The CMC case study in the Essentials of Strategic Planning in Healthcare text highlighted the following performance opportunities for improvement – symptoms of underlying problems — among others:
Skyrocketing expenses in labor, material and purchased services (page 5)
Physicians refuse to be educated on the need to reduce length of stay, excessive tests, etc. (page 7/8)
Medical staff increasingly dissatisfied (page 8): excessive delays throughout operations (late start surgeries, needed supplies/equipment lacking, too long patient admission process.
Quality problems (page 8): physician privilege revocation, substance abuse
Duplication of functions, departments (pages 12, 14)
Fragmented materials management, excessive inventory/storage space, obsolescence (page 13/14)
Gross overstaffing (page 14)
No value oriented efforts! (page 15)
These symptoms of underlying problems might be attributable to various root causes and failure modes within controllable process or uncontrollable environmental conditions that might be mitigated.
Part One
Considering your preliminary brainstorming and Project Chart analysis in Learning Activity 5, pick one Critical to Quality improvement opportunity associated with problem symptoms that you identified, and feel generally comfortable analyzing further based on your current knowledge and experience.
On that basis, identify three hypothetical clinical, operational or administrative process steps that relate to and impact the improvement opportunity. For each of the three steps, one in each row, complete a hypothetical Failure Mode and Effects Criticality Analysis (FMECA) using the top part only of Table 3-4 on page 99 of Basics of Health Care Performance Improvement.
Along with your table, please include a concise narrative explaining your hypothetical processes, assumptions, and any related background information that will help readers understand how your creativity connects to and builds upon the limited information provided in the CMC Case Study.
Part Two
Building upon your previous analysis using hypothetical assumptions, select one specific performance improvement/failure mode issue that appears to be driving an identified problem symptom. For that one issue, analyze and document your Root Cause Analysis (RCA) following the steps 1, 3 & 4 (only) described on pages 115 through 117 of Basics of Health Care Performance Improvement: Document the defined issue; List your 5 whys about the problem; Document your corrective action brainstorms (i.e., improved processes to remedy the problematic root cause(s).
Include with your Root Cause Analysis a scanned hand-sketch of a Cause and Effect Diagram or fishbone diagram you develop to diagnose different types of possible root causes and factors contributing to the problem/solution you are addressing.
If not already addressed in your work products for the assignment, please include additional concise narrative explaining your hypothetical processes, assumptions, and any related background information that will help readers understand how your creativity connects to and builds upon the limited information provided in the CMC Case Study.
Write a complete paper (flexible). Use horizontal orientation if easier to fit tables and diagrams. You may adjust margins to ensure fit. Use a 10 to 11-point font if needed to fit information in tables. Paper must include a cover and a reference page.