management (SQM) using Hoshin Kanri, is that it can tend to challenge the traditional authoritarian strategic planning models, which have become the paradigms of modern business. Yet Hoshin Kanri provides an appropriate tool for declaration of the strategic vision for the business while integrating goals and targets in a single holistic model. There have been various adaptations of Hoshin Kanri to align the technique to Western thinking and management approaches, yet outside Japan its significance has gone largely unreported. It is proposed that Hoshin Kanri is an effective methodology for SQM, which has a number of benefits over the more conventional planning techniques. The benefits of Hoshin Kanri as a tool for Strategic Quality Management (SQM) compared to conventional planning systems include: integration of strategic objectives with tactical daily management, the application of the plan-do-check-act cycle to business process management, parallel planning and execution methodology, company wide approach, improvements in communication, increased consensus and buy-in to goal setting, and cross-functional-management integration.

Physicians in training as quality managers: survival strategy for academic health centers.

PubMed

Wofford, J L; Moran, W P; Cohen, S J; Simon, R C

1997-12-01

Being responsible for medical education places academic health centers at a disadvantage in competing for managed care contracts. Although many suggestions have been made for changing medical education to produce physicians who are better prepared for the managed care environment, few studies have shown how physicians in training can actually contribute to the competitiveness of an academic health center. We present three examples of engaging trainees in projects with a population-based perspective that demonstrate how quality improvement for the academic health center can be operationalized and even led by physicians in training. In addition to gaining experience in a managed care skill that is increasingly important for future employment, physicians in training can simultaneously improve the quality of care delivered through the academic health center.

Hospital quality: a product of good management as much as good treatment.

PubMed

Hyde, Andy; Frafjord, Anders

2013-01-01

In Norway, as in most countries, the demands placed on hospitals to reduce costs and improve the quality of services are intense. Although many say that improving quality reduces costs, few can prove it. Futhermore, how many people can show that improving quality improves patient satisfaction. Diakonhjemmet hospital in Norway has designed and implemented a hospital management system based on lean principles and the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) quality circle introduced by WE Deming (Deming 2000). The results are quite impressive with improvements in quality and patient satisfaction. The hospital also runs at a profit.

Quality Management Plan for EPA Region 1

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The QMP describes policies, procedures & management systems within EPA NE that govern quality assurance & quality control activities supporting the transparency & scientific defensibility of environmental data collected, used & disseminated by the Region.

An overview of Quality Management System implementation in a research laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Molinéro-Demilly, Valérie; Charki, Abdérafi; Jeoffrion, Christine; Lyonnet, Barbara; O'Brien, Steve; Martin, Luc

2018-02-01

The aim of this paper is to show the advantages of implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) in a research laboratory in order to improve the management of risks specific to research programmes and to increase the reliability of results. This paper also presents experience gained from feedback following the implementation of the Quality process in a research laboratory at INRA, the French National Institute for Agronomic Research and details the various challenges encountered and solutions proposed to help achieve smoother adoption of a QMS process. The 7Ms (Management, Measurement, Manpower, Methods, Materials, Machinery, Mother-nature) methodology based on the Ishikawa `Fishbone' diagram is used to show the effectiveness of the actions considered by a QMS, which involve both the organization and the activities of the laboratory. Practical examples illustrate the benefits and improvements observed in the laboratory.

Disease Management: The Need for a Focus on Broader Self-Management Abilities and Quality of Life

PubMed Central

Nieboer, Anna Petra

2015-01-01

Abstract The study objective was to investigate long-term effects of disease management programs (DMPs) on (1) health behaviors (smoking, physical exercise); (2) self-management abilities (self-efficacy, investment behavior, initiative taking); and (3) physical and mental quality of life among chronically ill patients. The study also examined whether (changes in) health behaviors and self-management abilities predicted quality of life. Questionnaires were sent to all 5076 patients participating in 18 Dutch DMPs in 2010 (T0; 2676 [53%] respondents). Two years later (T1), questionnaires were sent to 4350 patients still participating in DMPs (1722 [40%] respondents). Structured interviews were held with the 18 DMP project leaders. DMP implementation improved patients' health behavior and physical quality of life, but mental quality of life and self-management abilities declined over time. Changes in patients' investment behavior predicted physical quality of life at T1 (P<.001); physical activity, investment behavior (both P<.05), and self-efficacy (P<.01) at T0, and changes in self-efficacy and investment behavior (both P<.001) predicted patients' mental quality of life at T1. The long-term benefits of these DMPs include successful improvement of chronically ill patients' health behaviors and physical quality of life. However, these programs were not able to improve or maintain broader self-management abilities or mental quality of life, highlighting the need to focus on these abilities and overall quality of life. As coproducers of care, patients should be stimulated and enabled to manage their health and quality of life. (Population Health Management 2015;18:246–255) PMID:25607246

Responsibility of University and College Staff for Higher Education Quality Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valiuskeviciute, Audrone; Ziogeviciute, Areta

2006-01-01

The article analyses the issue of indefiniteness of higher education quality management as a specific area of quality management. It analyses the participation of staff in the development of quality culture. It investigates the perceptions of university and college staff of their responsibilities to participate in quality management. On the basis…

[The organization of system of quality management in large multitype hospital].

PubMed

Taĭts, B M; Krichmar, G N; Stvolinskiĭ, I Iu; Grandilevskaia, O L

2013-01-01

The article presents the characteristics and assessment of functioning of model of quality management in large multitype hospital. The results of work of the municipal hospital of Saint Venerable martyr Elizabeth of St Petersburg concerning the implementation of system of quality management in 2001-2011 of the foundation of principles of total quality management of medical service and principles of quality management according international standards ISO and their Russian analogues.

Development of quality standards in inflammatory bowel disease management and design of an evaluation tool of nursing care.

PubMed

Torrejón, Antonio; Oltra, Lorena; Hernández-Sampelayo, Paloma; Marín, Laura; García-Sánchez, Valle; Casellas, Francesc; Alfaro, Noelia; Lázaro, Pablo; Vera, María Isabel

2013-01-01

nursing management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is highly relevant for patient care and outcomes. However, there is evidence of substantial variability in clinical practices. The objectives of this study were to develop standards of healthcare quality for nursing management of IBD and elaborate the evaluation tool "Nursing Care Quality in IBD Assessment" (NCQ-IBD) based on these standards. a 178-item healthcare quality questionnaire was developed based on a systematic review of IBD nursing management literature. The questionnaire was used to perform two 2-round Delphi studies: Delphi A included 27 IBD healthcare professionals and Delphi B involved 12 patients. The NCQ-IBD was developed from the list of items resulting from both Delphi studies combined with the Scientific Committee´s expert opinion. the final NCQ-IBD consists of 90 items, organized in13 sections measuring the following aspects of nursing management of IBD: infrastructure, services, human resources, type of organization, nursing responsibilities, nurse-provided information to the patient, nurses training, annual audits of nursing activities, and nursing research in IBD. Using the NCQ-IBD to evaluate these components allows the rating of healthcare quality for nursing management of IBD into 4 categories: A (highest quality) through D (lowest quality). the use of the NCQ-IBD tool to evaluate nursing management quality of IBD identifies areas in need of improvement and thus contribute to an enhancement of care quality and reduction in clinical practice variations.

