Page 36 - DMGT524_TOTAL_QUALITY_MANAGEMENT

Unit 3: Concept of Quality Management

Quality is defined as the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy Notes
stated or implied needs.
‘Quality is the ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by assessing, anticipating,
and fulfilling stated and implied needs.’
The quality of a product is determined by how well it suits one’s needs in terms of reliability,
durability, safety, maintainability & cost.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. …………………… is defined as meeting or exceeding the needs and expectations of the
customer.

2. Quality can be defined as the …………………… to which a product is fit for the specific use.

Caselet Managers Do Not See Immediate Need to Improve
Quality

ike any country that opens its economy, India has in the last 12 years seen much
change in the way business and industries as a whole are now dealing with consumer
Ldemand and expectation with regard to quality of service, and quality of goods
being sold, this is especially evident in the retail and food sectors.
The healthcare sector too has been bitten by the same bug. There has been a slow but sure
shift in the way healthcare delivery is being perceived, by both providers and patients.
Growing proliferation of the Internet and media vehicles is leading to awareness about
health among people which is fuelling their desire to remain healthy. Patients are
demanding better quality of healthcare delivery; this, irrespective of in-patient services,
outpatient services or even preventive care.
Yet the one question that remains unanswered is: what is quality in healthcare? How does
a provider know they are providing the best quality of care at an affordable price? At the
same time, how does a patient/consumer know they are getting value for money when it
comes to treatment?
In the US, healthcare practitioners realized, as early as in the 1950s, that managing healthcare
is going to be a Herculean task. Who was going to monitor the way treatment was being
provided to patients? Who was going to monitor medical malpractice, patient safety, and
who was going to translate this into financial costs, not the patient. Hence, there have,
over the last few decades, been very significant developments and changes that have been
implemented to highlight the quality of healthcare that countries are providing, and how
healthcare providers can actually improve and aggressively assure quality in the way
they deliver healthcare.
Several theories have been proposed and have been implemented, as to what quality in
healthcare pertains to. Yet the easiest and most practical theory was given by Adeis
Donabedian, the late quality healthcare guru in the US.
According to him, quality in healthcare encompassed and critical attributes: (1) Structure
(2) Process (3) Outcome
Contd...

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