International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance: Volume 31 Issue 4

The secret of getting ahead…

Ian Callanan

Data envelopment analysis for estimating efficiency of intensive care units: a case study in Iran

Mohammad Amin Bahrami, Sima Rafiei, Mahdieh Abedi, Roohollah Askari

As hospitals are the most costly service providers in every healthcare systems, special attention should be given to their performance in terms of resource allocation and…

Data-driven process to improve VA surgical flow

Balmatee Bidassie, William Gunnar, Leigh Starr, George Van Buskirk, Lisa Warner, Clifford Anckaitis, Angela Howard

During years 2014-2016, Veterans Health Administration National Surgery Office conducted a surgical flow improvement initiative (SFII) to assist low-performing surgery programs to…

Improvement of laboratory turnaround time using lean methodology

Shradha Gupta, Sahil Kapil, Monica Sharma

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation of lean methodology to reduce the turnaround time (TAT) of a clinical laboratory in a super speciality hospital. Delays…

Enhancing outpatient appointment scheduling system performance when patient no-show percent and lateness rates are high

Mahmoud Barghash, Hanan Saleet

High lateness and no-show percentages pose great challenges on the patient scheduling process. Usually this is addressed by optimizing the time between patients in the scheduling…

Closing the delivery gap: Operationalizing the care delivery value chain and continuous quality improvement for HIV/AIDS services in Kara, Togo

Kevin Peter Fiori, Jennifer Schechter, Sesso Christophe Gbeleou, Sandra Braganza, Joseph Rhatigan, Spero Houndenou, Andrew Lopez, Emily Bensen, Lisa Hirschhorn

The purpose of this paper is to describe the authors’ experience operationalizing the care delivery value chain (CDVC) as a management and continuous quality improvement (QI…

Competences management for improving performance in health organizations: The Niguarda Hospital in Milan

Simone Fanelli, Gianluca Lanza, Antonello Zangrandi

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and construction of a privilege mapping system (clinical and organizational competences) of the medical staff of the Niguarda…

A study of deficiencies in teamwork skills among Jordan caregivers

Omar Al-Araidah, Nader Al Theeb, Mariam Bader, Nabeel Mandahawi

The purpose of this paper is to present the deficiencies in teamwork skills at Jordan hospitals as seen by team members. The study aims to identify training needs to improve…

Ninety to Nothing: a PDSA quality improvement project

Gayle Linda Prybutok

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of a successful quality improvement project in an acute care hospital focused on reducing the time of the total patient visit…