course material

1. Week 9 Assignment 2 – Case Study: Total Quality Management:
Week 9 Assignment 2 – Case Study: Total Quality Management: The Patient Process at East-
Southern Kentucky Community College Medical Clinic Dr. William Jones has been the
director of the health center clinic at East-Southern Kentucky Community College (ESKCC)
for about six months. Having been a part of a much larger medical center in the past, he has
seen the benefits of total quality management (TQM) and feels that it would help improve
the operations at the ESKCC clinic. He has made some positive changes to the staffing of the
clinic, but now feels that he must tackle making improvements to its operations.
Consequently, he has created a TQM team (of which you are a part) and has made certain
that they have received the necessary training to start examining the various processes
within the health center’s operations. The ambulatory health service department of
the ESKCC health center clinic has received increased complaints from the ESKCC student
body and staff concerning the services it offers in its walk-in urgent care clinic. Dr. Jones
feels that this center would be an excellent starting point for the TQM team.The DataThe
team is presented with the following data regarding student/staff complaints: Patient
Complaint DataMonthComplaint Type 1Complaint Type 2Complaint Type 3Complaint Type
4Complaint Type 5Complaint Type 6Total
VisitsSeptember3141174813115841October21278411152971November11481124283111
75December7144121738121042January153012141741671February21626128511631Ma
rch27951623641512April4734313153781May421217182473Total248402872091543119
097 Complaint Type DescriptionsComplaint TypeComplaint Description1The quality of
service received.2Waiting time was too long.3Follow-up care was not available.4Clinic was
hard to find in the health center.5The medical care/treatment took too long.6The medical
center could not find the individual’s medical records.The Patient Review ProcessThe
process for a patient (either a student or a staff member) coming in because of a problem is
as follows:When a patient arrives at the clinic, the patient first sees the receptionist, who
checks to see if the patient was seen before. If so, the receptionist pulls the medical record
from the file. If the patient is new, the receptionist has the patient complete the necessary
forms and creates a medical record. Patients are seen by the physician in the order they
arrive. If one of the two examination rooms is empty, the nurse escorts the patient to the
examination room and records the patient’s medical complaint. If no examination rooms are
available, the nurse escorts the patient to a waiting area until an examination room is
available.When the patient is in the examination room, the nurse performs routine tests.
The nurse then writes the complaint and findings on a medical examination form, a form

2. that will be subsequently filed with the patient’s medical record. The physician examines
the patient and orders medical tests, if necessary. A diagnosis and treatment plan is
presented to the patient by the physician; a written copy of this plan and any other
appropriate instructions are written on the medical examination form.When the physician
releases the patient, the patient returns to the receptionist, who prepares a bill. If the
patient has health insurance, the bill is sent to the health insurance carrier. The patient
leaves after either paying the bill (by cash, check, or credit card) or signing the forms to
authorize payment by his or her health insurance company. If the health insurance company
refuses to pay or partially pays the bill, the receptionist bills the patient by mail. Any patient
with an unpaid bill or bad credit history is refused subsequent treatment until the old bill is
paid. InstructionsAs a member of the ESKCC TQM team, you are asked to put together a
report that recommends improvements to the overall patient process. Create a 4–6 page
report in a Word document (copy and paste any charts created in Excel) addressing the
following tasks: Construct a Pareto Chart for the data regarding complaints to the health
center that is presented in Table 1. Describe two conclusions from examining this
data.Develop a control chart for the waiting time complaint (complaint #2). Explain how the
control chart is developed and show the calculation process.Illustrate the causes for
Complaint #2 in a fishbone diagram. (Note: refer to the readings for examples.)Develop a
flow chart for the process that the clinic uses for a patient who comes into the ambulatory
center. Draw two conclusions from examining the flow chart regarding either or both of the
following: How the process affects the patient.Potential sources of unnecessary
complexity.Determine three improvements to streamline the patient process based on the
insights that you gain from examining the process flow chart as well as your understanding
of total quality management concepts from your course readings. This course requires the
use of Strayer Writing Standards. For assistance and information, please refer to the Strayer
Writing Standards link in the left-hand menu of your course. Check with your professor for
any additional instructions.The specific course learning outcome associated with this
assignment is:Propose improvements to a health services organization based on total
quality management (TQM) concepts.