Saving Lives vs. Enshrining Bureaucracy
A number of popular press and blog editorials recently brought a serious impasse to public attention. The impasse centers on action taken by the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) relative to a program initiated by Johns Hopkins that demonstrates measurable and significant infection control results. The program was also deployed in nearly all Michigan hospitals (See New Yorker, The Checklist).
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Welcome!

Welcome and thank you for your interest in the Healthcare Division. Your commitment to join us will be reciprocated by the division in engaging you in our activities. It is the intention of this division to make your membership worthy of your commitment of precious time to participate.

Joining the Healthcare Division can be a very important step in your professional career. It brings you together with many other people with similar interests who can be of help to you. By the same token, you can be of help to the division by sharing your knowledge and experience with other members, as well as participating in division projects. Networking may be one of the value-added features for you.

ASQ, under contract to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, assists in the administration of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program. This program was created to build active partnerships in the private sector to improve national competitiveness. Recently, more than half of the applicants for the Award are from healthcare. The goal of the Healthcare Division is to provide Award applicants and others with access to the body of knowledge necessary to be successful in their quest for excellence and transforming their organizations into Award winners.

Every two months, the Healthcare Division publishes a newsletter in the Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare magazine. The newsletter serves as one form of contact between you and other members. You will find information about the officers and other volunteers of the division on the Healthcare Division’s Web site at www.asq.org/health in the Members Only Area. The newsletter editors always seek fresh ideas from the membership. It also provides a platform for you to share your experiences with thousands of others.  If you have an article you would like to see published, please send it to the newsletter editor whose name and address are listed in the newsletter and on the Website.

I personally invite you to contact me (713) 825-7900 and tell me what you expect to achieve from your membership and how you will be able to contribute to the Health Care Division.  We are planning in Houston on May 5th – May 8th the 2008 Quality Institute for Healthcare — a conference for the serious learner! The division appreciates your interest and looks forward to meeting and working with you in the future.

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Dotan, MA, CQIA
Chair, Healthcare Division