Healthcare practitioners face a high demand for continuous process improvement in the course of healthcare delivery. Continuous improvement can be implemented by carrying out customer satisfaction survey. The latter enables managers to understand the perception of customers regarding the products availed to consumers. Such a survey can assist to exceed the expectations of patients in a healthcare facility. It is usually necessary to obtain feedback from patients or consumers who have been served over a given period.
An organisation can also be improved through effective delivery of goods and services that are required by consumers. It is not possible to execute continuous improvement if quality is not checked. Operation data should be collected and reviewed in a systematic manner so that all the weak areas can be strengthened. New opportunities in organisations can only be identified and utilised if better services are offered to the targeted market.
Continuous improvement in organizations should indeed begin with the process of identifying the improvements that have already been made. All the achievements and development milestones should be pointed out. Second, the improvements that have been identified in an organization should be implemented to the letter. Most process improvements in organizations fail due to poor or lack of implementation. In other words, the improvements must be implemented. Third, the evaluation phase should follow the implementation stage. The impacts of improvement should be appraised on a regular basis. The performance metrics ought to be compatible with the goals and objectives set at an earlier date. When this cycle has been successfully completed, managements in organizations are supposed to retreat and indentify more improvements.
It is prudent to mention that continuous improvement in organizations should be perceived as a vicious cycle that never comes to an end. The cycle should always begin with the planning phase. The surrounding issues must be clarified. Relevant data is then collected and reviewed in order to create a clear understanding of the issues identified. In addition, the causes of the identified challenges should be pointed out. The possible improvements that can be executed are then clearly identified. Improvement outcomes are supposed to be clarified during the planning phase. Before the improvements can be implemented, the most appropriate and viable strategies must be put in place. Besides, both the management support and stakeholders should be considered during this stage of process improvement.
The measurement of outcomes or success factors of process improvement is also a crucial approach for continuous improvement. There should be valid tools for measuring the anticipated outcomes. Hence, the key tasks are investigated at this stage.
After all the planed operations have been completed, it is necessary for managements in organizations to seek approval so that they can execute the improvements. Thereafter, the key tasks should be assigned in the process of implementing the improvements. Managers and supervisors must monitor every progress during the implementation phase to ensure that all the assigned tasks are accomplished. Data on improvements ought to be gathered and analyzed later.
Organizational managers should assess whether the improvements generated positive results. Any element of failure should be addressed as soon as possible. In addition, all the unintended consequences of the process improvement must be explained. Needless to say, the ongoing data should be collected for the purpose of appraising the performance of an organization. Examples include audit reports, hazard reports as well as client and staff feedback. Finally, the management team should act promptly on all areas that need further improvement.
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