40 CFR 35.2023 - Water quality management planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Water quality management planning. 35.2023 Section 35.2023 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GRANTS AND OTHER FEDERAL ASSISTANCE STATE AND LOCAL ASSISTANCE Grants for Construction of Treatment Works § 35.2023 Water quality management planning. (a) From funds...

Role of a quality management system in improving patient safety - laboratory aspects.

PubMed

Allen, Lynn C

2013-09-01

The aim of this study is to describe how implementation of a quality management system (QMS) based on ISO 15189 enhances patient safety. A literature review showed that several European hospitals implemented a QMS based on ISO 9001 and assessed the impact on patient safety. An Internet search showed that problems affecting patient safety have occurred in a number of laboratories across Canada. The requirements of a QMS based on ISO 15189 are outlined, and the impact of the implementation of each requirement on patient safety is summarized. The Quality Management Program - Laboratory Services in Ontario is briefly described, and the experience of Ontario laboratories with Ontario Laboratory Accreditation, based on ISO 15189, is outlined. Several hospitals that implemented ISO 9001 reported either a positive impact or no impact on patient safety. Patient safety problems in Canadian laboratories are described. Implementation of each requirement of the QMS can be seen to have a positive effect on patient safety. Average laboratory conformance on Ontario Laboratory Accreditation is very high, and laboratories must address and resolve any nonconformities. Other standards, practices, and quality requirements may also contribute to patient safety. Implementation of a QMS based on ISO 15189 provides a solid foundation for quality in the laboratory and enhances patient safety. It helps to prevent patient safety issues; when such issues do occur, effective processes are in place for investigation and resolution. Patient safety problems in Canadian laboratories might have been prevented had effective QMSs been in place. Ontario Laboratory Accreditation has had a positive impact on quality in Ontario laboratories. Copyright © 2013 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Total Quality Management and Media Services: The Deming Method.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richie, Mark L.

1992-01-01

W. Edwards Deming built a 40-year record of quality management in Japan known as Total Quality Management (TQM). His 14 points require a change in the belief system of managers and media directors, but their implementation in government agencies and schools will produce increased time for better services, better communications, and new programs.…

Implementation and implication of total quality management on client- contractor relationship in residential projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murali, Swetha; Ponmalar, V.

2017-07-01

To make innovation and continuous improvement as a norm, some traditional practices must become unlearnt. Change for growth and competitiveness are required for sustainability for any profitable business such as the construction industry. The leading companies are willing to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) principles, to realise potential advantages and improve growth and efficiency. Ironically, researches recollected quality as the most significant provider for competitive advantage in industrial leadership. The two objectives of this paper are 1) Identify TQM effectiveness in residential projects and 2) Identify the client satisfaction/dissatisfaction areas using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and suggest effective mitigate measures. Using statistical survey techniques like set of questionnaire survey, it is observed that total quality management was applied in some leading successful organization to an extent. The main attributes for quality achievement can be defined as teamwork and better communication with single agreed goal between client and contractor. Onsite safety is a paramount attribute in the identifying quality within the residential projects. It was noticed that the process based quality methods such as onsite safe working condition; safe management system and modern engineering process safety controls etc. as interlinked functions. Training and effective communication with all stakeholders on quality management principles is essential for effective quality work. Late Only through effective TQM principles companies can avoid some contract litigations with an increased client satisfaction Index.

From the traditional concept of safety management to safety integrated with quality.

PubMed

García Herrero, Susana; Mariscal Saldaña, Miguel Angel; Manzanedo del Campo, Miguel Angel; Ritzel, Dale O

2002-01-01

This editorial reviews the evolution of the concepts of safety and quality that have been used in the traditional workplace. The traditional programs of safety are explored showing strengths and weaknesses. The concept of quality management is also viewed. Safety management and quality management principles, stages, and measurement are highlighted. The concepts of quality and safety guarantee are assessed. Total Quality Management concepts are reviewed and applied to safety quality. Total safety management principles are discussed. Finally, an analysis of the relationship between quality and safety from data collected from a company in Spain is presented.

Development of a validation process for parameters utilized in optimizing construction quality management of pavements.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2006-01-01

The implementation of an effective performance-based construction quality management requires a tool for determining impacts of construction quality on the life-cycle performance of pavements. This report presents an update on the efforts in the deve...

Total Quality Management Seminar.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts Career Development Inst., Springfield.

This booklet is one of six texts from a workplace literacy curriculum designed to assist learners in facing the increased demands of the workplace. The booklet contains seven sections that cover the following topics: (1) meaning of total quality management (TQM); (2) the customer; (3) the organization's culture; (4) comparison of management…

TQM - Total Quality Management (Bibliography)

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-05-01

ISBN: 0-941893-00-6 Price: $27.00 NAVSWC Library Call No: TS156 S358 GUIDE TO OUALITY CONTROL Author: Ishikawa , Kaoru Publisher: Asian Productivity...teachings of Juran, Deming, Feigenbaum, Crosby, Taguchi, Shewhart, Ishikawa , and others. 19 OUT OF BEDLAM: MANAGEMENT BY QUALITY LEADERSHIP Author...Price: $60.00 WHAT IS TOTAL QUALITY CONTROL? THE JAPANESE WAY Author. Ishikawa , K oru Publisher: Prentice Hall Date: 1985 Pagination: 215pp ISBN: 0-13

STORM WATER MANAGEMENT MODEL QUALITY ASSURANCE REPORT: DYNAMIC WAVE FLOW ROUTING

EPA Science Inventory

The Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) is a computer-based tool for simulating storm water runoff quantity and quality from primarily urban areas. In 2002 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Supply and Water Resources Division partnered with the consulting firm CDM ...

Total Quality Management in Information Services. Information Services Management Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Clair, Guy

Information services managers have a responsibility to provide the best information delivery possible. The basic principles of total quality management can be used by information professionals to help justify library funding through the creation of an environment where customer-patron satisfaction is paramount. This book reveals how to apply the…

Checklist for Reviewing EPA Quality Management Plans

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This checklist will be used to review the Quality Management Plans (QMPs) that are submitted to the Quality Staff of the Office of Environmental Information (OEI) for Agency review under EPA Order 5360.1 A2.

