Purpose Health care is an example of an organization where the needs of potential clients are much greater than the capabilities of the service delivery system. The implementation of any medical procedure, as well as the provision of any service, just like the manufacturing of any product, can be decomposed into a series of tasks. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for measuring the effectiveness of quality assurance tasks in health-care delivery processes. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze a system of factors that affect the implementation of tasks in a process. In their considerations, they have focused on four areas of science that describe conditions that are related to the implementation of tasks: Scheduling as a methodology for allocating resources to perform tasks; Capacity planning as a methodology for assigning values to given resources expressed by the number of tasks that can be executed with the resources; Queueing theory, used as a methodology for describing phenomena in which not all planned tasks are performed within the prescribed specification limits; and Quality management, as a methodology to ensure appropriate conditions for completing tasks (CCTs), where CCT is a representation of parameters of casual relationship between variables. Findings The authors show that the effectiveness of executing any scheduled tasks in the process is determined by the difference between the capacity of resources allocated (at a given time interval) and the number of tasks planned to be carried out at that time. The CCT conditions determine the level of capacity of the fixed amount of resources. It is shown that their deviation from the reference CCT specification may cause the nominally correct amount of resources be either too small (causing queue formation and longer wait time in hospitals) or too large to contribute to the waste in the system by creating idle capacity. Practical implications The scope of application of the model is wide. It covers tasks performed with different degrees of uncertainties regarding the capacity of resources. It applies in all areas of health care where unlike manufacturing, the services delivered and the tasks performed in the health-care delivery system are seldom identical. Every patient is treated differently than the one waiting next in line. The workloads are pre-arranged in the order they are needed and completed in accordance with the FI-FO (first in-first out) principle. The model presented in this paper makes it possible to better understand the mechanism of effectiveness and efficiency improvement and the role of humans as a specific carrier of capacity. Originality/value As most of the health-care organizations are still stuck in the soft side of quality assurance, there has been little research conducted to test the applicability of well-known productions/operation management methodologies and theories benefitting health-care systems. The formulation of a reference point of CCT in this study is to serve as a stabilizing control point with t...

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find determinants of the effectiveness of the business improvement processes that create value for services offered to patients in healthcare industries. The words patients and customers are used interchangeably throughout without any distinction. The features that distinguish medical services of different types and their inter-related factors are examined. The aim is to come up with a model of value vs cost that can help healthcare managers examine and use this exercise as an example of improvement micro-projects to help reduce cost and eliminate the patient’s dissatisfaction gaps. Design/methodology/approach The list of factors or attributes influencing the creation of value of a given medical process or a single procedure is described. The factors in the value creation are examined that will help in the categories for the risk analysis to determine the value-added benefits for the patient outcome. The cost analysis is approached from two angles to include: the cost of the service, and the costs of poor quality of service. Findings The model describes the value for the patient satisfaction depending on the quality level or grade of the treatment or procedures used and the cost factor. The analysis is done at several levels with special reference to case examples. A search for various analogous models in similar service providing situation used in business process management of other process types is highlighted and discussed. Originality/value The model is an interesting generic illustration for considering value vs cost in all patient care strategies. It enables the position of various medical procedures that can be applied to the same disease in order to keep the variations as minimum as possible within the quality control specification limits. The importance in different aspects of check-points or hold points for inspection is also discussed.

An overwhelming body of evidence concludes that the private sectors provide better quality service than the public sectors. Such findings may well exacerbate the belief of the general public, but, as shown in this article, the progress made in many public sector organisations in many parts of the world point towards a new beginning. Notes, for example, that the application of TQM has begun to redefine the administrative infrastructure and mindset of managers on various fronts. Points out that it may be premature and perhaps less than entirely accurate to pre‐judge the government organisations inherently as inefficient. Suggests that there are signs of eagerness on the part of public managers to move faster and notes that the race for quality is far from over.

The theme of the congress was: "Quality and Innovation: Transforming your organizational culture."The special issue has eight papers on many interesting topics on how TQM and its central pillar called the process management have evolved over the years and what is happening now and what can we expect in the future. The idea at the congress was to look at quality and innovation together on a global scale. The papers presented are a mixture of theoretical, practical and somewhat deeply rooted in conceptual thinking. One paper which is also included was presented in an earlier congress held at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, a year before. We had many other excellent papers presented by authors who decided not to write their stories simply because of lack of time. They are being encouraged to do so at a greater number at a later stage.This volume begins with a paper on one of the most interesting and timely topics that are currently being hotly debated in North America, that is, the quality and patient satisfaction issues in healthcare industries. The paper provides a good case study and a useful roadmap that others might be able to follow. It describes actual interventions and experiences within a cardiac sciences department in one the largest Canadian provincial healthcare facility. The case study is based on the principles of total cultural transformation and lean management journey using a creative approach of adapting these principles for problem-solving involving frontline employees and the top management.The second paper explores the process improvement methodologies also in the healthcare setting. The research rationale is based upon the value stream mapping concept. The paper highlights lean management philosophy by identifying and recommending a value-based system and patient satisfaction pathways. The aim is how to decrease the non-value added activities and increase patient, doctor and nurse satisfaction, by applying lean healthcare philosophy in a radiology department of a large and crowded public hospital.Continuing the theme of healthcare quality and innovation, the third paper discusses the development and transformation of patent safety culture. This research is developed by polling all stakeholders who are involved in creating a safety culture at a secondary care hospital. The paper engages heavily in testing of data and surveys results to provide recommendations on sustainable improvement solutions.The fourth paper uses a research on survey technique focused on evaluating tablet and smartphone-based software to identify which ones are the best match for field construction of buildings while keeping in mind the strict quality management requirements. The survey identifies which usage criteria best represent the needs of designers and builders. Software vendors were interviewed and comments were captured and the results communicated to team members for review and clarifications. Questionnaires were analyzed, findings and recommendations drafted for senior management with the conclusion that fiel...