A physical examination of health care's readiness for total quality management program: A case study by Weeks, Helms, and Ettkin. Once you have completed the article, read following case: Quality Improvement Program Intervention.

Using information you collected from both articles, explain the following issues:

1. Give a short overview of quality improvement process. Make sure to provide examples and to specifically explain what quality improvement teams are.

2. The article you read pointed out that there needs to be the agreement and understanding between employees and managers for successful quality programs. Explain this aspect of the case study (e.g. did this happen, what understanding do you believe each group had, etc).

3. Write down steps did the manager take to implement improvement process? Write down steps did he do correctly? Which ones did not work?

4. What suggestions do you think Joe made? Do you agree?

5. If you were manager of this unit, what would you have done differently to implement process and why?