Soil management: The key to soil quality and sustainable agriculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basch, Gottlieb; Barão, Lúcia; Soares, Miguel

2017-04-01

Today, after the International Year of Soils in 2015 and the proclamation by the International Union of Soil Sciences of the International Decade of Soils 2015-2020, much attention is paid to soil quality. Often used interchangeably, both terms, soil quality and soil health, refer to dynamic soil properties such as soil organic matter or pH, while soil quality also includes inherent soil properties such as texture or mineral composition. However, it is the dynamic or manageable properties that adequate soil management can influence and thus contribute to a well-functioning soil environment capable to deliver the soil-mediated provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services and soil functions. This contribution intends to highlight the key principles of sustainable soil management and provide evidence that they are compliant with a productive, resource efficient and ecologically friendly agriculture. Paradoxically, and despite benefitting from good soil quality, agriculture itself when based on conventional, especially intensive tillage-based soil management practices contributes decisively to soil degradation and to several of the soil threats as identified by the Soil Thematic Strategy, being soil erosion and soil organic matter decline the most notorious ones. To mitigate soil degradation, the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy has introduced conservation measures, mainly through cross-compliance measures supposed to guarantee minimum soil cover, to limit soil erosion and to maintain the levels of soil organic matter. However, it remains unclear to what extent EU member states apply these 'Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition' (GAEC) measures to their utilized agricultural areas. Effective and cost-efficient soil management systems able to conserve or to restore favourable soil conditions, to minimize soil erosion and to invert soil organic matter and soil biodiversity decline and improve soil structure are those capable to mimic as

[Quality management in a public health agency].

PubMed

Villalbí, Joan R; Ballestín, Manuela; Casas, Conrad; Subirana, Teresa

2012-01-01

This article describes the introduction of quality improvement actions in a public health organization. After ISO 17025 accreditation, which was legally mandated, was granted to the official control laboratory, the management decided to expand a quality policy in 2003, through a series of actions based on process analysis and proposals for improvement, further definition of standard operating procedures, exploration of users' opinions, the creation of improvement groups, and external audits or certification. The organizational response to these initiatives was diverse. External audit or certification of services seems to be the most powerful tool for change. Costing studies showed that up to 75% of the total expenditure of the agency in 2010 was spent on public health services subject to external audit or certification. Copyright © 2011 SESPAS. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Air quality management in Portugal: example of needs and available tools.

PubMed

Borrego, C; Miranda, A I; Coutinho, M; Ferreira, J; Carvalho, A C

2002-01-01

The Framework Directive (FWD) and the proposed Daughter Directives are the newest legislative instruments concerning a new political strategy and air quality management approach for Europe. Additionally, the member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe have included the concepts of critical load and level for planning air pollution abatement strategies and as a base of international agreements concerning limitation of the emissions of air pollutants. These concepts imply an accurate knowledge about pollutants deposition fluxes. The paper describes the main needs and the tools available to define a strategy of air quality management in Portugal. Two study cases are presented: (1) extensive monitoring plan to assess the impact of an urban incinerator plant; and (2) contribution to a methodology to estimate critical levels for a coastal region in Portugal. These different approaches allowed illustrating the complexity of the implementation of an air pollution management strategy.

Disease Management: The Need for a Focus on Broader Self-Management Abilities and Quality of Life.

PubMed

Cramm, Jane Murray; Nieboer, Anna Petra

2015-08-01

The study objective was to investigate long-term effects of disease management programs (DMPs) on (1) health behaviors (smoking, physical exercise); (2) self-management abilities (self-efficacy, investment behavior, initiative taking); and (3) physical and mental quality of life among chronically ill patients. The study also examined whether (changes in) health behaviors and self-management abilities predicted quality of life. Questionnaires were sent to all 5076 patients participating in 18 Dutch DMPs in 2010 (T0; 2676 [53%] respondents). Two years later (T1), questionnaires were sent to 4350 patients still participating in DMPs (1722 [40%] respondents). Structured interviews were held with the 18 DMP project leaders. DMP implementation improved patients' health behavior and physical quality of life, but mental quality of life and self-management abilities declined over time. Changes in patients' investment behavior predicted physical quality of life at T1 (P<.001); physical activity, investment behavior (both P<.05), and self-efficacy (P<.01) at T0, and changes in self-efficacy and investment behavior (both P<.001) predicted patients' mental quality of life at T1. The long-term benefits of these DMPs include successful improvement of chronically ill patients' health behaviors and physical quality of life. However, these programs were not able to improve or maintain broader self-management abilities or mental quality of life, highlighting the need to focus on these abilities and overall quality of life. As coproducers of care, patients should be stimulated and enabled to manage their health and quality of life.

[Process-oriented quality management in the hospital].

PubMed

Wolters, H G

1998-03-01

Procedures and experiences concerning the implementation of quality management in a midsize hospital with 6 medical disciplines are described. Quality of infrastructure was checked with lists and the quality of medical performance assessed by means of standardized numerical audit with all professional groups. Weaknesses were identified by comparing the result to each quality indicator with target standards. As examples, causal relations and consequences of deficiencies in clinical care documentation, scheme of preoperative diagnosis, co-ordination of surgical procedures and handling of complications are given in more detail. Obstacles were rated depending on frequency and risk potential, sometimes cost effectiveness. Members of all professional groups and departments involved participated in trouble solving teams to which external expert assistance was provided. For example, interventions leading to improved co-ordination of surgical activities and their impacts are specified. Improving systematically the quality of clinical procedures is one gateway to establish quality management in hospitals continuously and thoroughly becoming an integrated part of the corporate culture. Investment of resources is necessary but justified by midrange benefits.

A Practical Guide for Managing Customer Service in Base Civil Engineering.

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE IN BASE CIVIL ENGINEERING Step One: Evaluate Present Service Quality .. ......... .11 Step Two: Develop and Clarify a...cross sectional viewpoint. In chapter three, specific steps will be presented for managers to evaluate and improve the present level of service quality in...customer service in base civil engineering or any other organization for that matter is to evaluate the present level of service quality (1:170). Data

Water quality and management of private drinking water wells in Pennsylvania.

PubMed

Swistock, Bryan R; Clemens, Stephanie; Sharpe, William E; Rummel, Shawn

2013-01-01

Pennsylvania has over three million rural residents using private water wells for drinking water supplies but is one of the few states that lack statewide water well construction or management standards. The study described in this article aimed to determine the prevalence and causes of common health-based pollutants in water wells and evaluate the need for regulatory management along with voluntary educational programs. Water samples were collected throughout Pennsylvania by Master Well Owner Network volunteers trained by Penn State Extension. Approximately 40% of the 701 water wells sampled failed at least one health-based drinking water standard. The prevalence of most water quality problems was similar to past studies although both lead and nitrate-N were reduced over the last 20 years. The authors' study suggests that statewide water well construction standards along with routine water testing and educational programs to assist water well owners would result in improved drinking water quality for private well owners in Pennsylvania.

