Task:
Find the following readings and respond about the quality management system and the differences between these two models by explaining what quality management system is all about.
Input(s) → Conversion process → Output(s)
In a health services organization, examples of inputs are patients, personnel, supplies, equipment, facilities, and capital. Examples of conversion processes are diagnostic processes, clinical treatments, operational activities, and business management functions. Examples of outputs are a patient's health status and an organization's business performance.
Traditional quality efforts may be thought of in terms of managing the inputs and conversion process that comprise the system. Examples of ways to control the quality of personnel inputs include licensure requirements, continuing education, and performance appraisals. Examples of ways to control the quality of technology inputs such as drug therapies include clinical trials and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Examples of ways to control the quality of a conversion process include clinical guidelines, process improvement, and standardization. Controlling the quality of the inputs and conversion processes is intended to improve the quality of the outputs, such as patient clinical and functional status, satisfaction with services, cost effectiveness, employee behaviors, and organizational culture.
Adding a feedback loop changes this basic system to a more dynamic one and, in turn, leads to a more mature approach to quality efforts. Feedback about the quality of the outputs guides efforts to improve the quality of the inputs and the conversion processes. Continuous feedback promotes continuous improvement. Viewing Donabedian's categories of medical quality measures and their relationship (structure → process → outcomes) reveals the systems value of his perspective.
Quality Management System:
Systems' thinking is defined as "a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships, rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather that static ‘snapshots'" (Senge 2006, 68). Improving the quality of the parts and understanding and improving the quality of the relationships between the parts lead managers to the most mature or systems thinking approach to quality management. Four models to help managers view health services organizations within a systems context are presented in this chapter: the three core process model, the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program Health Care Criteria for Performance Excellence, the systems model of organizational accidents, and the socioecological framework.