title: Making continual improvements to health care.
abstract: Health care organizations are looking for new ways to optimize the way that they provide health services. The notion that high quality health care means high costs is no longer accepted without question. Business organizations that found themselves at very high levels of inefficiency, not unlike the levels being seen in hospitals and clinics today, were able to transform their businesses by applying the principles of continual improvement. The components of knowledge for improvement, i.e., knowledge of a system, knowledge of variation, knowledge of psychology, and the theory of knowledge may seem to some too obvious to be recognized and applied on a daily basis in the workplace. Businesses and organizations that are failing, however, often lack this knowledge. We cannot be certain that management by continual improvement can or should be applied or modified to work in all health care organizations. Although the delivery of health care services is a business unlike any other, it has much in common with other service industries. The idea that the quality of patient care can be improved by using the principles of continual improvement currently is being tested.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Corporation of America, Nashville, TN.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gambone
mesh_terms: D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D017146:Models, Organizational; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010934:Planning Techniques; D013597:Systems Analysis; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*