The Relationship Among Heart Failure Disease Management, Quality of Care, and Hospitalizations.

PubMed

Chung, Eugene S; Bartone, Cheryl; Daly, Kathleen; Menon, Santosh; McDonald, Mark

2015-01-01

Heart failure (HF) affects 5.1 million adult patients, accounting for over 1 million hospitalizations, 1.8 million office visits, and nearly 680,000 emergency department visits annually. HF hospitalizations have been incorporated into a national measure of hospital and provider quality, with associated financial penalties based on the 30-day readmission rate after an index hospitalization for HF. However, it is not clear whether the number of HF-related hospitalizations or 30-day readmissions is consistently related to quality of care. The relationships between various measures of HF care quality and hospitalization rates were evaluated by performing a cohort study of an HF disease management program in a clinical practice setting. Following the statistical analyses assessing outcomes and survival, the conclusion was that an HF disease management program in clinical practice associated with improved utilization of evidence-based medical and device therapies tends to improve ejection fraction and survival, and reduce sex and race disparities, but not with an associated reduction in hospitalizations or total hospital days.

American pain society recommendations for improving the quality of acute and cancer pain management: American Pain Society Quality of Care Task Force.

PubMed

Gordon, Debra B; Dahl, June L; Miaskowski, Christine; McCarberg, Bill; Todd, Knox H; Paice, Judith A; Lipman, Arthur G; Bookbinder, Marilyn; Sanders, Steve H; Turk, Dennis C; Carr, Daniel B

2005-07-25

The American Pain Society (APS) set out to revise and expand its 1995 Quality Improvement Guidelines for the Treatment of Acute Pain and Cancer Pain and to facilitate improvements in the quality of pain management in all care settings. Eleven multidisciplinary members of the APS with expertise in quality improvement or measurement participated in the update. Five experts from organizations that focus on health care quality reviewed the final recommendations. MEDLINE and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases were searched (1994-2004) to identify articles on pain quality measurement and quality improvement published after the development of the 1995 guidelines. The APS task force revised and expanded recommendations on the basis of the systematic review of published studies. The more than 3000 members of the APS were invited to provide input, and the 5 experts provided additional comments. The task force synthesized reviewers' comments into the final set of recommendations. The recommendations specify that all care settings formulate structured, multilevel systems approaches (sensitive to the type of pain, population served, and setting of care) that ensure prompt recognition and treatment of pain, involvement of patients and families in the pain management plan, improved treatment patterns, regular reassessment and adjustment of the pain management plan as needed, and measurement of processes and outcomes of pain management. Efforts to improve the quality of pain management must move beyond assessment and communication of pain to implementation and evaluation of improvements in pain treatment that are timely, safe, evidence based, and multimodal.

Air quality risk management.

PubMed

Williams, Martin L

2008-01-01

Rather than attempt to provide a comprehensive account of air quality risk assessment, as might be found in a textbook or manual, this article discusses some issues that are of current importance in the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, with special emphasis on risk assessment in the context of policy formulation, and emerging scientific knowledge. There are two pollutants of particular concern and that both pose challenges for risk assessment and policy, and they are particulate matter (PM) and ozone. The article describes some issues for health risk assessment and finally some forward-looking suggestions for future approaches to air quality management.

Effectiveness of a quality-improvement program in improving management of primary care practices

PubMed Central

Szecsenyi, Joachim; Campbell, Stephen; Broge, Bjoern; Laux, Gunter; Willms, Sara; Wensing, Michel; Goetz, Katja

2011-01-01

Background: The European Practice Assessment program provides feedback and outreach visits to primary care practices to facilitate quality improvement in five domains (infrastructure, people, information, finance, and quality and safety). We examined the effectiveness of this program in improving management in primary care practices in Germany, with a focus on the domain of quality and safety. Methods: In a before–after study, 102 primary care practices completed a practice assessment using the European Practice Assessment instrument at baseline and three years later (intervention group). A comparative group of 102 practices was included that completed their first assessment using this instrument at the time of the intervention group’s second assessment. Mean scores were based on the proportion of indicators for which a positive response was achieved by all of the practices, on a scale of 0 to 100. Results: We found significant improvements in all domains between the first and second assessments in the intervention group. In the domain of quality and safety, improvements in scores (mean scores were based on the proportion of indicators for which a positive response was achieved by all of the practices, on a scale of 0 to 100) were observed in the following dimensions: complaint management (from a mean score of 51.2 at first assessment to 80.7 at second assessment); analysis of critical incidents (from 79.1 to 89.6); and quality development, quality policy (from 40.7 to 55.6). Overall scores at the time of the second assessment were significantly higher in the intervention group than in the comparative group. Interpretation: Primary care practices that completed the European Practice Assessment instrument twice over a three-year period showed improvements in practice management. Our findings show the value of the quality-improvement cycle in the context of practice assessment and the use of established organizational standards for practice management with the

A conceptual framework for quality assessment and management of biodiversity data.

PubMed

Veiga, Allan Koch; Saraiva, Antonio Mauro; Chapman, Arthur David; Morris, Paul John; Gendreau, Christian; Schigel, Dmitry; Robertson, Tim James

2017-01-01

The increasing availability of digitized biodiversity data worldwide, provided by an increasing number of institutions and researchers, and the growing use of those data for a variety of purposes have raised concerns related to the "fitness for use" of such data and the impact of data quality (DQ) on the outcomes of analyses, reports, and decisions. A consistent approach to assess and manage data quality is currently critical for biodiversity data users. However, achieving this goal has been particularly challenging because of idiosyncrasies inherent in the concept of quality. DQ assessment and management cannot be performed if we have not clearly established the quality needs from a data user's standpoint. This paper defines a formal conceptual framework to support the biodiversity informatics community allowing for the description of the meaning of "fitness for use" from a data user's perspective in a common and standardized manner. This proposed framework defines nine concepts organized into three classes: DQ Needs, DQ Solutions and DQ Report. The framework is intended to formalize human thinking into well-defined components to make it possible to share and reuse concepts of DQ needs, solutions and reports in a common way among user communities. With this framework, we establish a common ground for the collaborative development of solutions for DQ assessment and management based on data fitness for use principles. To validate the framework, we present a proof of concept based on a case study at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University. In future work, we will use the framework to engage the biodiversity informatics community to formalize and share DQ profiles related to DQ needs across the community.

