Dr Deming held that by adopting appropriate principles of management organizations can increase quality as cost decreases. Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation process as encapsulated in the Deming model or PDSA cycle are therefore: “plan”, “do”, “study (check)” and “act” (Robinson 45).
This is a problem solving process that has been adopted successfully, by many organizations in most leading economies of the world. The model is a means to an end of improving quality of success at the lowest cost possible, while the process itself is continuously applied for continuous improvement in quality management.
The ‘plan’ step is where both long-term and short-term objectives are set and evaluated. An existing plan has to be reviewed and improvement planned. The organization situation is kept in mind as its goals, objectives, requirement and vision as well as its mission.
In the step ‘do’, the new plan is introduced and taught to concerned stakeholders. There is transformation from the former order to the new order thus reviewing of policies, procedures as well as the organizational structures, is indispensable. One needs to be careful enough for effective and successful adoption of the plan.
Then this leads to the ‘study’ step where the new situation is checked, scrutinized, evaluated and analyzed. Any need for re-organization and improvement is noted in order to be addressed in the next step. In the ‘act’ step issues that arose in execution stage are addressed. The main aim is to maintain or improve the newly executed plan. Improvement is a continuous process and one has to keep on refining the plan to end up with a continuous improvement process.
Total quality management implementation within a healthcare organization should be an open-ended scheme. Deming model can be effectively applied to save time, life, and foster patient’s confidence and loyalty at the least effort and cost possible.
In the case of a healthcare organization, you start by evaluating an existing plan that a patient follows from the emergency room to the admission ward. The process conventionally involves reception and enquiry where possible, registration, treatment or first aid and admission.
The shorter and effective the process is, the better. While all the components of the process are important, the stakeholders are supposed to carry it as a system. The plan for improvement is made on the personnel at each stage while incorporating time saving mechanisms. The new plan should be based on observation, interviews and information from the former plan.
In the ‘do’ step the new plan is applied. The new plan is studied in practical real situation then those involved are trained so that they incorporate it in their daily routine. Deming model implementation is anchored in the fact that experience increases with effectiveness. So decline in performance is expected in the initial stages of implementation.
Afterwards, as the staff gets used to the new plan, performance will improve. In the ‘study’ stage, the new situation is checked to determine whether improvements can be done to maximize the effectiveness of the plan.
This will include incorporating some stages or doing away with others. This leads to the ‘Act’ stage where all issues needing improvement are addressed. Most challenges arising in execution stage will be addressed in a bid to decide whether to maintain the newly executed plan as it is or improve it further.
The end of the process in many cases poses many formative anomalies so that re- visiting the whole cycle is inevitable. The process must at least: reduce time and space, provide quality services, foster patients’ loyalty and confidence and motivate staff.
Deming based PDSA model on the belief that Knowledge and skills are limited but are always in a state of becoming or making (Robinson 48). His model therefore is a cyclic search of effectiveness and improvement.
If a patient from an accident were brought, the plan’s process used in receiving, treating or administering the first aid procedures as per his or her and then admit the patient. In the process all difficulties will be noted, new effective steps incorporated and others abandoned.
The plan will be flexible enough to cater for special needs or apply differently to patients with regard to severity of the case. Finally the process evaluation with the stakeholders (Healthcare providers) and the patients will be done to find out whether changes can be made. The key to total quality management in this case would be to achieve a “continual improvement” that sees a health care provision not as separate steps but as a system as Dr. Deming envisioned (Robinson 48).
Work Cited
Robinson, Paula. “Master the steps to performance improvement.” Nursing Management 35.5 (2004): 45-48. Print.