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Executive
Summary
An Assessment Tool For Developing Healthcare Managerial Skills and Roles,
Kristina L. Guo
This article
is based on a study to identify, and by doing so help develop, the skills
and roles of senior-level healthcare managers related to the needs of
the current healthcare environment. To classify these roles and skills,
a qualitative study was conducted to examine the literature on forces
in the healthcare environment and their impact on managers. Ten senior
managers were interviewed, revealing six roles as the most crucial to
their positions along with the skills necessary to perform those roles.
A pilot study was conducted with these senior managers to produce a final
assessment tool. This assessment helps managers to identify strengths
and weaknesses, develop in deficient areas, and promote competence in
all areas as demanded by the market and organization. This tool can be
used by organizations in the recruitment process and in the training process.
Executive
Summary
Integrating Six Sigma with Total Quality Management: A Case Example for
Measuring Medication Errors, Lee Revere and Ken Black
Six Sigma
is a new management philosophy that seeks a nonexistent error rate. It
is ripe for healthcare because many healthcare processes require a near-zero
tolerance for mistakes. For most organizations, establishing a Six Sigma
program requires significant resources and produces considerable stress.
However, in healthcare, management can piggyback Six Sigma onto current
total quality management (TQM) efforts so that minimal disruption occurs
in the organization. Six Sigma is an extension of the Failure Mode and
Effects Analysis that is required by JCAHO; it can easily be integrated
into existing quality management efforts. Integrating Six Sigma into the
existing TQM program facilitates process improvement through detailed
data analysis. A drilled-down approach to root-cause analysis greatly
enhances the existing TQM approach. Using the Six Sigma metrics, internal
project comparisons facilitate resource allocation while external project
comparisons allow for benchmarking. Thus, the application of Six Sigma
makes TQM efforts more successful. This article presents a framework for
including Six Sigma in an organization's TQM plan while providing a concrete
example using medication errors. Using the process defined in this article,
healthcare executives can integrate Six Sigma into all of their TQM projects.
Executive
Summary
Effects of High-Involvement Work Systems on Employee Satisfaction and
Service Costs in Veterans Healthcare, Joel Harmon, Dennis J. Scotti, Scott
Behson, Gerard Farias, Robert Petzel, Joel H. Neuman, and Loraleigh Keashly
Two strong
imperatives for healthcare managers are reducing costs of service and
attracting and retaining highly dedicated and competent patient care and
support employees. Is there a trade-off or are there organizational practices
that can further both objectives at the same time? High-involvement work
systems (HIWS) represent a holistic work design that includes interrelated
core features such as involvement, empowerment, development, trust, openness,
teamwork, and performance-based rewards. HIWS have been linked to higher
productivity, quality, employee and customer satisfaction, and market
and financial performance in Fortune 1000 firms. Apparently, few prior
studies have looked at the impacts of this holistic design within the
healthcare sector. This research study found that HIWS were associated
with both greater employee satisfaction and lower patient service costs
in 146 Veterans Health Administration centers, indicating that such practices
pay off in both humanistic and financial terms. This suggests that managers
implementing HIWS will incur real expenses that are likely to be more
than offset by more satisfied employees, less organizational turmoil,
and lower service delivery costs, which, in this study, amounted to over
$1.2 million in savings for an average VHA facility.
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