A conceptual framework for quality assessment and management of biodiversity data

PubMed Central

Saraiva, Antonio Mauro; Chapman, Arthur David; Morris, Paul John; Gendreau, Christian; Schigel, Dmitry; Robertson, Tim James

2017-01-01

The increasing availability of digitized biodiversity data worldwide, provided by an increasing number of institutions and researchers, and the growing use of those data for a variety of purposes have raised concerns related to the "fitness for use" of such data and the impact of data quality (DQ) on the outcomes of analyses, reports, and decisions. A consistent approach to assess and manage data quality is currently critical for biodiversity data users. However, achieving this goal has been particularly challenging because of idiosyncrasies inherent in the concept of quality. DQ assessment and management cannot be performed if we have not clearly established the quality needs from a data user’s standpoint. This paper defines a formal conceptual framework to support the biodiversity informatics community allowing for the description of the meaning of "fitness for use" from a data user’s perspective in a common and standardized manner. This proposed framework defines nine concepts organized into three classes: DQ Needs, DQ Solutions and DQ Report. The framework is intended to formalize human thinking into well-defined components to make it possible to share and reuse concepts of DQ needs, solutions and reports in a common way among user communities. With this framework, we establish a common ground for the collaborative development of solutions for DQ assessment and management based on data fitness for use principles. To validate the framework, we present a proof of concept based on a case study at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University. In future work, we will use the framework to engage the biodiversity informatics community to formalize and share DQ profiles related to DQ needs across the community. PMID:28658288

Quality Management in U.S. High Schools: Evidence from the Field.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Detert, James R.; Bauerly Kopel, Michelle E.; Mauriel, John J.; Jenni, Roger W.

2000-01-01

Reports on a longitudinal study examining implementation of a Quality Management reform based on Deming's seven principles. Interview and survey data from a national sample of purposefully chosen high schools show limited results as to teachers' effective use and institutionalization of TQM principles. The principal's role is critical. (Contains…

Trust Management in Swarm-Based Autonomic Computing Systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Maiden, Wendy M.; Haack, Jereme N.; Fink, Glenn A.

2009-07-07

Reputation-based trust management techniques can address issues such as insider threat as well as quality of service issues that may be malicious in nature. However, trust management techniques must be adapted to the unique needs of the architectures and problem domains to which they are applied. Certain characteristics of swarms such as their lightweight ephemeral nature and indirect communication make this adaptation especially challenging. In this paper we look at the trust issues and opportunities in mobile agent swarm-based autonomic systems and find that by monitoring the trustworthiness of the autonomic managers rather than the swarming sensors, the trust managementmore » problem becomes much more scalable and still serves to protect the swarms. We also analyze the applicability of trust management research as it has been applied to architectures with similar characteristics. Finally, we specify required characteristics for trust management mechanisms to be used to monitor the trustworthiness of the entities in a swarm-based autonomic computing system.« less

The governance of quality management in dutch health care: new developments and strategic challenges.

PubMed

Maarse, J A M; Ruwaard, D; Spreeuwenberg, C

2013-01-01

This article gives a brief sketch of quality management in Dutch health care. Our focus is upon the governance of guideline development and quality measurement. Governance is conceptualized as the structure and process of steering of quality management. The governance structure of guideline development in the Netherlands can be conceptualized as a network without central coordination. Much depends upon the self-initiative of stakeholders. A similar picture can be found in quality measurement. Special attention is given to the development of care standards for chronic disease. Care standards have a broader scope than guidelines and take an explicit patient perspective. They not only contain evidence-based and up-to-date guidelines for the care pathway but also contain standards for self-management. Furthermore, they comprise a set of indicators for measuring the quality of care of the entire pathway covered by the standard. The final part of the article discusses the mission, tasks and strategic challenges of the newly established National Health Care Institute (Zorginstituut Nederland), which is scheduled to be operative in 2013.

An empirical model of water quality for use in rapid management strategy evaluation in Southeast Queensland, Australia.

PubMed

de la Mare, William; Ellis, Nick; Pascual, Ricardo; Tickell, Sharon

2012-04-01

Simulation models have been widely adopted in fisheries for management strategy evaluation (MSE). However, in catchment management of water quality, MSE is hampered by the complexity of both decision space and the hydrological process models. Empirical models based on monitoring data provide a feasible alternative to process models; they run much faster and, by conditioning on data, they can simulate realistic responses to management actions. Using 10 years of water quality indicators from Queensland, Australia, we built an empirical model suitable for rapid MSE that reproduces the water quality variables' mean and covariance structure, adjusts the expected indicators through local management effects, and propagates effects downstream by capturing inter-site regression relationships. Empirical models enable managers to search the space of possible strategies using rapid assessment. They provide not only realistic responses in water quality indicators but also variability in those indicators, allowing managers to assess strategies in an uncertain world. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Managing recreation areas for quality user experiences: a theoretical framework

Treesearch

Thomas A. More; Gregory J. Buhyoff

1979-01-01

The production of opportunities for high-quality visitor experiences is a basic goal of recreation management. Recreation quality can be interpreted using concepts from psychological field theory to relate emotion to the strength of motivation. Applications to on-site management for recreation quality and use regulation are suggested.

Improving the accuracy of total quality management instruments.

PubMed

Bechtel, G A; Wood, D

1996-03-01

Total quality management (TQM) instruments are essential tools in defining concepts identified in an Ishikawa or ¿cause-and-effect¿ diagram. Collecting meaningful and accurate data using TQM instruments is imperative if productivity and quality of care are to be enhanced. This article provides managers with techniques and guidelines that will enhance the reliability and validity of TQM instruments, thereby promoting organization efficiency and customer satisfaction.

Predictors of Success for Community-Driven Water Quality Management--Lessons from Three Catchments in New Zealand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyson, Ben; Unson, Christine; Edgar, Nick

2017-01-01

Three community engagement projects on the South Island of New Zealand are enacting education and communication initiatives to improve the uptake of best management practices on farms regarding nutrient management for improving water quality. Understanding the enablers and barriers to effective community-based catchment management is fundamental…

40 CFR 35.925-2 - Water quality management plans and agencies.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Water quality management plans and... Water Act § 35.925-2 Water quality management plans and agencies. That the project is consistent with any applicable water quality management (WQM) plan approved under section 208 or section 303(e) of the...

[CAP quality management system in clinical laboratory and its issue].

PubMed

Tazawa, Hiromitsu

2004-03-01

The CAP (College of American Pathologists) was established in 1962 and, at present, CAP-accredited laboratories include about 6000 institutions all over the world, mainly in the U.S. The essential purpose of CAP accreditation is high quality reservation and improvement of clinical laboratory services for patient care, and is based on seven points, listed below. (1) Establishment of a laboratory management program and laboratory techniques to assure accuracy and improve overall quality of laboratory services. (2) Maintenance and improvement of accuracy objectively by centering on a CAP survey. (3) Thoroughness in safety and health administration. (4) Reservation of the performance of laboratory services by personnel and proficiency management. (5) Provision of appropriate information to physicians, and contribution to improved quality of patient care by close communication with physicians (improvement in patient care). (6) Reduction of running costs and personnel costs based on evidence by employing the above-mentioned criteria. (7) Reduction of laboratory error. In the future, accreditation and/or certification by organizations such as CAP, ISO, etc., may become a requirement for providing any clinical laboratory services in Japan. Taking the essence of the CAP and the characteristics of the new international standard, ISO151589, into consideration, it is important to choose the best suited accreditation and/or certification depending of the purpose of clinical laboratory.

