title: Using Quality Tools and Methodologies to Improve a Hospital's Quality Position.
abstract: The authors identify the quality tools and methodologies most frequently used by quality-positioned hospitals versus nonquality hospitals. Northeastern U.S. hospitals in both groups received a brief, 12-question survey. The authors found that 93.75% of the quality hospitals and 81.25% of the nonquality hospitals used some form of process improvement methodologies. However, there were significant differences between the groups regarding the impact of quality improvement initiatives on patients. The findings indicate that in quality hospitals the use of quality improvement initiatives had a significantly greater positive impact on patient satisfaction and patient outcomes when compared to nonquality hospitals.
authors.affiliation: a Byline Bank , Chicago , Illinois , USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Branco
authors.affiliation: b Management Department , Bryant University , Smithfield , Rhode Island , USA.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wicks
authors.affiliation: b Management Department , Bryant University , Smithfield , Rhode Island , USA.
authors.forename: John K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Visich
mesh_terms: D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States
keywords: A3 problem solving; Kaizen Events; Lean; Rapid cycle improvement processes; Six Sigma; performance measurement (quality)