Module 1	Module 3	Module 4	Module 5	Quality Library

Module 2: Tools and Methods for Process Analysis

OBJECTIVE:    To demonstrate an understanding and use of the most common tools and methods for process analysis.

Assignment 2: Re-read the Case Study in Part I, Module 1. Then read the following addition to the scenario. complete the assignment below.

You are the manager of this clinic which is part of a larger healthcare provider. The complaints about your clinic have been getting more frequent and more intense. Many of your loyal patients have begun asking for referrals to other physicians. You decide to talk to the staff about these problems.

The receptionists are very defensive and say that the secretaries in the back office won't help with the phone calls, so they have to take all the calls while trying to register patients. You go talk to the secretaries, and their story is just as negative. They say they have been asked to assume more responsibilities without addition help. They also complain that the receptionists keep transferring calls to them that the receptionists should handle.

The nurses are very upset with the secretaries who will not find the charts for the patients which delays the process. They are also anooyed with the receptionists who are always bothering them with questions. The doctors cannot understand why they are being told to be more productive when they feel that they cannot do anything more. Their days are very chaotic and they are stressed. They believe that they need more staff and that better testing machines would help them be more competitive. They think that patients would come if they knew of these new technologies.

Assignment: Write a paper (double-spaced, 8-10 pages) describing what you as the manager would do to this situation. Remember, this is the process analysis phase. You are not ready to make suggestions for changes yet.

Using all the resources available--the Quality Library, the textbooks, and others sources. Decide which tools and methods of quality improvement would be needed to analyze this situation and WHY they are appropriate.(If you believe a flow chart wouldl be helpful, draw one with the information from the case study). This paper should answer the three questions from the Improvement Model from Langley, et. al. The second question requires data, so include the data that would be appropriate to track (ON A RUN OR CONTROL CHART) as well as how you would collect and display these data.(You can make up some of the missing information.)

Supporting information:

• Ranney, G. (December 1990). The implications of variation. Quality Progress, pp. 71-77.
• Langley, et. al.  (1996). The Improvement Guide (textbook pgs 1-139)
• Balestracci, D. (Summer, 1998). Data "sanity": statistical thinking applied to everyday data.