Source Emissions in Multipollutant Air Quality Management

EPA Science Inventory

Human activities and natural processes that emit pollutants into the ambient atmosphere are the underlying cause of all air quality problems. In a technical sense, we refer to these activities and processes as pollutant sources. Although air quality management is usually concerne...

Assurance of Medical Device Quality with Quality Management System: An Analysis of Good Manufacturing Practice Implementation in Taiwan

PubMed Central

Tu, Pei-Weng; Wu, Shiow-Ing

2015-01-01

The implementation of an effective quality management system has always been considered a principal method for a manufacturer to maintain and improve its product and service quality. Globally many regulatory authorities incorporate quality management system as one of the mandatory requirements for the regulatory control of high-risk medical devices. The present study aims to analyze the GMP enforcement experience in Taiwan between 1998 and 2013. It describes the regulatory implementation of medical device GMP requirement and initiatives taken to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in compliance with the regulatory requirement. Based on statistical data collected by the competent authority and industry research institutes, the present paper reports the growth of Taiwan local medical device industry after the enforcement of GMP regulation. Transition in the production, technologies, and number of employees of Taiwan medical device industry between 1998 and 2013 provides the competent authorities around the world with an empirical foundation for further policy development. PMID:26075255

Assurance of medical device quality with quality management system: an analysis of good manufacturing practice implementation in Taiwan.

PubMed

Li, Tzu-Wei; Tu, Pei-Weng; Liu, Li-Ling; Wu, Shiow-Ing

2015-01-01

The implementation of an effective quality management system has always been considered a principal method for a manufacturer to maintain and improve its product and service quality. Globally many regulatory authorities incorporate quality management system as one of the mandatory requirements for the regulatory control of high-risk medical devices. The present study aims to analyze the GMP enforcement experience in Taiwan between 1998 and 2013. It describes the regulatory implementation of medical device GMP requirement and initiatives taken to assist small and medium-sized enterprises in compliance with the regulatory requirement. Based on statistical data collected by the competent authority and industry research institutes, the present paper reports the growth of Taiwan local medical device industry after the enforcement of GMP regulation. Transition in the production, technologies, and number of employees of Taiwan medical device industry between 1998 and 2013 provides the competent authorities around the world with an empirical foundation for further policy development.

Informational system as an instrument for assessing the performance of the quality management system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohan, R.; Roşu, M. M.

2017-08-01

At present there is used a significant number of techniques and methods for diagnosis and management analysis which support the decision-making process. All these methods facilitate reaching the objectives for improving the results through efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction. By developing a methodology for analysing the problems identified in the macro-productive companies there can be brought outstanding benefits to the management and there are offered new perspectives on the critical influencing factors within a system. Through this paper we present an effective management strategy, applicable to an organization with productive profile in order to design an informational system aimed to manage one of its most important and complex systems, namely the coordination of the quality management system. The informational organisation of the quality management system on management principles, ensures an optimization of the informational energy consumption, allowing the management to deal with the following: to ascertain the current situation; to seize the opportunities, but also the potential risks afferent to the organisation policy; to observe the strengths and weaknesses; to take appropriate decisions and then to control the effects obtained. In this way, the decisional factors are able to better understand the available opportunities and to base more efficiently the process of choosing the alternatives.

NASA total quality management 1989 accomplishments report

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tai, Betty P. (Editor); Stewart, Lynne M. (Editor)

1990-01-01

NASA and contractor employees achieved many notable improvements in 1989. The highlights of those improvements, described in this seventh annual Accomplishments Report, demonstrate that the people who support NASA's activities are getting more involved in quality and continuous improvement efforts. Their gains solidly support NASA's and this Nation's goal to remain a leader in space exploration and in world-wide market competition, and, when communicated to others through avenues such as this report, foster improvement efforts across government and industry. The principles in practice which led to these process refinements are important cultural elements to any organization's productivity and quality efforts. The categories in this report reflect NASA principles set forth in the 1980's and are more commonly known today as Total Quality Management (TQM): top management leadership and support; strategic planning; focus on the customer; employee training and recognition; employee empowerment and teamwork; measurement and analysis; and quality assurance.

Analysis of air quality management with emphasis on transportation sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

English, T. D.; Divita, E.; Lees, L.

1980-01-01

The current environment and practices of air quality management were examined for three regions: Denver, Phoenix, and the South Coast Air Basin of California. These regions were chosen because the majority of their air pollution emissions are related to mobile sources. The impact of auto exhaust on the air quality management process is characterized and assessed. An examination of the uncertainties in air pollutant measurements, emission inventories, meteorological parameters, atmospheric chemistry, and air quality simulation models is performed. The implications of these uncertainties to current air quality management practices is discussed. A set of corrective actions are recommended to reduce these uncertainties.

Importance and Challenges in Use and Uptake of Air Quality Modelling in Developing Countries: Use of CAMx for Air Quality Management in the City of Johannesburg.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garland, R. M.; Naidoo, M.; Sibiya, B.; Naidoo, S.; Bird, T.; von Gruenewaldt, R.; Liebenberg-Enslin, H.; Nekhwalivhe, M.; Netshandama, J.; Mahlatji, M.

2017-12-01

Ambient air pollution levels are regulated in South Africa; however in many areas pollution concentrations exceed these levels. The South African Air Quality Act also stipulates that government across all levels must have Air Quality Management Plans (AQMP) in place that outline the current state of air quality and emissions, as well as the implementable plan to manage, and where necessary improve, air quality. Historically, dispersion models have been used to support air quality management decisions, including in AQMPs. However, with the focus of air quality management shifting from focusing on industrial point sources to a more integrated and holistic management of all sources, chemical transport models are needed. CAMx was used in the review and development of the City of Johannesburg's AQMP to simulate hot spots of air pollution, as well as to model intervention scenarios. As the pollutants of concern in Johannesburg are ozone and particulate matter, it is critical to use a model that can simulate chemistry. CAMx was run at 1 km with a locally derived emissions inventory for 2014. The sources of pollution in the City are diverse (including, industrial, vehicles, domestic burning, natural), and many sources have large uncertainties in estimating emissions due to lack of necessary data and local emission factors. These uncertainties, together with a lack of measurements to validate the model against, hinder the performance of the model to simulate air quality and thus inform air quality management. However, as air quality worsens in Africa, it is critical for decision makers to have a strong evidence base on the state of air quality and impact of interventions in order to improve air quality effectively. This presentation will highlight the findings from using a chemical transport model for air quality management in the largest city in South Africa, the use and limitations of these for decision-makers, and proposed way forward.

