Assume you are the manager of an outpatient clinic that is part of a larger health care system. Complaints from patients about your clinic have recently increased in frequency and intensity. Some of your patients have complained about long wait times in the reception area. Others have expressed responsibilities without additional help. They also complain that the receptionists keep transferring calls to them that the receptionists should handle. The nurses are very upset with the secretaries who will not retrieve the patients’ health records, which causes longer waiting time for patients. The nurses are also annoyed because the receptionists interrupt their work to ask questions. The physicians feel that they cannot do anything more because their days are very chaotic and they are stressed. They think the solution is to hire more front office staff. Questions: • What performance improvement tool(s) would you use to identify all the possible reasons why patient complaints are increasing? • What performance improvement tool(s) would you use to gather information to confirm the actual reasons for patient complaints? • You think there may be more patient complaints on certain days of the week. What quantitative performance improvement tool(s) would you use to analyze this theory? • The front office staff and nurses tally information about the causes of patient complaints. What quantitative performance improvement tool(s) would you use to select the problem areas to work on first? • After redesigning the patient registration process, you want to monitor the effectiveness of your actions. What performance improvement tool(s) would you use to measure whether the number of patient complaints actually declines in the future?