Healthcare Update

In This Issue

• Focus on Decision Making
• Guest Essay: Using a Monte Carlo simulation technique to allocate space in a healthcare setting.
• This Issue’s Announcements: Learn more about the upcoming joint conference hosted by ASQ and the Society for Health Systems.
• Quality News: Read current news stories about quality tools and trends in the healthcare field, as well as issues facing the healthcare industry.

Focus On…

DECISION MAKING

Quality Tools
Two evaluation and decision-making quality tools:

• Decision matrix: Evaluates and prioritizes a list of options using predetermined weighted criteria.
• Multivoting: Narrows a large list of possibilities to a smaller list of the top priorities or to a final selection; allows an item that is favored by all, but not the top choice of any, to rise to the top.

Healthcare Decision Making: from Dartmouth College
The tradition of medical decision making based on professional paternalism does not deal well with the complex trade-offs created by modern technology. Rates of elective surgery and other discretionary interventions are determined in large part by practice style and, sometimes, by geographic variation in resources. Learn more

Society for Medical Decision Making
The organization’s mission is to improve health outcomes through the advancement of proactive systematic approaches to clinical decision making and policy creation in healthcare by providing a scholarly forum that connects and educates researchers, providers, policy-makers and the public. Learn more

Quality Engrained in Culture at Iowa Hospital
By routinely using the plan-do-study-act cycle, Guttenberg Municipal Hospital’s leaders have learned the importance of using data for decision making. Learn more

Healthcare Quality in Focus: Decision Making in the Face of Variation and Uncertainty
During this webinar, learn how project leaders for MD Anderson Cancer Center’s new ambulatory clinic building used decision-making tools to allocate space and create rooms for the clinics. Learn more

Quantifying the Impact of Variability and Noise on Patient Outcomes in BreastCancer Decision Making
There are many factors that can affect the breast cancer decision-making process. This Quality Engineering article addresses the issue of uncertainty. Learn more

Featured Book

Guest Essay

Decision Making in the Face of Uncertainty and Variation

In this essay by Wayne Fisher, read about how using a Monte Carlo simulation technique can help determine how to allocate space among several outpatient clinics. Read more

Guest Essay is an ongoing Healthcare Update feature in which authors working in the healthcare field explore the role quality tools and methods play in delivering better care and driving down costs. 

If you would like to submit a Guest Essay for consideration, send an e-mail to Healthcare Update editor Nicole Adrian.

This Issue’s Announcements

Joint Healthcare Conference Set for February

ASQ and the Society for Health Systems will hold a joint conference Feb. 25-28 in Atlanta. The conference, titled "Building Better Health Care Systems," will focus on healthcare quality and process improvement. Attendees will experience high-quality education sessions and workshops, and have an opportunity to network with well-respected and knowledgeable process and quality improvement experts from throughout the United States. Learn more

Dates Set for Next Blended Black Belt Course

The next round of Lean Six Sigma Black Belt for Healthcare—Blended Format will be held Jan. 5 to May 11. As a healthcare professional, your primary job is to provide the best care possible while lowering costs and making healthcare affordable. You and your staff need every tool available to deliver the highest-quality care in the most efficient way. ASQ’s breakthrough blended format Black Belt course will ensure participants get the skills to implement lean Six Sigma tools and techniques. Learn more

Quality News

Hospital Rebuked, Fined After Series of Blunders

Rhode Island’s largest hospital was fined $150,000 and ordered to take the extraordinary step of installing video cameras in all its operating rooms after it had its fifth wrong-site surgery since 2007. Read more

Can Medical Homes Bring Order to Healthcare?

Obtain better quality without costly complications. One Iowa clinic is reorganizing so nurses can observe patients whose health problems, if ignored, could send them to the emergency room. The hospital is also investing in computer systems that track leading indicators of health problems. Read more

E-Records Help Track Spread of Swine Flu

Rhode Island health officials are tracking the spread of swine flu with electronic prescription records, developing what they believe is a model that could help doctors more easily identify and respond to an outbreak of the illness. Read more