Quality management and accreditation in a mixed research and clinical hair testing analytical laboratory setting-a review.

PubMed

Fulga, Netta

2013-06-01

Quality management and accreditation in the analytical laboratory setting are developing rapidly and becoming the standard worldwide. Quality management refers to all the activities used by organizations to ensure product or service consistency. Accreditation is a formal recognition by an authoritative regulatory body that a laboratory is competent to perform examinations and report results. The Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory is licensed to operate at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario. The laboratory performs toxicology tests of hair and meconium samples for research and clinical purposes. Most of the samples are involved in a chain of custody cases. Establishing a quality management system and achieving accreditation became mandatory by legislation for all Ontario clinical laboratories since 2003. The Ontario Laboratory Accreditation program is based on International Organization for Standardization 15189-Medical laboratories-Particular requirements for quality and competence, an international standard that has been adopted as a national standard in Canada. The implementation of a quality management system involves management commitment, planning and staff education, documentation of the system, validation of processes, and assessment against the requirements. The maintenance of a quality management system requires control and monitoring of the entire laboratory path of workflow. The process of transformation of a research/clinical laboratory into an accredited laboratory, and the benefits of maintaining an effective quality management system, are presented in this article.

Content-based management service for medical videos.

PubMed

Mendi, Engin; Bayrak, Coskun; Cecen, Songul; Ermisoglu, Emre

2013-01-01

Development of health information technology has had a dramatic impact to improve the efficiency and quality of medical care. Developing interoperable health information systems for healthcare providers has the potential to improve the quality and equitability of patient-centered healthcare. In this article, we describe an automated content-based medical video analysis and management service that provides convenience and ease in accessing the relevant medical video content without sequential scanning. The system facilitates effective temporal video segmentation and content-based visual information retrieval that enable a more reliable understanding of medical video content. The system is implemented as a Web- and mobile-based service and has the potential to offer a knowledge-sharing platform for the purpose of efficient medical video content access.

Community-based primary care: improving and assessing diabetes management.

PubMed

Gannon, Meghan; Qaseem, Amir; Snow, Vincenza

2010-01-01

Morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes make it a prime target for quality improvement research. Quality gaps and racial/gender disparities persist throughout this population of patients necessitating a sustainable improvement in the clinical management of diabetes. The authors of this study sought (1) to provide a population perspective on diabetes management, and (2) to reinforce evidence-based clinical guidelines through a Web-based educational module.The project also aimed to gain insight into working remotely with a community of rural physicians. This longitudinal pre-post intervention study involved 18 internal medicine physicians and included 3 points of medical record data abstraction over 24 months. A Web-based educational module was introduced after the baseline data abstraction. This module contained chapters on clinical education, practice tools, and self-assessment. The results showed a sustained improvement in most clinical outcomes and demonstrated the effectiveness of using Web-based mediums to reinforce clinical guidelines and change physician behavior.

Revitalizing Space Operations through Total Quality Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baylis, William T.

1995-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to show the reader what total quality management (TQM) is and how to apply TQM in the space systems and management arena. TQM is easily understood, can be implemented in any type of business organization, and works.

Study Quality in Higher Education Institution: Philosophy and Praxeology of Management

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juodaityte, Audrone

2004-01-01

This article defines total quality philosophy, its transformations and significance for study quality in higher education institution. It reveals the concepts, principles and problems of study quality management and provides overview of implementation of study quality management at today's European universities. The experience of two European…

14 CFR 60.5 - Quality management system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Quality management system. 60.5 Section 60.5 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) AIRMEN FLIGHT SIMULATION TRAINING DEVICE INITIAL AND CONTINUING QUALIFICATION AND USE § 60.5 Quality...

14 CFR 60.5 - Quality management system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Quality management system. 60.5 Section 60.5 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) AIRMEN FLIGHT SIMULATION TRAINING DEVICE INITIAL AND CONTINUING QUALIFICATION AND USE § 60.5 Quality...

14 CFR 60.5 - Quality management system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Quality management system. 60.5 Section 60.5 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) AIRMEN FLIGHT SIMULATION TRAINING DEVICE INITIAL AND CONTINUING QUALIFICATION AND USE § 60.5 Quality...

14 CFR 60.5 - Quality management system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Quality management system. 60.5 Section 60.5 Aeronautics and Space FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) AIRMEN FLIGHT SIMULATION TRAINING DEVICE INITIAL AND CONTINUING QUALIFICATION AND USE § 60.5 Quality...

Identification of watershed priority management areas under water quality constraints: A simulation-optimization approach with ideal load reduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Feifei; Liu, Yong; Wu, Zhen; Chen, Yihui; Guo, Huaicheng

2018-07-01

Targeting nonpoint source (NPS) pollution hot spots is of vital importance for placement of best management practices (BMPs). Although physically-based watershed models have been widely used to estimate nutrient emissions, connections between nutrient abatement and compliance of water quality standards have been rarely considered in NPS hotspot ranking, which may lead to ineffective decision-making. It's critical to develop a strategy to identify priority management areas (PMAs) based on water quality response to nutrient load mitigation. A water quality constrained PMA identification framework was thereby proposed in this study, based on the simulation-optimization approach with ideal load reduction (ILR-SO). It integrates the physically-based Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and an optimization model under constraints of site-specific water quality standards. To our knowledge, it was the first effort to identify PMAs with simulation-based optimization. The SWAT model was established to simulate temporal and spatial nutrient loading and evaluate effectiveness of pollution mitigation. A metamodel was trained to establish a quantitative relationship between sources and water quality. Ranking of priority areas is based on required nutrient load reduction in each sub-watershed targeting to satisfy water quality standards in waterbodies, which was calculated with genetic algorithm (GA). The proposed approach was used for identification of PMAs on the basis of diffuse total phosphorus (TP) in Lake Dianchi Watershed, one of the three most eutrophic large lakes in China. The modeling results demonstrated that 85% of diffuse TP came from 30% of the watershed area. Compared with the two conventional targeting strategies based on overland nutrient loss and instream nutrient loading, the ILR-SO model identified distinct PMAs and narrowed down the coverage of management areas. This study addressed the urgent need to incorporate water quality response into PMA

Efficiency vs. Effectiveness: Can W. Edwards Deming's Principles of Quality Management Be Applied Successfully to American Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petry, John R.

