Critical Thinking
Total Quality Management (TQM) is one of the most prominent developments in management for the past two decades. TQM started in Japan in the early 1980s and spread to the Western countries and Australia. In the 1990s, TQM topics became very important, and many companies were looking to apply TQM and use it to develop and improve their businesses.
Total Quality Management is defined as "a management philosophy concerned with people and work processes that focuses on customer satisfaction and improves organizational performance"
These days, health organizations face many challenges that can be classified into four major areas: increases in the cost of health services, rapidly growing technology dependence, pressure on health organizations to decrease costs and improve quality to cope with the international organizations that establish standards and give licenses and finally satisfying patients' needs, a major demand requiring hospitals to maintain high quality services.
Such challenges force health planners to adopt a system that can manage health care in a measurable way to offer a high quality service, which is the aim of the quality management programs in hospitals.
The system that can cope with all of these challenges and resolve all health organization's problems is TQM. Total Quality Management is also known as continuous quality improvement (CQI), quality improvement (QI), quality management (QM) and total quality control (TQC). Experts indicate that the key principles of TQM include the following: customer focus, obsession with quality, scientific approach, long-term commitment, teamwork, and continual improvement systems, education, and training, freedom through control, unity of purpose and employee involvement and empowerment. The liability of nursing personnel is mainly restricted in the implementation and evaluation of the TQM programs. Nurses represent more than eighty percent of the health workers in any Hospital. These nurses have played a significant role in the implementation and success of TQM programs.
Answer The Following Questions (Short Answer):
1. Describe the History of Total Quality Management (TQM)
2. What is Total Quality Management according to you?
3. What are the challenges faced by Health Organizations in implementation of Quality Management Programs in Hospitals?
4. What is the solution to the problems faced by Health Organizations these days?