The field of education has been slow to recognize the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept. This resistance may result from entrenched management styles characterized by hierarchical decision-making structures. TQM emphasizes management based on leadership instead of management by objective, command, and coercion. The TQM concept consists of…

Establishment of a Quality Management System Based on ISO 9001 Standard in a Public Service Fungal Culture Collection.

PubMed

Simões, Marta F; Dias, Nicolina; Santos, Cledir; Lima, Nelson

2016-06-22

Collaborations between different Microbiological Resource Centres (mBRCs) and ethical sourcing practices are mandatory to guarantee biodiversity conservation, successful and sustainable preservation and fair share of benefits that arise from the use of genetic resources. Since microbial Culture Collections (CCs) are now engaged in meeting high quality operational standards, they are facing the challenge of establishing quality control criteria to certify their biological materials. The authentication/certification of strains is nowadays a demand from the bioeconomy sector for the global operation of mBRCs. The achievement of consistent quality assurance and trust within the mBRCs and microbial CCs context is a dynamic and never-ending process. A good option to facilitate that process is to implement a Quality Management System (QMS) based on the ISO 9001 standard. Here, we report a detailed description of all the steps taken for the QMS implementation at the Portuguese CC of filamentous fungi: Micoteca da Universidade do Minho (MUM). Our aim is to provide guidelines for the certification of other CCs, so that they can also enhance the search and choice of the most consistent, reliable, and effective operating methods, with assured procedures and validation of preservation; and guarantee trustworthy relations with all stakeholders.

Establishment of a Quality Management System Based on ISO 9001 Standard in a Public Service Fungal Culture Collection

PubMed Central

Simões, Marta F.; Dias, Nicolina; Santos, Cledir; Lima, Nelson

2016-01-01

Collaborations between different Microbiological Resource Centres (mBRCs) and ethical sourcing practices are mandatory to guarantee biodiversity conservation, successful and sustainable preservation and fair share of benefits that arise from the use of genetic resources. Since microbial Culture Collections (CCs) are now engaged in meeting high quality operational standards, they are facing the challenge of establishing quality control criteria to certify their biological materials. The authentication/certification of strains is nowadays a demand from the bioeconomy sector for the global operation of mBRCs. The achievement of consistent quality assurance and trust within the mBRCs and microbial CCs context is a dynamic and never-ending process. A good option to facilitate that process is to implement a Quality Management System (QMS) based on the ISO 9001 standard. Here, we report a detailed description of all the steps taken for the QMS implementation at the Portuguese CC of filamentous fungi: Micoteca da Universidade do Minho (MUM). Our aim is to provide guidelines for the certification of other CCs, so that they can also enhance the search and choice of the most consistent, reliable, and effective operating methods, with assured procedures and validation of preservation; and guarantee trustworthy relations with all stakeholders. PMID:27681915

Quality control management and communication between radiologists and technologists.

PubMed

Nagy, Paul G; Pierce, Benjamin; Otto, Misty; Safdar, Nabile M

2008-06-01

The greatest barrier to quality control (QC) in the digital imaging environment is the lack of communication and documentation between those who interpret images and those who acquire them. Paper-based QC methods are insufficient in a digital image management system. Problem work flow must be incorporated into reengineering efforts when migrating to a digital practice. The authors implemented a Web-based QC feedback tool to document and facilitate the communication of issues identified by radiologists. The goal was to promote a responsive and constructive tool that contributes to a culture of quality. The hypothesis was that by making it easier for radiologists to submit quality issues, the number of QC issues submitted would increase. The authors integrated their Web-based quality tracking system with a clinical picture archiving and communication system so that radiologists could report quality issues without disrupting clinical work flow. Graphical dashboarding techniques aid supervisors in using this database to identify the root causes of different types of issues. Over the initial 12-month rollout period, starting in the general section, the authors recorded 20 times more QC issues submitted by radiologists, accompanied by a rise in technologists' responsiveness to QC issues. For technologists with high numbers of QC issues, the incorporation of data from this tracking system proved useful in performance appraisals and in driving individual improvement. This tool is an example of the types of information technology innovations that can be leveraged to support QC in the digital imaging environment. Initial data suggest that the result is not only an improvement in quality but higher levels of satisfaction for both radiologists and technologists.

An Effective Time and Management Strategy in Quality Circles.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halverson, Don E.

Contending that participation in quality circles enhances effective time management by school administrators and teachers, this guide provides both a theoretical briefing and practical recommendations for better time management. A pre- posttest prefaces a review of basic concepts of quality circles with reference to the work of Abraham Maslow,…

Total Quality Management and Applications to the Construction Industry

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

own total quality management process. The Ritz - Carlton Hotel Company, a 1992 Malcolm Baldrige Award winner, already categorizes its suppliers based on...to spend time away from work. The Ritz - Carlton Hotel Company, a 1992 Baldrige Award winner (see Appendix B), requires its employees to receive 126...W0e ned h7es%’ * 75 _ APPENDIX B * How Ritz - Carlton Won THE BALDRIGE AWARD An unswerving focus on continuous improvement helped this luxury hotel

MANAGING INDOOR AIR QUALITY IN THE USA

EPA Science Inventory

The paper gives an overview of managing indoor air quality (IAQ) in the U.S. In contrast to outdoor air, which is regulated through various federal and state statutes, there is no unified and comprehensive governmental regulation of IAQ. Therefore, IAQ is managed through variou...

Practical approaches for health care: Indoor air quality management

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Turk, A.R.; Poulakos, E.M.

1996-05-01

The management of indoor air quality (IAQ) is of interest to building occupants, managers, owners, and regulators alike. Whether by poor design, improper attention, inadequate maintenance or the intent to save energy, many buildings today have significantly degraded IAQ levels. Acceptable IAQ is defined by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in Standard 62-1989 {open_quotes}Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality{close_quotes} as {open_quotes}air in which there are no known contaminants at harmful concentrations as determined by cognizant authorities and with which a substantial majority (80 percent or more) of the people exposed do not express dissatisfaction.{close_quotes}more » ASHRAE`s definition not only addresses the chemical compounds that may be present in the air, but it also recognizes a need to address both physiological and psychosocial comfort. The second step is to conduct a performance review of the HVAC systems based on equipment design specifications and guidelines for acceptable IAQ. And the third step is to identify potential chemical, physical and biological sources that are known to contribute to adverse air quality. Upon completion of these three steps, you will able to identify the more significant contributors to IAQ problems and establish applications for prevention and mitigation.« less

Quality in Web-Supported Learning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fresen, Jill

2002-01-01

Discusses quality assurance for Web-based courses, based on experiences at the University of Pretoria. Topics include evaluation of courseware; the concept of quality, including quality control, quality assurance, and total quality management; implementing a quality management system; measurement techniques; and partnerships. (LRW)